Introduction

When you are setting pay levels, it’s tempting to turn to Google, job postings, or even ask ChatGPT what a role should earn. These tools provide instant answers but are they the right answers?

Understanding the difference between posted or self-reported data and employer-reported survey data can save organizations from costly mistakes in attracting and retaining talent.

What Online Sources Provide

Platforms like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Glassdoor or even ChatGPT’s summaries
of those sites give fast, free snapshots of salary information.

They can be useful to:

• Get a quick ballpark figure.
• See candidate expectations based on job postings.
• Understand what’s being advertised in the market right now.

But the limitations are big:

• Posted ranges don’t always reflect what was actually offered or accepted.
• Self-reported salaries may be incomplete or inflated.
• Data sources are unclear, inconsistent, and not always transparent.
• Results vary widely by site — a Senior Accountant in Vancouver might be shown at $70K, $80K, or $100K+, depending on which site you click.

What Quality, Professional Compensation Surveys Provide

By contrast, surveys conducted by professional compensation consulting firms are built on employer-reported actuals:

• Data is submitted directly by organizations, often covering hundreds of employers.
• Figures represent what organizations are truly paying, not just advertising.
• Methodology ensures consistency, comparability, and confidentiality.
• Results can be filtered by industry, region, or employer size, providing the detail necessary to make sound pay decisions.

The benefits are clear:

• Reliable benchmarks for budgeting, hiring, and pay equity.
• Confidence when explaining and defending pay decisions to employees.
• A more nuanced view — for example, differences by sector, location, size of organization, etc.

Due Diligence Matters

Compensation decisions carry weight. They affect employee engagement, turnover risk, and even legal compliance (think pay equity and transparency requirements). If leadership, a board, or regulators ever questioned your due diligence in how you vetted your pay data, relying on an online posting or a quick AI
answer will not stand up well.

Using high-quality survey data demonstrates:

• That you took a methodical, evidence-based approach.
• That your benchmarks are defensible if challenged.
• That decisions were based on comparable organizations, not guesses.

In contrast, basing pay on unverified online sources can look careless — even if it was convenient at the time.