An employee comes to you claiming he’s underpaid. Why does he think so? Because a Web site told him.

It’s a problem that can occur when employees log on to sites like Salary.com and get an often inaccurate estimate of what their compensation should be.

Sometimes the estimates are just national averages, which are irrelevant in many parts of the country, or they only focus on large companies. Sometimes they just compare jobs with similar titles rather than similar responsibilities.

But that doesn’t mean any of that will occur to employees who find evidence that says they should get a huge raise. So what can the company do to mitigate the damage?

Talking about compensation

Here are two steps Finance and HR can take in that situation:

• Research yourself — Employees may have gotten the info from a less than perfect source, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t on to something. It’s a good idea to periodically gather useful data about compensation — from industry associations, your peers and your competitors — and see how competitive you are. Averages can change often.
• Sit down — Often, especially at smaller companies, one employee will make a discovery like this and spread the word to everyone else. Make sure you react quickly and sit down with the complainant and explain how the sites work and why they aren’t always accurate before the complaints start pouring in.
  

Tags: compensation, salary, Web site