BENCHMARKING IN MSF
NEW! DATA ENGINEER WANTED
for temporary support of our team and the MSF Rewards Review. Duration August 2025 – January 2026.
Apply until 1 June!
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WHY BENCHMARKING?
Reliable information on the labour market and cost of living is not often reliable or readily available in the countries where MSF employs people. Setting salaries that are aligned to the local labour market – i.e. competitive but not disruptive – can be a challenge for decision-makers.
The Benchmarking Unit is a specialised Centre of Expertise with the purpose of supporting operations and HR in all independent sections of MSF by providing impartial labour market intelligence, economic scanning and salary benchmarks. We work as an internal service provider, both by mandate and on request.
Specially trained analysts collect data and bring together information on salaries and living wages according to a tested methodology. For more than 70 countries with MSF programmes, comprehensive surveys are conducted every 2 years. For headquarters and regional sections we work on request.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE OR ACCESS THE REPORTS?
Our surveys and studies are based on free and open sharing of information. We currently do not commercially market or sell our data to non-participants. On the other hand, all participants in a survey receive a free copy of the results right after the survey is concluded.
We currently work on a dashboard to make the results even more useful for participating organisations.
We maintain close relationships and exchange of a number of different topics with INGOs that commit to a regular participation in various countries. These organisations also receive access to the full archive.
Please contact us for more information: Anja Drame (benchmarking@oslo.msf.org)! We look forward to hearing from you.
ABOUT OUR SURVEYS
MSF benchmark studies are done as a combination of field and desk research, including data collection. But to put these data into context and ensure correct interpretation we also talk to people, visit markets, observe household practices and thus get to thoroughly understand the labour market and socioeconomic context of our studies.
Our studies analyse the competitiveness and adequacy of salaries and benefits in each local labour market segment. An estimate of the minimum household expenditure in several locations of each country helps decision makers to guarantee that we pay a Living Wage.
