How MAPP Built a Pay Strategy You Can't Argue With

About MAPP

MAPP manages property portfolios worth over £30bn, offering services from building consultancy and asset transformation to mobilisation and renewable energy. With 680 employees spanning from Brighton to Dundee, MAPP is a people-first B Corp on a mission to deliver outstanding service while building a workplace where people thrive.

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Highlights

• 680 employees across the UK
• £30bn+ of property assets managed
• People-first B Corp
• Adopted HR DataHub in 2024
  
  

The challenge: Static data makes poor foundations

“We look after everything from giant glass towers to tiny two-storey buildings and everyone’s called a ‘Building Manager’. Trying to set fair pay across that scale was a nightmare.” Sean Greathead , Head of People & Talent, MAPP

As MAPP grew, Sean Greathead, Head of People and Talent, faced an impossible task: setting fair salaries across 680 people scattered from Brighton to Dundee, doing roles that looked the same on paper but varied hugely in scope.

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Recruiters gave subjective figures, surveys were outdated, and gathering data manually could swallow up months, especially as pay reviews became more frequent to keep up with fast-moving graduate salaries.

Sean needed a solution that could deliver real-time, objective benchmarks, account for regional and role variations, and give him credible evidence to defend pay decisions without months of spreadsheets.

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Highlights

• Huge regional and role-based disparities
• Dependent on subjective recruiter/survey data
• Pay reviews took months
• Sean needed credible evidence to defend decisions
  
  

From Months Into Minutes

“I used to spend three months proving someone wasn’t underpaid. Now I pull the data in minutes — and the conversation ends in silence. You can’t argue with real data.”

Sean brought in HR DataHub after an initial trial and everything changed.

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Instead of trawling through surveys and recruiter emails, he can now pull live salary data from millions of job ads in just a few clicks. Roles are compared like-for-like, adjusted for location and skills, and always reflect the real market rate.

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That shift freed him from months of admin and gave him back the time to have proper, people-focused conversations with managers and employees.

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Highlights

• Real-time salary data from millions of job ads
• Benchmarks tailored to role, region, and industry
• Irrefutable evidence to support decisions
• Pay reviews reduced from months to days
  
  

From Data Debates to Strategic Conversations

“We’re no longer arguing about the data — we’re discussing how to move people into the right place using the data.”

The difference has been profound. Instead of debating salaries, Sean and his team now focus on how to move people to where they should be. They can see exactly where each person sits against the market midpoint, track how pay bands shift over time, and make decisions with total confidence.

“Rather than spending all our time finding information, HR DataHub gives us the right data straight away so we can spend our time talking to people instead.”

It hasn’t just made pay reviews faster, it’s made them strategic. Conversations are now about growth, retention and fairness, not defending figures.

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‍Highlights

• Moves debate from “what should we pay” to “how do we get there”
• Enables proactive, strategic pay planning
• Builds trust and credibility with leadership
• Frees up time to focus on people
  
  

Turning Data Into Long-Term Change

“If you just want to benchmark three roles, you can Google that. The real power is using it strategically — to understand where your people are, where you want them to be, and how to get them there.”

With HR DataHub, Sean has gone beyond pay reviews. The platform shows how salaries shift over time, helping him anticipate challenges before they arise.

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It’s also given him the tools to tackle deeper issues like gender, ethnicity and social mobility pay gaps. Instead of reacting after the fact, Sean can now see where different groups sit within the market, and build a clear plan to move them to where they should be.

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Highlights

• Powers strategic DEI interventions
• Provides year-on-year pay movement tracking
• Builds internal and external trust in pay fairness
• Positions HR as a strategic partner
  
  

The Result: Real-Time Data is Indispensable

“It’s gone from being a helpful tool to a critical part of how I do my job. If it disappeared tomorrow, the whole process would grind to a halt — that’s the difference it’s made.”

For Sean, HR DataHub is now a cornerstone of how MAPP operates. It gives his team the clarity and credibility to reward people fairly, compete in a fast-moving market, and keep their workforce engaged.

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Highlights

• Now integral to MAPP’s pay review process
• Seen as essential HR infrastructure
• Builds trust with leadership and employees
  
• Underpins MAPP’s people-first culture

Want to make solid, strategic pay decisions in a fraction of the time and back every conversation with real market truth? Book a demo of HR DataHub.