Salary remains the top reason developers leave roles in 2025. More than half of developers don’t feel fairly paid, but one in four still avoid having salary talks.
In OfferZen’s most recent Tech Salary Playbook webinar, Root’s Head of Engineering Nic van Noordwyk chatted with Decode Development Co-founder CEO Trevor Gowing along with BoxFusion HR Generalist Lethabo Masakela about how to set salary benchmarks and make salary conversations less awkward in 2025.
How to benchmark salaries for tech roles
Creating a strong, specific job description is one of the best ways to find the right candidates for your open developer role. One key feature that will make your job posting stand out from others is a clear salary range. But how do you determine what that salary range should be?
Know the numbers
Both Lethabo and Trevor noted that a multi-faceted approach, including analysing benchmarking reports and keeping an eye on both job boards and developer communities, is the most effective way to ensure that your salaries are actually market-related and competitive.
“We start by looking at the market data to get a sense of what the going salary rates for different levels of engineers are. The OfferZen Salary Report is a key data point that we use for South Africa and Stack Overflow’s annual report is useful for gauging the international market,” Trevor said.
“Then we also keep an eye on the various job boards and ad platforms along with developer communities to see what other organisations are offering for similar roles. There’s obviously a lot of nuance to keep in mind based on the skill set, the different technologies, what sort of roles and responsibilities the developer may have,” he added.
“Number one for me is to feed yourself real-time data. That means looking at what’s being done by other companies, on job boards and from LinkedIn Insights, because those are your competitors,” said Lethabo.
“You can also just speak to the people in your office. Distribute surveys, have focus groups or even just have check-ins to see how your employees are feeling about what they earn and whether it aligns.”
Understand the value of the hire for your business
Another important factor is how much filling this role could help your business to thrive in the long term.
“We also look at the business value of the role: Is the candidate bringing anything extra outside of the standard capabilities that offer additional business value? It’s a bit broader than just skills; a key focus for us is on culture in terms of work processes and collaboration,” said Trevor.
Leverage the knowledge of the tech community
Networking is a less obvious tool that you can use to your advantage when benchmarking salaries.
“Go out and participate in community events. Speak to other people in the industry and the community and get some different perspectives on what people are doing. That can help you to figure out what you should be paying developers – or what else you can offer them – especially if you’re on a smaller team where surveys or focus groups are less effective,” said Trevor.
Ask about perks and payslips
While it’s a hot-button topic for most job seekers, asking potential hires to supply their current payslips can be beneficial when hiring externally.
“Payslips give you a better view of what’s happening out there. But they can also help you to see how you can structure someone’s overall salary. It can help you to create an overall remuneration package that works for the candidate,” Lethabo said.
Rather than using their current pay grade to limit their growth or increase, this can enable you to find non-monetary types of compensation that could make your position more attractive.
While Decode Development doesn’t ask for payslips, Trevor agreed that tech businesses – especially smaller ones – can use perks to their advantage and remain competitive.
“You can offer a variety of other things to make the overall package more appealing beyond just salary. We chose to be remote first, offer additional leave and provide a home office subsidy or co-working subscription. It’s always good to have an alternative way for them to increase their overall package” he said.
Benchmarking for an emerging role
Of course, setting salaries can be more challenging when you’re filling a role that calls for emerging or highly specialised skills. This is another place where networking can come in handy.
“I would look to connect with businesses or consultancies that usually deal with that kind of work to have an open dialogue with them about what’s happening in that space,” Trevor said.
Another strategy is to break the position down to identify similarities with existing roles and use that as a jumping-off point.
“Break down the role to gauge what you think might be required based on similar roles that are currently out there in the field. You can use this to create a rough ballpark that you can use as a guide,” Lethabo added.
Having the salary conversation
Open and honest communication is fundamental to successful salary conversations, whether you’re recruiting internally or externally.
“I think mutual respect and transparency are key. It’s best to post the salary range for your role in your job ad. At the end of the day, we need to be clear about what we expect from the role, what we think it’s worth and to assess candidates to see if they meet our expectations,” said Trevor.
In addition to what you’re offering and what you expect, it can help to give candidates a view of how you’ve calculated what someone in a particular role should be paid.
“What I’ve realised is that it’s important to relay to employees how salaries are benchmarked and structured, and what it is that affects what we offer or how we adjust salaries, is very helpful,” Lethabo said.
“People are typically most happy when they’ve got a clear roadmap of how they get from where they are to where they want to be. Informing them and showing them that they’ve got a path forward is a great way to make sure that you protect the investment of your recruitment,” added Trevor.
Top tips for making the salary conversation less awkward
There are a few tactics that employers can use to minimise any awkwardness for employees and potential hires around talking about salaries:
- Be transparent: “It’s really up to us to facilitate an open dialogue with a candidate about what is feasible from the outset of the recruitment process. Then it’s up to the applicant to decide whether they want to apply,” said Trevor
- Create a psychologically safe space: “Train your managers so that they have the skills to handle those conversations,” said Lethabo.
- Train your employees: “Encourage and empower your employees to do the research, understand their value in the markets and present their case. That’s a great starting point from which we can then facilitate a conversation,” said Trevor.
In addition to these strategies, Lethabo points out that it’s essential to be continuously monitoring the market so that you’re equipped to have these conversations at any time.
“You should continuously review and recalibrate to ensure that the information you’re working with and the salaries you’re offering is on par with what’s happening in the industry,” she said.