Template

Salary review meeting template

Decide pay changes for the year: the budget, how pay compares with the market and within the team, and each person's increase — fairly, and in a way you can explain.

60 minutesFor Leadership, managers and HR or financeAgenda room
Change the agenda first

The agenda, with a time for each part

  1. The budget and the rules10 min
    • How much is there, and how is it split?
  2. How we compare with the market10 min
    • Where are we behind for roles we need to keep?
  3. Fairness inside the team15 min
    • Are people doing the same work paid the same?
  4. Increases, person by person20 min
    • What does each person get, and why?
  5. How we tell people5 min
    • Who tells whom, when, and what do they say?

How the notes read afterwards

A made-up example, so you can see the shape. In a real call each line carries the words that were said and who said them.

Budget. 5% of total pay.

Market. Engineers 8% below similar companies; support in line.

Fairness. Two support leads paid $6k apart for the same role — closed first.

Told. Managers meet each person in the week of the 10th.

Running it well

Ways to change it

Small companyFounders decide with one adviser; same steps, shorter.
Off-cycleFor a single person who has taken on more, the same questions in fifteen minutes.

When to skip it. If there is no budget for increases this year — but then say so openly and explain when you will look again.

Questions

What is a salary review?

A regular process, often yearly, where an employer decides changes to pay based on budget, market rates, fairness and performance.

How do companies decide pay rises?

Usually from a budget, comparisons with market pay for each role, internal fairness, and each person's role, growth and performance.

How should managers communicate a salary change?

In a conversation, explaining the new pay, how it was decided and what would affect future increases.

What happens in the room

Everybody joins from the link, with no account. The agenda sits beside the call and each item fills in with what was said about it, under the name of the person who said it.

More templates

Disciplinary meetingA formal meeting about a serious conduct or performance concern: set out the concern and the evidence, hear the employee's side fully, and decide the outcome afterwards — following your written policy.Return-to-work meetingA short, supportive conversation when someone comes back after time off — illness, parental leave, a long break — to catch them up and agree what would help them settle back in.Promotion conversationA manager and an employee talk honestly about the next level: what it requires, where they already show it, what is missing, and a realistic plan and timeline.Stay interviewAsk a valued person, while they are still happy enough to stay, what keeps them, what might pull them away, and what would make their work better — and then act on it.Team building sessionTime set aside for a team to get to know each other as people and see how they work together — useful when new people join, teams merge, or things feel strained.New manager onboardingThe first proper conversation with someone newly managing a team: what is expected of them, what the team is like, the first decisions they face, and who will support them.Hiring intake meetingBefore a job is advertised, the recruiter and the hiring manager agree what the person will actually do, what they must already be able to do, how they will be assessed, and the timeline.Phone screenA short first call with a candidate: check the basics fit both ways — the role, the pay, the timing, the must-have skills — before anybody spends hours on interviews.

All 162 templates →

Try Meetful

Meetings that take their own notes

Free video meetings in the browser: every line of the transcript under the name of who said it, and the summary and action items when you hang up. Nothing to install — guests just open the link.

Try Meetful freeSee what it does