Compensation Survey Provider Review: Salary.com

Reliable, comprehensive compensation data is an essential resource for large enterprises, small companies, and workers. With the right platform and software, like Salary.com, employers can correctly gauge competitive salaries, obtain and retain top-tier talent, and manage compensation expenditures efficiently. Likewise, career and job seekers can accurately understand pay in their profession, fair wages for their specific qualifications, and compare compensation and benefits across employers and locations.

Salary.com is one of the leading collectors and providers of transparent salary and benefits information today. Hospitals, medical centers, clinics, and other firms hiring physicians can utilize their research, advanced software, and tools to provide attractive and equitable compensation. Physicians can access Salary.com’s professional tools. Whether they are applying for a new job, searching for the best employer, or negotiating a contract, they can find dependable salary research, helpful calculators, and comparison opportunities.

This guide will reveal more about Salary.com and how employers and medical professionals can benefit from their services.

What Is Salary.com?

Salary.com is a trusted source for compensation data, intuitive software, helpful tools, and practice information for employers and employees. They offer numerous resources including:

• Country and worldwide market data
• Survey data and market sets
• Compensation software with market pricing, survey management, salary structuring, analytics, merit modeling, labor cost forecasting, pay equity planning, job description management, and access to a professional community.
• Consulting services
• Survey participation opportunities

This resource is imperative for a thriving business and medical practice. The state-of-the-art cloud-based software delivers accurate, up-to-date salary information. It connects companies with an extensive database of HR-reported data and helps price jobs quickly and easily, identify potential pay issues within the organization, and create streamlined pay models. As a result, organizations can attract top-tier talent with competitive compensation packages, advance careers within their company with predictable pay models, and retain top physicians and other staff.

When physicians are looking for a job or considering a specific position, they can turn to Salary.com for services such as:

• Salary information for careers, roles, skill sets, industries, companies, and locations
• A customized salary report geared toward personal and market information
• Benefits calculator or custom benefits report
• Cost of living calculator looking at salary and cost of living in particular locations
• Minimum wage identifier for the location
• Salary search engine by the specific employer
• Job search and job alerts
• Salary search for skills
• Articles and guides

With such robust information, physicians can walk into interviews and negotiations fully informed about their worth in terms of salary. They can understand how benefits can factor into their compensation and what they may be looking for in a compensation package. If medical professionals need assistance finding their dream job, they can use the advanced job search, resume posting, and job alert functions.

History of Salary.com

Salary.com built its reputation as a credible data source and useful tool over a long history. Cal Brown, Kent and Kevin Plunkett, and Yong Zhang founded the company in 1999. The company became public just under a decade later, in 2007. Shortly after, in 2010, Kenexa acquired the company for $80 million. In 2012, IBM acquired Kenexa, which brought Salary.com under IBM’s wing. IBM has a keen interest in developing advanced analytics tools, including those that company management and Human Resources departments could use to benefit businesses. However, the founding team saw more potential in Salary.com. In early 2016, IBM sold the company back to the founders under H.I.G. Capital. Since then, they built the company into the popular online-software platform and database it is today.

In the summer of 2022, Salary.com earned the Constellation ShortList award for its superior compensation management. They can add this honor alongside their well-deserved Human Capital Management Digital Innovation Award and Gold Stevie® Award. These recognitions cement Salary.com as a top-tier technology and resource for organizations to meet their compensation and talent goals.

Read this: What a Physician Should Do If They Just Started a Job and Got Another Offer

Where Does Salary.com Get Their Data?

Salary.com prides itself on providing accurate compensation information based on many aspects of careers and jobs. Accordingly, they must have reliable sources and collection methods for their data.

The domain prioritizes retrieving information from the Human Resources departments, as they deal directly with hiring employees, managing and rolling out salaries, and employee benefits. They also provide and collect surveys from employers, building a full-picture view of compensation for all posts and positions. Their large team of experts validates all data before publishing it on their platform.

