The question ranks right up there with the great mysteries of the universe: Am I making the money I deserve? Or at least as much as the slacker in the next cube?
The answer may be elusive, not to mention subjective – and can depend on which side of the manager’s desk you’re sitting on. But virtually everyone wants to know (expect professional athletes, of course, who are always insisting that their holdouts are “not about the money.”)
This quest for payday justice is why a New York Times column this weekend headlined “Using the Web to Get the Boss to Pay More” is currently the paper’s most-e-mailed item. It’s why Network World’s salary calculator and annual salary survey are always among our most popular standing features.
While employers have always held the upper hand in the compensation dance, the Internet has been altering that dynamic in recent years.
From the Times:
A few Web sites try to level the playing field by providing more detailed information about salaries. Salary.com began revealing the results of salary surveys on its site in 1999. PayScale.com is now challenging it by gathering information directly from the people who search for data. (A third site, Payscroll.com, is testing a method of trolling job listings for salary information. It will be opened to the public this month or next.)
New Internet technologies are providing information that has never been available to the average person and transforming the way they sell homes or buy airline tickets. It could have the same effect on the 47 million people who look for new jobs each month and the countless others who think they are underpaid at the ones they have.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that additional information will lead to greater satisfaction. That certainly hasn’t been evident in the Network World survey, where respondents reported this set of opinions:
They ranked overall compensation as their No. 2 priority (after job security) yet placed it last, at No. 20, when asked how satisfied they were with it. Benefits ranked No. 3 in importance but lagged in satisfaction, landing at No. 15. Base salary rated No. 4 in importance and ranked No. 11 in satisfaction.
Perhaps that’s just the way it’s always going to be.
In terms of having used them personally, I cannot vouch for any of these sites and tools – even those on the Network Word site. After all, for me, blogging and editing are “not about the money” – my devotion is to you, the reader, and, of course, the craft itself.
But don’t let that stop anyone from trying to make me an offer I can’t refuse.
