For employers
You can't fix the pay problem you can't see.
Five situations that show up at 50-to-500-person companies every year, what each one costs when it's left alone, and what changes the moment your own numbers sit next to government-published market data.
Composite scenarios built from BLS wage data, Gallup and SHRM turnover research, and state enforcement records. Sources at the bottom.
01 • Retention
Your best people are underpaid, and nobody has checked
A 150-person company tracks pay in a spreadsheet. Nobody has compared it to market in three years. When they finally do, six of their strongest people are sitting well below the typical figure for their role and state, and two have already started interviewing.
With What It Pays™: every employee's comp ratio and retention risk, the day you upload. HR walks into the CFO's office with six names, six numbers, and a total that's a fraction of one replacement.
Cost of doing nothing
$180K to $540K
Losing three of the six. Replacing a skilled employee runs one-half to two times salary (Gallup, SHRM).
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
02 • Pay transparency
You're hiring in a transparency state with a range you can't defend
A Texas company opens a remote role that Colorado and California candidates can see. The posting needs a salary range by law. Someone pulls one from a job board. A candidate reports it. Then the letter arrives.
With What It Pays™: a low-to-high range for that role in that state, sourced to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on every posting. When a regulator or a candidate asks where the number came from, there's an answer.
Cost of doing nothing
$5K to $100K+
Per-violation fines from $300 to $10,000 depending on the state, plus legal time and the posting you have to pull and redo.
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
03 • Federal contractors
You passed the last audit. They're asking different questions now.
A 300-person contractor files its reports on time every year. Then a compliance review asks for the compensation analysis behind the numbers: how roles were grouped, what the pay was compared against, and why the differences exist. "We pay fairly" isn't a document.
With What It Pays™: every role mapped to a standard occupation, every salary benchmarked, internal equity across the team on one report. When they ask, it's already on file.
Cost of doing nothing
$50K to $500K+
Back pay and remediation under conciliation agreements, plus the contract risk that comes with a finding (OFCCP enforcement data).
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
04 • Offers
Your offers are guesses, so you lose candidates or overpay the ones you land
An 80-person company is filling twelve roles this year. One offer goes out at $95K for a job that typically pays $72K in that state. Three others go out at $60K for a job that pays $78K, and all three are declined. Nobody meant to do either.
With What It Pays™: the hiring manager looks up the role and the state before the offer letter is drafted. Twelve hires land inside the range on the first try.
Cost of doing nothing
$90K to $200K a year
Overpaying a few roles by $15K to $23K each, plus restarted searches at about $4,700 per hire (SHRM) and the months the seat sits empty.
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
05 • Annual reviews
Everyone got 3%. The people who mattered most still left.
A 120-person company runs its review cycle the way it always has: a flat percentage, spread evenly, because it's fair and it's fast. The four people furthest below market get the same 3% as everyone else. Two of them hand in notice by spring.
With What It Pays™: the same budget, pointed at the gaps. HR pulls the comp ratios before the cycle, funds the four critical adjustments first, and documents why. Nobody preventable leaves.
Cost of doing nothing
$120K to $360K
Two to four preventable departures after a flat-rate cycle. Gallup puts about 42% of turnover in the preventable column.
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
Why these numbers hold up
What It Pays™ was built by Dr. Bruce Brown, PhD in HR, who does this analysis for companies as a consultant. The platform runs the same method: every role mapped to a standard occupation, every salary compared to the Bureau of Labor Statistics figure for that occupation in that state, every gap shown as a ratio you can act on. No surveys to buy, no vendor's proprietary index, no guessing about where the number came from.
Sources: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics; Gallup and SHRM turnover and cost-per-hire research; state labor department penalty schedules; OFCCP enforcement data. Company scenarios are composites built from those figures, not named clients.
Which one is happening at your company right now?
1. Upload your team from a spreadsheet.
2. Confirm the role mapping. Most of it is automatic.
3. See every comp ratio, retention risk, and posting range the same day.
See employer plansFrom $3,000 a year, sized by headcount. No implementation project. Compliance reporting and larger teams: talk to us about Enterprise.