Types of Data

Healthcare facilities and medical professionals need access to specific data sets to ensure they understand equitable compensation completely. Salary.com collects a wide range of information for precisely this reason. Their main interests include:

• Base pay rates
• Bonuses/incentives
• Commissions/tips
• Total cash compensation
• Pay structures
• Job Departments
• Job Levels
• Job descriptions
• Full-time or part-time statuses
• Education levels
• Experience levels
• Skill Sets
• Company sizes
• Locations
• Company or organization revenues
• Insurance
• Benefits

For healthcare and medical surveys, Salary.com also focuses on domain-centric aspects such as:

• Types of healthcare providers
• Number of patients
• Number of beds
• Number of FTEs
• Profit statuses
• Sector statuses
• Industry segments
• Teaching statuses
• Union statuses
• Shift differentials
• On-call statuses
• Hours worked per week
• Patient visits per week

Related: A Step-by-Step Guide to Physician Work -Life Balance

Surveys Available

Salary.com provides more than 30 surveys that collect regional, national and global compensation data. Employers hiring medical professionals may take an interest in any of the following specific surveys:

• Benchmark Pro Survey: Compensation data across industries
• Benefits USA Survey: Benefits data such as health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, paid time off, and retirement.
• Executive Compensation Survey: Compensation data for senior job positions.
• Not-For-Profit Survey: Data and insights concerning professions in the not-for-profit sector.
• HR Metrics Survey: Human Resources practices and policies and their performance data.
• Pay Practices And Compensation Strategy Survey: Pay practices data.
• National Salary Budget Survey: Budgets for salary increases data based on various metrics (market shifts, merit increases, cost-of-living increases, etc.).
• Physician & Mid-Level Practitioners Survey: Compensation data specific to physicians and medical practitioners.
• Healthcare Survey: Compensation data particular to the healthcare sector.

Last Publish Date

One of Salary.com’s data and analytics platform appeals is that it always provides up-to-date information. In this way, employers and employees can make educated decisions about compensation based on the current market. Their experts consistently validate incoming data, although specific survey reports (such as the healthcare and physician surveys) update quarterly.

Sample Size

Each survey has a different sample size. Some surveys have hundreds of thousands of participants, while others have under ten thousand. Depending on the study’s goal, they look at relevant metrics influencing certain job positions, departments within companies, industries, or locations. In particular, the Healthcare Survey includes 3.1 million incumbents, 1,800 organizations, and 26,000 participants. The Physician & Mid-Level Practitioners Survey considers 910,000 incumbents, 598 organizations, and 6,400 participants.

Methodology

Salary.com works as a long-term, constantly updating research study. It collects, analyzes, and presents data consistently for thousands of job positions and considers multiple elements of those positions.

Since this is the case, Salary.com designs its surveys to assess crucial aspects typically affecting salaries. They offer financial incentives for employers and Human Resources departments to participate in their surveys, ensuring answers to their questions come from reputable sources. In addition, their analysts and consultants thoroughly assess the reported data to ensure its validity.

Every published compensation report looks at base pay, bonuses/incentives, commissions/tips, and total cash compensation. They will look at market percentiles involved in these categories based on several elements. Accordingly, employees and career seekers who search for specific salaries will find averages based on these numbers. Their reports will also provide a range, providing an objective perspective on pay variance.

Related: Medical-Licensing: State Guides

How Can A Physician Participate in the Survey?

Although physicians can access content from Salary.com, they cannot participate in the surveys directly. Instead, their employer or HR department must report the data on their salaries and benefits since the platform does not collect information that could be from unreliable sources.

Employers can participate and access data by visiting the U.S. Survey Catalog or Global Survey Catalog and searching for their preferred survey. Next, they can select a participant package, add additional users, and choose a subscription period. After purchasing their package, they can submit data.

How Does Salary.com Compare?

Choosing between compensation data collectors and providers can be challenging. It is understandable to wonder if Salary.com’s software platform or professional tools are worth it. Consider comparing leading survey providers such as Medscape, MGMA, Sullivan Cotter, and Merritt Hawkins.

