Salary.com

Introduction

Pay...the last barrier in office communications. Let´s face it we all want to know if we are competitive when we negotiate salaries and we all want to know where we stand in the marketplace in terms of pay rates both as a company and as individuals. Salary.com offers us the ability to check on all of these areas quickly, and easily through their revolutionary tool "Salary Wizard."

Join us as we explore Salary.com and it´s incredible free resource "Salary Wizard."

Who knows maybe there´s a raise in it for you...?

What is it?

Salary.com is a free web-based compensation resource designed to assist   individuals, small business and HR professionals in meeting their compensation information needs.

The website offers a broad range of content covering topics like negotiation tactics, compensation advice, job descriptions, and of course detailed salary information through their innovative tool "Salary Wizard." In addition, the site has a Salary News section that highlights recent headlines related to the Compensation arena and a features section with more detailed articles on some of the hot topics in this area from salary compresssion to lay-offs.

When you reach the site, the first thing that catches your eye is the Salary Wizard. This tool is a dream for the inexperienced or pressed for time procrastinator, all you need to do is to select a job title from one of the over 800 titles available in the drop down list, a major city/sate or your zip code and voila the Salary Wizard spits out low, high and median salary ranges for that area and specific position. The big bonus comes in the end when the Salary Wizard points you in the direction of related resources from related job titles to government documents and trade associations.

How is Salary.com useful to HR Professionals?

I think the better question here would be how would Salary.com not be useful to HR...

To make it easy HR.com has rounded up a list of the functions that we feel Salary.com could assist you with and the tool that will make the job easier.

·               Confirming present compensation practices   -- Salary Wizard

·               Start your research on compensating a new or recently evolved position within your company - Salary Wizard

·               Find related Compensation Surveys, Guides and documents related to a particular industry, location or job title quickly and gain a brief overview of said item - Salary Wizard and Compensation Survey Calendar.

·               Buy top compensation related research reports or books -Compensation Bestsellers

·               Be aware of events within Organizational Development and Compensation that are happening within your area - HR Event Calendar

·               Keep current on latest events within Comp and Benefits arena - Paydirt Newsletter, Salary News.

This little known and fairly recent site has a lot of potential and merit, but best of all, access to the site and it´s contents is completely free.

How does the site and the tool "Salary Wizard" work?

How many other sites or companies do you know that provide you with a user friendly and instantaneous way to access current compensation statistics information free of charge?

Salary.com is a great place for HR professionals to start their compensation research or confirm the present compensation practices.

The Walk-through...

When you come to the site, you are greeted by the traditional homepage which highlights the available tools, the main news feature etc. The page is visually attractive and easy to navigate through. The lack of flashing graphics, and rich media is welcome and saves the viewer from needless and occasionally annoying distractions. (Thank-you!!)

Salary wizard is also located on the front page. This is a nice touch, as it spares those interested in Salary.com´s main attraction the necessity of navigation or searching.

I thought we could focus first on the site´s main draw Salary Wizard and then go over the remainder of the content of the site.

Salary Wizard is easy to use. You simply select the job title that best matches your needs from the drop down box in the uppermost area of the window and then enter either your zipcode or the major city and state closest to your location.

The state/locations choices are selected through the use of another drop down box. Currently Salary.com only has data available on the United States, International breadth is planned for the future.   You then press the "Search" button and Salary.com provides within seconds a list of job titles based on your point of inquiry to select from to create your salary report. If you are unsure of the meaning or nature of the jobs listed you can chose to view detailed descriptions about the listed positions to assist you in your decision. When this option is selected you are taken to a pop-up screen that lists all of the jobs in the area of your search, one after the other. This format is great for comparisons between job titles and prints off well should you wish to secure a copy for your records. If you are still unable to locate the title you need you are given the option of performing an advanced search against all the job titles in the database.

