Getting what you're worth
Online salary data helps level the playing field in salary negotiations.
Hike many employees, Todd Britton felt he was underpaid.
A few months before his annual performance review, Mr. Britton was surfing the Internet and noticed a banner ad for Salary.com, which offers free salary data and personalized data for a fee.
"I went to their website and looked at their offer," he recalls. "For the price, I felt that if the personalized data helped me get a raise, I would be ahead of the game. If the data didn't help me get a raise, I would at least be more informed about how I fit into the industry."
Britton, a senior network analyst at American Suzuki Motor Corp. in Brea, Calif., reviewed the information from Salary.com and looked for additional online resources to validate the data.
"I then provided all this data, along with documentation of my accomplishments and completed projects, to my direct supervisor and my manager, and asked for an opportunity to review everything with them," he says.
The salary information indicated that there was a marked difference between what the industry was paying locally and what Britton was earning.
"Obtaining the data better prepared me for the entire salary negotiation process," he says. "I felt much more informed and justified in my beliefs. In essence, I felt validated."
Britton got his raise. "My manager had done his own research, but with the information I obtained, he was able to get a much better picture of the industry and how we fit in," Britton says. "He later told me that he was able to use all the data to help justify a salary increase to upper management."
For most employees, accurate, up-to-date information about the market value of a job was virtually unobtainable until just a few years ago.
Employers commonly purchased expensive survey data and held the information closely; employees relied on sketchy anecdotal reports from colleagues at other firms.
With the Internet, everything has changed. Employees now have access to current, geographically specific salary data for a wide range of jobs.
In addition to salary sites such as Salary.com, industry groups post survey data with salaries for specific job titles. Online cost-of-living calculators allow users to see what their salary is worth in another city. The big job boards often provide salary data on their websites for job seekers. Dilbert.com offers a Catbert salary calculator.
Many potential employees now walk into job interviews with solid information on market rates for the position they seek. Existing employees sit down for their performance reviews with full knowledge of what competing companies pay for their position.
"Job seekers must ask themselves, 'How much are my skills and experience worth to this employer?'" says Michael Caggiano, CEO of TrueCareers, an online job board. "Until recently, they were at a loss in answering this question because of the difficulty in finding reliable salary information. Job candidates want a good salary that reflects how much a company values their skills and experience, and online salary data is the fastest way to achieve this goal."
Jay Tetzloff is settling into a new job as vice president for a consulting firm in the Twin Cities area. He used online data from Salary.com to boost his total starting compensation package from just under $85,000 to more than $125,000.
After the company made its original offer, Mr. Tetzloff says, "I looked online because I knew I was worth more, but didn't have any independent source to verify my gut feeling. The salary report helped me think of all the factors affecting my market value past positions held, education, the local market, and my total experience."
