The critical source of information that many organizations use in developing compensation strategies is pay surveys. Pay surveys are surveys of compensation paid to employees by other employers in a particular geographic area, an industry, or an occupational group. As such, pay surveys provide the information an organization needs to avoid problems of external equity. Some wage surveys are conducted by professional associations, especially for managerial and professional jobs. For example, the Society for Human Resource Management conducts salary surveys for human resource executives every other year. This information is the made available to all members of the society. They and the organizations they represent can use the information in making wage and salary decision s within the human resource area. Moreover, organizations should keep in mind that their employees also look for information about external wages and salaries. Indeed, as discussed more fully in “Human Resource Tech Talk,” the internet is making this practice increasingly common.
Other organizations also conduct wage surveys. Business publications such as Business Week, Fortune, and Nations Business routinely publish compensation levels for various kinds of professional and executive positions. In addition, conduct wage surveys within certain occupational groups, certain regions, and so forth. The Bureau of Labor Statistic is also an important source of government-controlled wage and salary information