CASE STUDY

Aligning Compensation Philosophy Across a Multi-Location Oil Workforce

October 29, 2026

A Texas-based oil and gas operator, with a headquarters in Fort Worth and field operations in West Texas, had built a capable internal HR team, but the company lacked dedicated compensation expertise. Leadership needed an outside partner who could benchmark pay against the market and rebuild the structures behind it, so BPM was engaged to lead the effort.

The Problem

The company’s existing pay structures had not been rebuilt with a clear, consistent rationale, and one issue stood out immediately: how to handle the pay gap between corporate headquarters in Fort Worth and field locations in West Texas.

Leadership also had not yet aligned on more fundamental questions about its compensation philosophy, including whether and how to reward performance, how to weigh tenure, and how to account for cost-of-living differences across locations. Without that alignment, the company risked building pay ranges that would not hold up to scrutiny or support consistent decision-making.

The Solution

BPM traveled onsite to Fort Worth to lead the company’s compensation philosophy discussion in person, at leadership’s request. The in-person format proved effective: with the full leadership team in the room and engaged, BPM guided a candid conversation around the tradeoffs of pay-for-performance models, including how to define performance at the individual, division, and company level, how to weigh performance against tenure, and how to account for geographic differences without discouraging natural retention in lower-cost locations.

From that discussion, BPM helped the company build a compensation philosophy document, an outward-facing summary suitable for recruiting alongside a more detailed internal guide connecting philosophy to day-to-day pay decisions. BPM then built out salary ranges for the positions the company needed most, giving leadership a practical framework for applying the new philosophy going forward.

The Outcome

The company now has clear, market-informed salary ranges and a documented compensation philosophy that leadership helped shape firsthand. The engagement has proven durable. The company checks in with BPM infrequently, a sign the ranges and framework are working as intended, and remains a willing reference for prospective BPM clients.

Ready to Bring Leadership to the Table on Compensation?

Whether your organization spans multiple locations, is weighing a shift toward pay-for-performance, or simply needs a compensation philosophy leadership can stand behind, BPM’s compensation colleagues can facilitate the conversation and build the framework to support it. Contact BPM to start the conversation