Compensation Survey FAQ

If you’ve entered data, your progress will be saved throughout the survey (by clicking Save & Continue on each page). If you close your browser before finishing and submitting the survey, you can use the survey link we’ve emailed you to return to the spot where you left off.

If you’ve submitted your survey and need to make an edit, please contact us at PSMJSurveys@psmj.com.

Yes! If you’ve entered data, your progress will be saved throughout the survey (by clicking Save & Continue on each page).
You can go back and forth between pages to make edits any time.
If you close your browser before finishing and submitting the survey, you can use the survey link we’ve emailed you to return to the spot where you left off.

Yes! You can go back and forth between pages to make edits any time.
If you close your browser before finishing and submitting the survey, you can use the survey link we’ve emailed you to return to the spot where you left off.
Your progress will be saved throughout the survey (by clicking Save & Continue on each page).

If you submit your survey and need to make an edit, please contact us at PSMJSurveys@psmj.com.

See the Finish Here tab when your data entry is complete for a link to our secure portal. Please be sure to include your primary survey contact info so we can send your participation perks in a few months when the results are ready. We'll be in touch if we have any questions about your data.

The Excel file does NOT automatically submit your questionnaire to PSMJ.
See the Finish Here tab for a link to our secure upload portal.

You’re almost done! Before submitting your data, please check the Error Report and Review Your Data tabs to make sure your survey is error-free. The last step is to go to the Finish Here tab for final instructions on how to upload your data to our secure portal. Thank you for participating!

After you upload your Excel file to our portal, you’ll gain access to a confirmation page that thanks you for your submission and gives you the option to pre-order the pdf reports at the participant price ($350 each vs. $687 each). If there is a problem with uploading, you’ll get an error message or you won’t be redirected to the confirmation page. If that’s the case, please contact us.

We'll be in touch if we have any questions about your data and we’ll email production updates in the weeks/months leading up to the release of the survey results.

Yes! Please keep a copy of the Excel file with the completed data entry. You’ll use the survey to quickly paste your firm’s results into your free benchmarking tools – it’ll save you lots of time.

See our detailed pop-up note instructions in each survey tab by hovering your cursor over cells with red triangles. Please read these instructions to ensure consistency across participating firms. You can print the instructions here: Management Compensation & Staff Compensation

Yes, you can print all the instructions here: Management Compensation & Staff Compensation. These are also included in the red pop-up comments within the survey.

Unless otherwise noted, answers should reflect your firm's compensation practices/policies in effect as of January/February 2022.

No, percentages should be entered as just the raw number – for example, 3% should be entered as 3 or 3.00, not 0.03. You do not need to add the % symbol (doing so will incorrectly divide the number by 100).

Yes, for Question 1a, indicate the current total number of employees, including all professional staff, technical staff, clerical and administrative staff, partners/principals, and the full-time equivalent for part-time staff, seasonal help, and paid interns.

To convert part-time staff, seasonal help, and paid interns to full-time equivalents, divide by 2,080 hours for U.S. or 1,950 hours for Canada. Count full-time employees who work more than 2,080 hours as one employee.

You only need to answer the positions related to your firm. If you don’t have a specific position/discipline in your firm, please skip it and leave the entire position blank.

If you have difficulty providing data for a certain metric, contact us and we’d be happy to discuss options.

We would rather you leave the item blank. However, approximation is fine.

Yes, but we ask that you convert part-time staff to full-time equivalents by multiplying their hourly salary rate by 2,080 hours for U.S. or 1,950 hours for Canada.

Canadian firms should report results in Canadian dollars. You may skip any questions not applicable to Canadian firms.

Please only provide data for A/E Services. Do not report employee data for divisions of your firm that are not involved in providing professional services.

If you do not have an individual that fills a specific title, please leave that entire position blank.

Descriptions for each management position are included in pop-up notes in the Mgt tab.

Non-management titles are self-explanatory and are based on years of experience ONLY.

Please classify your management staff into the titles we have included in this questionnaire, even if your titles are different.

Please pick a representative (median) individual rather than averaging all people in the position.

Please classify them in the position that is their primary responsibility or commitment of effort for the firm — pick the function on which he/she spends the most time (more than 50%). Please DO NOT include the same employee in multiple positions/tabs, unless they are a Project Manager who spends less than 50% of their time managing projects, as noted in the Mgt and Staff Survey tabs.

Please DO NOT include the same employee in both the MGT and STAFF data tabs, unless they are a Project Manager who spends less than 50% of their time managing projects, as noted in the Mgt and Staff Survey tabs.

Measure relevant experience from the first applicable bachelor-level degree. Years in graduate school should be counted one-for-one as if the employee were working. Relevant experience gained prior to achieving a bachelor-level degree should also be counted one-for-one. Approximation is acceptable.

No, we are asking for performance-based, discretionary bonuses only. Exclude owner distributions based on share ownership.

No, please do not include overtime pay in base salary. If a salaried employee is rewarded/paid for extra hours worked, include this in the performance bonus section. For hourly employees, do not include OT in base salary or bonus.

If a salaried employee is rewarded/paid for extra hours worked, include this in performance bonus.
For hourly employees, do not include overtime in base salary or bonus.

No, we ask for the percentage of time the manager typically spends on projects and business development (BD) only. Please note, BD is separate from general and administrative activities (G&A). The total for projects and BD does not have to total 100%.

Licensed by a governing body recognized for this position.

No, we’ve included links at the top of the survey (blue boxes) to bring you to each position or discipline, so you can more easily fill out only the positions that apply to your firm.

The number of errors is displayed at the top of each data tab. Scroll up or down throughout the survey tabs to find and fix any errors highlighted in yellow or marked in red. The text in the highlighted fields will give you more details about the error. When there are no errors, the message will display "No errors on this sheet".

The error count also shows up in the Error Report and Finish Here tabs, prompting you to go back and fix any uncorrected errors. If there’s an error you can’t find within the survey tabs, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

Billing rates should be your quoted current rates for hourly work, before negotiations with client. Because this metric includes overhead and profit, we expect billing rates to be higher than hourly salary rates. The survey will prompt you to check your numbers if your billing rates are less than twice your hourly salary rate.  We ask for dollars per hour, not the actual multiplier.

The message might be because you’ve entered a part-time employee’s salary. We ask that any part-time positions be adjusted for full-time equivalents so if your base salary falls below a certain range, our prompt double-checks whether it should be adjusted.

Convert part-time staff to full-time equivalents by multiplying their hourly salary rate by 2,080 hours for U.S. or 1,950 hours for Canada.

No, these are PSMJ’s HR/Compensation Surveys. To be eligible for the Circle of Excellence, you must participate in our annual Financial Performance Survey. It is the ONLY way to be considered for PSMJ's prestigious COE, the year's most successful firms based on 13 key survey metrics. By participating in the Financial Survey your firm will automatically be eligible for the award. Click here to learn more.