Voice of Business Blog

Greater Rochester Chamber strives to make participating in our annual wage and benefits surveys as easy as possible. We rely on our members to help us generate valuable survey reports that help our members make important business decisions and ensure pay and benefits are competitive.

Below is a quick summary of the basics of participating in our HR benchmarking surveys:

1. If you’re not already, become a Corporate or Partner member of Greater Rochester Chamber. Survey participation is only open to Corporate or Partner members as a benefit of membership. Members that participate in a survey automatically receive the complimentary results of that survey (membership must be in good standing). The more surveys you participate in, the more value you gain from your membership. And by comparing your pay and benefits to the various benchmarking surveys, you can ensure your organization is competitive in the Rochester area as well as nationally given the two national surveys we sponsor each year. If your organization is not a Corporate or Partner member, please contact Kevin Donahue in our membership department to discuss upgrading or joining membership.

2. Plan ahead. Print/download our annual HR benchmarking survey calendar. This is our schedule for the entire year that shows the month each survey starts, when the deadline falls, and when the report is released. Each survey has a different timeline, with bigger surveys having a longer participation window.

3. Learn more about our surveys. Our annual HR benchmarking surveys are also listed in our HR benchmarking survey calendar along with a brief description of each. Plus, you can view the surveys we conduct, including the research reports and survey pricing, in our survey brochure.

4. Check your email inbox. Our weekly Tuesday Voice of Business emails include information on upcoming surveys and/or recently released surveys as needed. Also, an email is sent in early December to all HR member contacts inviting members to sign up to participate in 1^st quarter surveys. When the survey is ready to begin, those who signed up will receive an email with participation instructions. The format of the survey questionnaire depends on the survey. Some are conducted via Excel, some via our online survey program, or sometimes both methods are used for a particular survey. A PDF version is also available to use as a working copy before members enter their data online.

5. Request a copy of your submission from last year. If your company participated the previous year, we can send you a copy of the data you submitted as a reference to help complete this year’s survey. It is still important to review job adds/changes (for the compensation surveys) and read through the questions to determine whether there have been any wording changes and to confirm last year’s data is still relevant or if it needs to be updated.

6. Ask for help. Whether you are new to participating, just need a refresher, or would like to submit your data in a different way than the options offered, please call or email us. We can discuss the survey with you in detail and you can ask us anything regarding how to fill out the surveys (we will likely have short cuts/suggestions!) or to get a better understanding of how the surveys can benefit your organization. The bottom line is that your data is important to us and we will work with you to ensure you are able to participate.

Signup for the 1st quarter Greater Rochester Chamber surveys begins next week via email invitation. Can’t wait to sign up? Click here to sign up now!

If you have any questions about any of the chamber’s HR benchmarking surveys, please contact Kathy Richmond at (585) 256-4618 or Jennifer Suppé (585) 256-4608.