Two years after moving our structure review from annual to biennial: what happened

In 2024 we stopped moving our salary structure every year. I am at a public body in Australia with about 2,200 staff, and annual market movement had been running at 2–2.5% for some time. The thinking was that a biennial review would save effort and the ranges were wide enough to cope.

Then the market for our technical and policy specialist roles moved 6% in a single year. By the time the review came round, 17% of new hire offers needed an exception to pay above the hiring guideline, and recruiters had stopped trusting the ranges.

We have gone back to annual, with a light-touch check each September. Interested in how others set cadence.