East of England recruitment consultancy firm, Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure), has launched the first live peer-to-peer salary comparison website in the UK. www.comparemysalary.co.uk is designed to add a greater level of transparency to the taboo workplace conversation topic – how much do people really earn.

www.comparemysalary.co.uk has attracted over 1,200 salary entries from professionals in HR, financial services, executive management, accountancy, marketing, IT and office support since launching just a few weeks ago, quickly establishing the site as offering the most sophisticated, accurate and up-to-date salary data for London and the East of England.

The site considers more than just a person’s job title and location. It also looks at the benefits a person is receiving, their years of work experience, the number of people reporting to them, their highest level of education, and the size and industry of the firm they work for. www.comparemysalary.co.uk provides employers and job seekers alike with a holistic insight into regional activity.

Best of all, the data is confidential and free for anyone to access!

Gill Buchanan, Director at Pure, explains: “The website is the first of its kind in the UK but we have made it exclusively available in London and the East of England to support both local employers and employees. It takes the concept of the traditional paper-based salary survey to a whole new level of efficacy and value. There is an increasing trend for people freely exchanging valuable information online - this website taps into that.

“Employers can use it in their market research to get a much clearer idea of what employees expect to be paid, and the benefit packages other employers are providing. This is key knowledge in retaining and attracting good quality staff.”

Gill adds: “Naturally, it’s good news for employees who want to know what their peers are earning, and what benefits are available, so they are fully prepared for the job search and salary reviews.”

Alison Brown, HR and Training Manager at Fraser Offshore Ltd in Great Yarmouth says: “It is quite simply the most comprehensive and simple-to-use tool that I have come across as an employer and recruiter.  Often market/ salary surveys are dated by the time you receive them, the data is broadly banded and the value of these surveys deplete as the year roles by. 

“This tool provides me with instant comparators which, being based on real time reporting and actual salary and benefit data, as opposed to ‘between’ ranges, is more accurate and far more detailed.  I can see me utilising this to assess the level of offers that we should be making, for identifying innovative remuneration strategies that we may not have thought of, and for reviewing company remuneration arrangements to ensure that we remain an employer of choice within our industry. Truly impressed!”

www.comparemysalary.co.uk operates on a ‘give to get’ model. Employees provide anonymous salary data by answering questions about their current role, and in return they get access to all the salary information shared by others. People can generalise their job title if it is highly unique or easily identifiable.

As salary data is entered by members of the community the site works on an honesty system. There is really no incentive for contributors to mislead people about what they earn. Any inflated or inconsistent salary entries can be 'flagged' as suspicious by other members of the community or by Pure, and quickly removed from the system to ensure the accuracy of data is maintained. The site also makes use of the median (as opposed to the average) to report cumulative salary results, helping to lessen the impact of any 'extreme' salary entries.

One of the other key differences of the site over the traditional ‘once a year’ salary survey is that salary data is continually added by site visitors on a daily basis, with the salary database updated in real time and available for instant searching.

Gill concludes: “As salary entries to the site continue to grow, our hope is that the site becomes an indispensable research resource that is continually referred to by job seekers, current employees and employers alike.”

To visit the site to contribute your salary or conduct a free search of the salary database, go to www.comparemysalary.co.uk. For more information, contact Anna Hill, Pure’s Marketing Manager, on: anna.hill@prs.uk.com or 01223 209888.