Medscape

Medscape is a website and application providing the latest news and information for physicians and medical professionals. They conduct surveys, provide data, and produce insights related to healthcare, including an annual Medscape Physician Compensation Report. In doing so, Medscape considers compensation, hours worked, patient visits, the profession’s rewarding aspects, and the job’s challenging elements. Although these aspects are domain-specific, they are not as wide-reaching as Salary.com. Medscape also collects the information via targeted, paid surveys and interviews with physicians, while Salary.com relies on employer-reported data. That said, one of its significant benefits is free access. There is no risk in accessing and analyzing the provided research.

MGMA

Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) is an organization serving the healthcare industry and its professions. They offer the latest news, informative articles for employers and employees, networking opportunities, educational certifications, and cutting-edge data. Their MGMA DataDive helps small medical practices and medical professionals find the right salaries and benefits. Only members of the MGMA can access the reports. In comparison to Salary.com, MGMA offers a more curated, industry-specific experience.

Sullivan Cotter

Sullivan Cotter is a consulting firm working with healthcare centers and facilities to study compensation and workplace strategies. They conduct a Physician Compensation and Productivity Survey, similar to Salary.com. In addition, they have an extensive compensation and benefits database, which takes into account organizations, professions, levels, locations, and product information. Sullivan Cotter also has similar pricing to Salary.com. Participants can access data for $975 and healthcare non-participants for $3,900.

Merritt Hawkins

Merritt Hawkins is a physician recruitment agency helping healthcare organizations find excellent physicians to fill their open positions. They collect and provide compensation data. However, this data does not reflect actual received salaries and benefits. Instead, they are salaries and benefits as offered. Since this is the case, their information does not reflect accurate marketplace compensation. They also only retrieve their information through the facilities they work with to find physicians. Therefore, data sets are skewed in their favor. Yet, it can offer a great starting place for employers.

Read about even more Compensation Providers:
Payscale  |  ZipRecruiter  |  Doximity  |  Salary.com  |  Comparably  |  AMGA  |  Top Reports of 2020

How To Access Data

There are many ways individuals or organizations can access information through Salary.com. For example, medical professionals can access many of the articles and search tools for free. They can also obtain a Personal Salary Report, customized to their specifications, for $29.95 – $79.95.

Employers can purchase state-of-the-art compensation software, participate in surveys, or receive consulting services for various prices. If employers only have an interest in surveys and reports, they can access surveys from $0 to $10,925 for participants, $3,495 to $38,238 for non-participants, and $10,485 for consultants. There are also discounts based on preferred subscription length. It can be in employers’ best interest to participate in the survey, as it is the more financially savvy option. Additionally, adding data to the pool creates more accurate information, analysis, and insights.

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How Can a Physician Use The Data?

Physicians can use the data to determine the salaries currently offered by employers, reasonable offers or asking for wages for their expertise and experience, and where to find an employer that values their worth. They can also find out how benefits factor into their compensation packages and what they should be looking for in terms of benefits. Salary.com can also help medical professionals compare salaries in different locations and cost-of-living situations.

These are excellent services whether physicians are interviewing for a new job, advancing their careers within an organization, or negotiating contacts. It can be crucial to find long-term employment with satisfying pay.

Conclusion

Salary.com is a powerful resource for both healthcare facilities and professionals. It can be imperative for physicians to gather insights into their own, current, or future compensation packages. Understanding what physicians in their position, with their education, experience, and skill sets, are receiving in terms of salary and benefits can take them far in compensation negotiations.

Contracts can be difficult to navigate, and physicians must receive equitable salaries, sufficient benefits, and transparent pay structures. Coupled with the excellent data supplied by Salary.com, you can take advantage of Physicans Thrive advisors. We provide financial and legal contract reviews, helping physicians feel confident about signing contracts or negotiating more satisfying terms.

At PhysicansThrive, we stay up to date with all the current compensation data in the industry and compile a specialized report. The data and insights can help make your job search, applications, and negotiations much more effortless. Download the easy-to-read report today!

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