Discover how IFEAT partnered with Membership Bespoke to gain valuable market insights, benchmark salaries against industry peers, and make more informed decisions around attraction, retention and reward. 

 

Our Client - THE International Federation of Essential Oils and Aroma Trades (IFEAT) 

IFEAT is a highly specialised international trade association operating across membership, education, events and commercial activities.

The organisation sought an independent salary benchmarking review to assess whether remuneration levels remained competitive and appropriate across a number of key roles.

As with many membership organisations, the challenge was not simply finding salary data. Many roles combined responsibilities across multiple disciplines, including events, education, partnerships, membership and operations, making direct market comparisons difficult.

In addition, job titles alone did not accurately reflect the scope, commercial impact or strategic importance of individual positions.

Our Solution  

Membership Bespoke undertook a detailed role-by-role assessment, drawing upon:

  • Specialist membership-sector salary data
  • Trade association benchmarking intelligence
  • Live recruitment market insights
  • Recent placement activity and candidate trends
  • Analysis of total reward packages, including benefits, flexibility and progression opportunities

Particular focus was given to commercially important positions supporting IFEAT's flagship conference and future education growth plans, where benchmarking against both association and commercial-sector markets was required.

The review also assessed retention and attraction risks, identifying roles most vulnerable to external approaches and changing market conditions.

The Outcome

IFEAT received a strategic benchmarking report that provided:

  • Salary positioning against relevant market comparators
  • Insight into underpayment, overpayment and reward anomalies
  • Assessment of retention and recruitment risks
  • Recommendations for future salary planning and workforce development
  • Guidance on structuring evolving and growth-focused roles
  • Recommendations on employee benefits and reward packages, helping inform enhancements to staff benefits to support retention and employee engagement.

By combining specialist sector knowledge with live recruitment intelligence, the review enabled IFEAT to make evidence-based decisions around pay, benefits, retention and organisational capability, helping ensure they remained competitive in an increasingly challenging talent market.

CLIENT FEEDBACK

 Louise Kapor,

Company Secretary, IFEAT

"Dennis quickly got to grips with our organisation and understood that many of our roles don't fit neatly into standard job descriptions. The benchmarking exercise gave us a clear picture of where we sat in the market and highlighted areas we needed to think about from both a salary and benefits perspective. It helped us identify potential retention risks and gave us practical recommendations that we could actually act on. The insights have been really valuable in supporting our people strategy and future planning."