---
title: Ravio glossary
description: Plain-English definitions of the compensation and Ravio terms you’ll see in the platform and across our Help Centre.
---
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# Ravio glossary
## Plain-English definitions of the compensation and Ravio terms you’ll see in the platform and across our Help Centre.
This glossary explains the terms we use in Ravio so you can read your benchmarks, bands and reports with confidence. The terms are grouped by topic.
#### Job architecture
**Job family**
A group of job positions that involve related work, for example Engineering, Sales or People. Some companies call these departments.
**Job position**
The most specific title for an employee’s role, for example Backend Engineer or Account Executive. Positions sit within a job family.
**Job level**
A way of grouping roles by responsibility and seniority. Levels let you compare like with like, for example a mid-level engineer against other mid-level engineers.
**Levelling framework**
The structure that defines your company’s job levels and what’s expected at each one, such as skills, experience and responsibilities. Ravio has its own levelling framework, which we use to compare roles across companies.
**Ravio’s job taxonomy**
Our standard list of roles. Companies often use different titles for the same job, for example Product Support Associate and Product Support Specialist. We match these to one role in our taxonomy so we can benchmark them fairly.
**Level mapping**
Matching your company’s levels to Ravio’s levels, so your employees are benchmarked against the right part of the market. Read more [here](https://help.ravio.com/level-mapping?hsLang=en).
**Ravio levels as your source of truth**
If your company doesn’t have its own levelling framework, our team can assign your employees to Ravio’s levels instead. Read more [here](https://ravio.com/blog/mapping-employees-to-the-ravio-level-framework).
#### Types of compensation
**Base salary**
The fixed amount an employee is paid each year before tax, not including bonuses, commission, equity or benefits.
**Variable compensation**
Pay that changes depending on how the employee, their team or the company performs, such as bonuses and commission.
**On-target earnings (OTE)**
What an employee would earn if they hit 100% of their targets: base salary plus their target variable pay. OTE is the target amount, not what the employee actually receives.
**Total cash**
Base salary plus variable cash compensation, for example bonuses and commission.
**Equity**
Ownership in the company given to employees, usually as share options or shares. It’s common at startups and scale-ups.
**EMI share options**
A tax-advantaged share option scheme in the UK. Employees get the option to buy company shares at a fixed price in the future.
**Long-term incentive plan (LTIP)**
Equity or deferred pay that rewards employees over several years, designed to keep them at the company. LTIPs are most common in executive pay.
**Benefits**
Non-cash rewards such as pension contributions, health insurance and holiday allowance.
**Total compensation (total comp)**
Everything an employee receives for their work.
#### How we process your pay data
**Annualisation**
Converting pay into an annual figure so it can be compared fairly. For example, if an employee is paid a monthly rate, we convert it into an annual salary.
**Full-time equivalent (FTE)**
How much of a full-time week an employee works. An FTE of 1 (or 100%) means full time. Someone working 20 hours a week in a 40-hour role has an FTE of 0.5.
**Note**: If your HRIS already stores the full-time salary for part-time employees, let us know. Otherwise, applying FTE again can make their salary look higher than it is.
**Field mapping**
Telling Ravio which field in your HRIS holds which piece of information. For example, if you store job titles in a custom field called “Position”, field mapping makes sure Ravio reads job titles from that field. We set this up for you when you connect your HRIS.
**Data sync**
If you’ve connected your HRIS, Ravio automatically pulls in your latest employee data on a regular schedule. Changes you make in your HRIS appear in Ravio after the next sync.
#### Benchmarking
**Compensation benchmark**
A view of what the market pays for a specific job position and level. It shows you how pay is distributed across companies like yours.
**Percentile**
A point in the market’s pay distribution. For example, the 50th percentile (the median) is the middle point: half the market pays more and half pays less.
**Filters**
Options that narrow your benchmarks to the companies most relevant to you. Filters can include location (country and city), revenue, industry, funding round, headcount and headcount growth.
