Check whether your earnings are in line with the market: salary comparison websites, job offer ranges and salary reports. Simple tips on how to compare UoP and B2B, gross and net, and how to draw meaningful conclusions from data.
Salary comparison websites: where to check if your salary is right?
The question of whether our salary is at the right level almost always comes down to three things: form of employment (UoP vs B2B), city/region and whether you compare gross and net. Of course, there are many other nuances, but what I mentioned is the most common starting point. It should also be remembered that different sources present different, often significantly different values. Some take data from offers available online, others from official statistics, and still others… from the air. I think it’s worth approaching it a bit like the real estate market. First we check various sources and only then we draw conclusions.
Forks from advertisements
If ranges in offers are common in your industry (e.g. IT and some office roles), this is the quickest way to understand what budget companies are putting on the table. This is especially useful when you are planning a job change or negotiating a raise.
Beware of pitfalls here:
- the ranges can be “up to”, and the upper limit is for the ideal profile of an employee, a person with the most experience or for people who negotiate hard (of course, can afford it),
- some offers mix the base with a bonus/commission,
- comparing UoP and B2B without calculating costs often gives misleading conclusions.
Free comparison sites
PensjoMetr (PayLab)
PensjoMetr works as a salary calculator based on a salary survey: you enter the position, location, experience and several work parameters, and the tool shows the distribution and reference point for similar profiles. According to the creators of the tool, the database is based on approved salary profiles from the last 12 months. Data can be filtered, among others: by region and job level.
IleKto.pl
IleKto.pl is a Polish platform focused on “market check” of salaries and salary transparency. The description of the tool emphasizes the anonymity of the comparison and the fact that the result is not just one number “from the ceiling”, but a comparison against the market background (e.g. through the median/percentiles and distribution). This perspective is useful when you want to answer the question “where am I in terms of salary range” instead of comparing yourself only to the average.
My Pay (wynagroczenia.pl)
Moja Płaca is an extensive salary comparison website that shows data for specific positions with the option of specifying the profile (e.g. region, company size, seniority, education). The service requires creating an account to have access to more detailed data.
Payroll reports and studies
If you want a more “report-like” approach (often used in HR and to build pay policies), Sedlak & Sedlak publishes periodic studies on remuneration. The descriptions of their research include information about the scope (number of positions/companies/employees) and the availability of general and industry reports.
International salary comparison tools
Paylab
Paylab is a platform that allows you to compare salaries internationally (e.g. the same role in different countries). The website directly states the size of the database: hundreds of thousands of approved salary profiles from the last 12 months. This tool is particularly useful if you are considering relocation or working for a foreign company and want to have a “country-level” reference point.
Glassdoor / Payscale / Salary.com
Global comparisons also often include platforms that aggregate user declarations and market data in the “crowdsourcing + estimation” model. Their advantage is the scale and availability of international comparisons, but in practice it is worth treating the results as indicative (especially outside the markets where these websites have the largest database), and not as an “oracle” in negotiations.
Comparisons between countries
Important note here. When you compare salaries between countries, the currency amount itself can be misleading. Two full-time jobs with the same nominal salary may mean a completely different standard of living depending on the prices of housing, services, transport and taxes. Therefore, a sensible complement to salary comparison websites are cost of living calculators and PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) converters, which try to answer the practical question: “how much can you really buy for this salary in a given country?”
How to check your earnings sensibly
To check your earnings without guessing, it is worth comparing data on the same principles and narrowing the context step by step:
- collect a reference point from the market: find several current offers for a role as close as possible to yours (level, industry, location, company size) and note the range;
- check 2-3 survey-based comparators: choose ones that show median and percentiles, not one “average” number;
- check the same type of settlement: compare UoP with UoP, B2B with B2B (or convert B2B to an equivalent level, taking into account costs);
- specify what you are comparing: gross with gross, net with net, and treat bonuses/commissions/benefits separately instead of adding them to the base;
- when working for foreign companies, add the context of purchasing power: the same amount may mean a completely different standard of living depending on the prices of apartments and services (this is important when you are planning to move);
- assess whether you are at the bottom of the range, around the median or closer to the upper limit, and what exactly would have to change (scope of responsibility, competences, industry, type of company) to realistically aim higher.