Once you have selected your job title of interest from one of the three available options, you select create salary report. Within seconds, a line graph appears on your screen highlighting the low, median and high base salary ranges for the position and location you selected.

Below this chart 3 options are listed that allow you to see the National average for that position, find the stats for the same job in a different location or find the pay rates for a related position in the same geographic location.   You are also provided with an option to view total compensation for position types of this nature i.e. stock options, bonuses, etc.
From this point on you are provided with additional information and lots of it!

Firstly a table is presented with a list of similar or related job titles to the one you selected. By pressing on any of the titles you automatically generate a new salary report based on your previous criteria.

After this a list of additional resources is presented, followed by a table of salary surveys you can participate in. After all these options for activity are a series of tables with reference material; Related Salary Surveys, Government Data, Trade Publications and Trade Associations.

All of the referenced activity and reference-based options are linked to the resource.

If you are unable to find the job title you were looking for you can use the FAQ help section to help you redefine your request and if this doesn´t help you can submit your suggestion to Salary.com for review through their help area.

One of the areas I wished Salary.com had for this feature was full text search function where you could enter not necessarily a job title but a number of keywords or functions and Salary.com would return a possible list of related job titles. Since job titles vary in so many companies, sometimes searching by function is the easiest way to go. In the total compensation package or even in the referenceable resources it would be handy to have a list of product vendor´s who provide these types of services and either a link to their site or contact information.

Salary Wizard is also supported by a glossary section, which explains some of the basic terms, utilized i.e. median, average etc. and how these functions are derived.

Other features of the site are the "Salary talk" area, in which readers can submit questions they have and gain insight and advice from one of Salary.com´s compensation consultants.   In this area, you can read the Compensation Consultants replies to queries, but user interaction in this section is limited to just submitting questions so if you´re looking for a chance to provide your opinions and advice or gain from insight from others within your area...you will not get it here.

The "Lighter Side" is a refreshing touch. Here you can read about unusual or out of the ordinary dream jobs and the people who perform them allowing you an insight into occupations that are out there but don´t necessarily come to mind when you think 9 to 5.

As previously mentioned the site also houses a news and feature section for reference and a weekly newsletter.

All in all, plenty to do and see on Salary.com, but few areas of encouraged user interaction and contribution. The search function was very limited, an archives area would be handy and increased geographic breadth given today´s global communities and corporations would be an incredible addition to the site.

The Vitals:

Where do they get their information?   The information is not   gathered from any single source. The bulk of their information is secured from publicly available compensation reports, government agency data and the expert advice of the staff of Salary.com

How current is the info? Depends on the area. The salary information is updated monthly while the editorial content is updated on a daily or weekly basis.

Plans for the future? More geographic breadth and more expansion of content in terms of value to the HR professional/business user.

Competitors: None really for the Salary Wizard tool, multiple competitors for the research report, salary surveys and compensation and benefit content.

Overall Evaluation:

Salary.com, is an easily accessible, understandable site with a good basic design and one incredibly well designed tool. The supporting areas of the site could use a little more work to encourage user interaction and contribution but all in all this resource has tremendous value and potential for cutting down the reference and research time for HR professionals in the compensation arena.  Salary.com, is definitely worth the visit and will no doubt earn a place on the "favorites" list of many HR Professionals!

About the Company:

Salary.com´s founder Kent Plunkett, set-up shop in November of 1999. The company officially launched their website in June of this year after a brief beta in April.

With just over 30 employees and growing Salary.com is on a mission to provide individuals, small businesses and HR Professionals whom would not be traditionally served by conventional research firms with current and accurate compensation related statistical data and information.

Salary.com generates revenue from syndication of their content and tools, advertising and through their resale marketplace.  

To learn more about Salary.com and how it can assist you visit their site at www.salary.com or contact them personally at:

Salary.com

888 Worcester St.

Suite 340,

Wellesley, MA 02482

Tel. 781-237-2441

Fax.781-237-3228