Salary surveys are an essential tool for any organization.  Knowledge of the market makes it easier to make good pay decisions.  But there are always new and changing data sources.  How can we get the most out of this important resource without unnecessary spending?  Here are some tips for finding the best surveys for your organization.

1) You get what you pay for.

HR is sometimes penny wise and pound foolish when selecting survey data.  For example, in a company with $10 million in revenues it would not be unusual to have $7 million going to salaries.  Yet we are reluctant to spend 1/10^th of 1% of those salary costs ($7,000) to acquire good survey data.  To put this in perspective, imagine just one unhappy employee leaving the company because of pay inequity.  Let’s face it – employee turnover costs money.  The hidden cost of turnover more than balances the expense of good survey data.

2) Make good choices.

Select survey sources carefully.  Look at the type of companies that participate in the surveys.  If it’s not clear which companies are included in the survey data, skip it.  It’s important to be able to explain the focus of the survey.  (For example, this survey has a small manufacturing company focus, a large high-tech focus, a regional cross-industry focus or national data compilation adjusted by geographic indexes.)  Without an understanding of the focus of the survey, it’s difficult to understand if the data aligns with your organization’s strategy.  Surveys that include your direct competitors for talent are preferable to large national surveys that capture data on companies you don’t compete with.
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