01 • Retention
Your best people are underpaid, and nobody has checked
A 150-person company tracks pay in a spreadsheet. Nobody has compared it to market in three years. When they finally do, six of their strongest people are sitting well below the typical figure for their role and state, and two have already started interviewing.
With What It Pays™: every employee's comp ratio and retention risk, the day you upload. HR walks into the CFO's office with six names, six numbers, and a total that's a fraction of one replacement.
Cost of doing nothing
$180K to $540K
Losing three of the six. Replacing a skilled employee runs one-half to two times salary (Gallup, SHRM).
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
02 • Pay transparency
You're hiring in a transparency state with a range you can't defend
A Texas company opens a remote role that Colorado and California candidates can see. The posting needs a salary range by law. Someone pulls one from a job board. A candidate reports it. Then the letter arrives.
With What It Pays™: a low-to-high range for that role in that state, sourced to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on every posting. When a regulator or a candidate asks where the number came from, there's an answer.
Cost of doing nothing
$5K to $100K+
Per-violation fines from $300 to $10,000 depending on the state, plus legal time and the posting you have to pull and redo.
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
03 • Federal contractors
You passed the last audit. They're asking different questions now.
A 300-person contractor files its reports on time every year. Then a compliance review asks for the compensation analysis behind the numbers: how roles were grouped, what the pay was compared against, and why the differences exist. "We pay fairly" isn't a document.
With What It Pays™: every role mapped to a standard occupation, every salary benchmarked, internal equity across the team on one report. When they ask, it's already on file.
Cost of doing nothing
$50K to $500K+
Back pay and remediation under conciliation agreements, plus the contract risk that comes with a finding (OFCCP enforcement data).
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
04 • Offers
Your offers are guesses, so you lose candidates or overpay the ones you land
An 80-person company is filling twelve roles this year. One offer goes out at $95K for a job that typically pays $72K in that state. Three others go out at $60K for a job that pays $78K, and all three are declined. Nobody meant to do either.
With What It Pays™: the hiring manager looks up the role and the state before the offer letter is drafted. Twelve hires land inside the range on the first try.
Cost of doing nothing
$90K to $200K a year
Overpaying a few roles by $15K to $23K each, plus restarted searches at about $4,700 per hire (SHRM) and the months the seat sits empty.
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
05 • Annual reviews
Everyone got 3%. The people who mattered most still left.
A 120-person company runs its review cycle the way it always has: a flat percentage, spread evenly, because it's fair and it's fast. The four people furthest below market get the same 3% as everyone else. Two of them hand in notice by spring.
With What It Pays™: the same budget, pointed at the gaps. HR pulls the comp ratios before the cycle, funds the four critical adjustments first, and documents why. Nobody preventable leaves.
Cost of doing nothing
$120K to $360K
Two to four preventable departures after a flat-rate cycle. Gallup puts about 42% of turnover in the preventable column.
What It Pays™ from $3,000 a year
Why these numbers hold up
What It Pays™ was built by Dr. Bruce Brown, PhD in HR, who does this analysis for companies as a consultant. The platform runs the same method: every role mapped to a standard occupation, every salary compared to the Bureau of Labor Statistics figure for that occupation in that state, every gap shown as a ratio you can act on. No surveys to buy, no vendor's proprietary index, no guessing about where the number came from.
Sources: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics; Gallup and SHRM turnover and cost-per-hire research; state labor department penalty schedules; OFCCP enforcement data. Company scenarios are composites built from those figures, not named clients.
Which one is happening at your company right now?
1. Upload your team from a spreadsheet.
2. Confirm the role mapping. Most of it is automatic.
3. See every comp ratio, retention risk, and posting range the same day.
See employer plansFrom $3,000 a year, sized by headcount. No implementation project. Compliance reporting and larger teams: talk to us about Enterprise.
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What It Pays™ provides pay data and tools for informational and educational purposes only. It is not legal, tax, financial, or employment advice. Salary figures are estimates drawn from government-published data and may not reflect any specific employer or offer.