A “Market Reference Point” (MRP) is assigned to each position. It is derived from the average actual paid salary in the external labor market according to salary survey data or, if benchmark data is not available, on comparisons with benchmarked positions. The MRP represents the salary level of an employee who has attained complete mastery of the position requirements to the extent that he/she can fully execute all of the essential job functions of the position. The MRP presumes that the employee has acquired all of the requisite job knowledge, skills and abilities and, importantly, has demonstrated these over some specified period of time.