Strategic Pay

What Strategic Pay does

Strategic Pay is a New Zealand-based remuneration consultancy founded in 1993 that advises organisations on pay structures, job evaluation, pay equity, incentive design, and board remuneration. It serves medium-to-large private sector firms, central and local government, the not-for-profit sector, and Pacific Islands organisations across Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Its proposition combines a proprietary benchmarking dataset — described as the largest remuneration database in New Zealand and the South Pacific, with the 2023 NZ Benchmark Remuneration Report covering 569 organisations and 227,772 incumbents — with consulting services, training, and software tools.

The technology layer is centred on four proprietary products. RemOn-Demand is a subscription-based online remuneration decision-support tool launched with a 7-day free trial; SP10 is a proprietary job evaluation methodology and accreditation programme used across NZ and the Pacific; RemWise and DataWise are data management and modelling tools targeted at Pacific organisations; and JobWise supports large-scale job evaluation case management. The firm maintains a portfolio of sector-specific survey reports (Construction, ICT, Local Government, Museums, Pharmaceuticals, executive and director pay) and quarterly PULSE surveys, alongside training workshops and WorldatWork GRP certification delivery.

Revenue is generated through four streams: one-time survey report sales, professional services consulting engagements, fee-based training workshops and certifications, and RemOn-Demand subscriptions. Distribution is direct and field-led, supported by five NZ offices (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton) and a dedicated Pacific team. The company is privately held under Strategic Pay Limited, management-led by Managing Director Cathy Hendry, with no disclosed parent, external investment, or public listing.

Name

Strategic Pay

Legal name

Strategic Pay Limited

Website

https://strategicpay.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Strategic Pay is a New Zealand remuneration consultancy providing pay benchmarking data, advisory services, job evaluation, and training to public, private, and not-for-profit organisations across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Remuneration Consulting

NAICS

Other Management Consulting Services (541618)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Compensation, Benefits & Rewards Consulting (BPAHAGAF)

Keywords

• Remuneration consulting
• Salary benchmarking
• Job evaluation
• Compensation surveys
• Pay equity services

Headquarters

HQ city

Auckland

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Survey Reports: Sale of comprehensive remuneration survey reports covering various sectors and industries in New Zealand and Pacific Islands
2. Consulting Services: Remuneration consulting engagements covering executive pay, board fees, job evaluation, pay equity, incentive pay, and reward policy
3. Workshops and Training: Fee-based training courses including SP10 Job Evaluation, Pay Transparency, Pay Conversations, and WorldatWork GRP certifications
4. RemOn-Demand Tool: Online subscription tool providing access to pay data and benchmarking, offered with 7-day free trial

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Strategic Pay is a remuneration consultancy that advises organisations on pay structures, benchmarking, job evaluation, and pay equity. It monetises the largest remuneration database in New Zealand and the South Pacific through subscription-based survey reports, the RemOn-Demand self-serve platform, advisory consulting engagements, and certified training programs including WorldatWork GRP.

Product overview

Strategic Pay operates as a remuneration consultancy offering a portfolio of consulting services, proprietary software tools, and data products. The core offering combines human expertise with technology solutions: RemOn-Demand® is the primary software platform for pay decision support, supported by SP10 job evaluation methodology. The company maintains New Zealand's largest remuneration database, powering survey reports across multiple industries and sectors. Additional tools include RemWise and DataWise for Pacific organisations, plus JobWise for case management. Services span consulting (Board Fees, Executive Pay, Pay Equity, Incentive Pay) and professional training through workshops and WorldatWork GRP certification programs. RemNet provides a community network platform for remuneration professionals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• RemOn-Demand (RoD)

Quantifiable outcome

• Organisations report only moderate confidence in their total reward offering, indicating opportunity for improvement with better data
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WorldatWorkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 August 2022WorldatWork is the leading global nonprofit organization for Total Rewards professionals. Strategic Pay serves as a partner for WorldatWork certification courses including GRP (Global Remuneration Professional) programs delivered online and in-person across New Zealand. Courses offered include Strategic Communications in Total Rewards, Business Acumen & Communication Strategies, Quantitative Principles in Remuneration Management, Creating Impact Through Total Rewards, and Base Pay Administration & Pay for Performance.
• MindTheGapminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 22 October 2021MindTheGap is a campaign encouraging New Zealand businesses to identify their gender and ethnicity pay gaps and start publicly reporting them. Strategic Pay partnered with MindTheGap to support the launch of the Public Pay Gap Registry, encouraging organisations to adopt voluntary pay gap reporting. Strategic Pay also voluntarily reports its own pay gap data.
• RemNet (NZ Remuneration Network)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 May 2016RemNet is a not-for-profit association providing organisations with a forum to discuss, explore, benchmark and publish remuneration information. Strategic Pay serves as Executive Managers of RemNet, supporting the annual conference and professional network activities. RemNet connects HR and remuneration professionals across New Zealand.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Korn Ferry (Hay Group): Global rewards and organisational consulting practice, best known for the Hay job evaluation methodology. Direct peer because Strategic Pay's SP10 job evaluation, pay structure and executive remuneration consulting compete head-to-head with Korn Ferry Hay in NZ and the Pacific.
• PayScale: Cloud compensation data and software platform competing in the same market for benchmarking-driven pay decisions. Comparable as a direct peer on RemOn-Demand's subscription, self-serve pay benchmarking proposition.
• Salary.com: Provider of compensation data, salary benchmarking reports and survey tools. Comparable as a direct peer on the survey-report and subscription benchmark product side of Strategic Pay's portfolio.
• Culpepper: Compensation survey and data provider targeting compensation professionals with subscription benchmarks. Comparable as a direct peer in survey/report products, although focused on US/EU data.
• ERI Economic Research Institute: Provider of salary surveys, compensation data and executive compensation reports. Comparable as a direct peer on the salary-survey, executive remuneration report and data analytics side of Strategic Pay's offering.

Broad incumbents

• Mercer: Global consulting firm providing compensation surveys (e.g., MECS/Total Remuneration Survey), benefits and talent advisory. Comparable in that it sells large-scale remuneration datasets and advisory to NZ enterprises — a broader incumbent playing in Strategic Pay's core niche.
• Willis Towers Watson (WTW): Global advisory firm running compensation surveys (e.g., Global Remuneration Planning Report) and reward strategy engagements. Comparable as a broad incumbent providing alternative benchmarking data and remuneration strategy services in NZ enterprise accounts.
• Aon (Radford): Aon's Radford practice publishes technology and general-industry compensation surveys globally. Comparable as a broad incumbent offering subscription benchmarking data plus pay-equity/board advisory that overlaps with Strategic Pay's portfolio.

Emerging players

• Pave: Compensation management platform for total rewards teams combining benchmarking data with workflow. Comparable as an emerging player occupying adjacent turf to RemOn-Demand and wider Strategic Pay software offerings.

Regional players

• Kincentric: HR and people advisory firm operating across Australia/NZ with reward strategy consulting. Comparable as a regional player offering overlapping remuneration advisory to NZ enterprise clients, though without a published salary survey.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/strategic-pay-limited
• Xx.com/strategicpaynz

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Strategic Pay