How the numbers hold up
A benchmark is only worth as much as it can be defended. Here is exactly how a lumi figure is built — the definition behind it, how the data is validated, how the maths works, and how deep your peer group really is — so it survives a Remuneration Committee, not just a first glance.
One standard definition
Every metric has a single, published definition and unit, so every member answers the same question the same way. No two organisations are quietly measuring different things.
Validated on entry
Answers are checked as they are entered — units are enforced, and out-of-range or internally inconsistent responses are flagged before they ever reach the pool.
Medians, not averages
Every comparison is a median or percentile across valid peer answers. One unusually generous — or unusually lean — organisation can't drag your position around.
The n≥5 floor
Any figure resting on fewer than 5 organisations is suppressed everywhere — on screen, in exports, in board packs. If a peer cut is too thin to be safe, you see that, not a fragile number.
Percentiles, cited
Percentiles are computed by linear interpolation across the valid peer set, and every figure carries its percentile, peer group and n (the number of organisations behind it). Nothing is unattributed.
Real member data
Every figure comes from a real UK organisation that submitted it. Nothing is scraped, purchased or modelled — which is exactly why each number can cite the organisations behind it.
How deep is your peer group?
The honest answer to the question every RemCo asks. You choose the lens; lumi shows you the depth behind it — and suppresses anything too thin.
Choose your lens
- All peers — the full UK pool, the deepest cut.
- Your sector — one of 14 UK sectors.
- Your size band — from 50 to 10,000+ employees.
- Organisations most like you, or a custom peer group you build.
And how many sit behind it
- Most metrics: 150–220 organisations at the all-peer level. Specialist metrics run thinner — every figure carries its exact n.
- 29–36 in each employee-size band.
- 8–15 in each sector, where virtually every metric still clears the floor.
- Every peer cut carries a confidence label: 20 or more organisations reads as High confidence; 5–19 reads as Directional — a steer, not a verdict.
- Cross a sector and a size band and the pool thins — where fewer than 5 organisations remain, lumi suppresses the figure rather than show you something fragile.
Illustrative, for a fictional organisation. The last row falls below the n≥5 floor, so lumi suppresses it (shown as “—”) rather than publish a figure resting on too few organisations. On the demo, we show the real depth for your cut.
Kept current
- The benchmark recomputes as members contribute and update their data — it is a living pool, not a once-a-year snapshot.
- When your position moves against your peers, a signal fires and lumi emails the right people — ranked by market gap, with the evidence and n attached.
- Every figure states the peer group and n at the moment it was produced, so an exported board pack is always self-describing.
What lumi deliberately does not do
- It does not benchmark base salary — it benchmarks the rest of reward, and is designed to sit alongside a pay survey, not replace it.
- It holds no individual employee records — it benchmarks reward practices and policies, so there is nothing personal in the pool.
- It does not fill gaps with modelled or estimated numbers — if the data isn't there or is too thin, you're told, not shown a guess.
See it computed on your own data
Book a 20-minute walkthrough — we'll show you the real depth of your peer group and how each figure is built, live.