**Market slice**
A custom view of the market that you add to your benchmarks to make them more relevant to your company.
**Real-time benchmarking**
Ravio’s benchmarks update as companies in our dataset hire new people or change pay, so you see a live view of the market rather than a yearly survey.
#### Pay structures and processes
**Salary bands**
The pay range for a role at a given level, from a minimum to a maximum, with a midpoint in between. Bands help you make fair, consistent pay decisions. Some companies call these pay ranges or salary ranges.
**Compa-ratio**
How an employee’s salary compares to the midpoint of their salary band. A compa-ratio of 1.00 (or 100%) means they’re paid exactly at the midpoint. A compa-ratio of 0.85 (or 85%) means they’re paid 15% below it.
**Compensation philosophy**
Your company’s agreed approach to pay, for example whether you aim to pay at the 50th or 75th percentile, and how you balance base salary against variable pay. It guides decisions on bands, offers and reviews.
**Compensation review**
The regular process, usually once or twice a year, where a company reviews performance and decides on pay rises, bonuses and other changes. Also called a merit cycle or merit review.
**Pay equity**
Making sure employees doing the same or similar work are paid fairly, regardless of personal characteristics such as gender. In Ravio, pay equity analysis shows you how fair pay is across your company.
**Pay transparency**
How openly a company shares pay information. This can range from telling employees their own salary band to publishing every band, or even individual salaries.
#### Regulation
**EU Pay Transparency Directive**
European Union legislation that requires employers to be more open about pay. This includes sharing salary ranges with candidates and reporting on gender pay gaps. Read more in our [EU Pay Transparency Directive guide](https://ravio.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-eu-pay-transparency-directive).
**Pro tip**: If a term you see in Ravio isn’t listed here, use the search bar or the AI chat on the Help Centre.
#### Still need a hand?
Contact your Customer Success Manager or email [support@ravio.com](mailto:support@ravio.com). You can also use the "Contact us" button on the top right hand side of this article.
*Last updated: 21 October 2026*
- [Getting started](https://help.ravio.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Onboarding](https://help.ravio.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#onboarding)
- [Benchmarking](https://help.ravio.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#benchmarking)
- [Pay equity](https://help.ravio.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#pay-equity)
- [Video guides](https://help.ravio.com/getting-started?hsLang=en#video-guides)
- [Integrations and data sharing](https://help.ravio.com/integrations-and-data-sharing?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Setting up your HRIS integration](https://help.ravio.com/integrations-and-data-sharing?hsLang=en#setting-up-your-hris-integration)
- [Variable and equity data](https://help.ravio.com/integrations-and-data-sharing?hsLang=en#variable-and-equity-data)
- [Manually sharing employee data](https://help.ravio.com/integrations-and-data-sharing?hsLang=en#manually-sharing-employee-data)
- [Setting up your ATS integration](https://help.ravio.com/integrations-and-data-sharing?hsLang=en#setting-up-your-ats-integration)
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- [Video guides](https://help.ravio.com/integrations-and-data-sharing?hsLang=en#video-guides)
- [Ravio feature guides](https://help.ravio.com/ravio-feature-guides?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Salary bands](https://help.ravio.com/ravio-feature-guides?hsLang=en#salary-bands)
- [Explore the market](https://help.ravio.com/ravio-feature-guides?hsLang=en#explore-the-market)
- [Employee mapping & levelling](https://help.ravio.com/ravio-feature-guides?hsLang=en#employee-mapping-levelling)
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- [Analyse your company](https://help.ravio.com/ravio-feature-guides?hsLang=en#analyse-your-company)
- [EU Pay Transparency](https://help.ravio.com/ravio-feature-guides?hsLang=en#eu-pay-transparency)
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- [Benchmarking and data confidence](https://help.ravio.com/benchmarking-and-data-confidence?hsLang=en#main-content)
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