Invited to a wage and benefits survey? Here’s what to expect.
Your participation enables local compensation data that nobody else has. In return, you get the same benchmark view the program organizers get.
Why your participation matters
National wage data from BLS or paid databases doesn’t reflect what’s actually happening in your county. Site selectors evaluating your region, employers setting offers, and HR teams justifying pay decisions all need local compensation data, and that data only exists if local employers contribute it.
Every response sharpens the picture: pay percentiles by role, benefits packages by industry, and trends over time you cannot get anywhere else. Your data, combined with your peers’, becomes the only honest answer to “what does this role actually pay around here?”
What you get back
When the survey closes and results are released, you log in to Sensible Surveys and see exactly how your responses compare to the rest of the participants.
Pay percentiles for every role
25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile wages by SOC code, broken out by industry, business size, and shift type.
Benefits benchmarks
What other employers in your region offer for PTO, medical, dental, vision, retirement, leave, wellness, and 25+ other benefit categories.
Year-over-year trends
Where compensation in your industry is heading, with comparable data each cycle.
Filterable views
Slice the data by business size (1–10, 11–25, 26–100, 100+), industry, sector, employee type, or shift.
Charts and data, side-by-side
Toggle between charts-only, data-only, or both. Histograms, stacked bars, and heatmaps so the numbers are easy to read.
Export-ready
Download the results as PDF or CSV for your own analysis, board packet, or compensation review.
You see the same dataset everyone else sees. No two-tier access, no premium upsell. Your participation earns you the same view the program organizers get.
Your data is safe
- Safe Harbor anonymization. Whenever a data slice has too few respondents to protect identities, the platform automatically hides the underlying numbers. You cannot be reverse-engineered out of a benchmark.
- Aggregates only. Nobody, including the survey organizers, can see which specific company submitted which compensation figure. They see the rolled-up view, not your row.
- Methodology led by Dr. Michelle Cobb, Ph.D. Survey design, anonymization rules, and analytics are built to a standard you can defend in front of a board, a site selector, or a state agency.
- Built for this work. 30+ Economic Development organizations, government agencies, and manufacturing associations have used Sensible Surveys to collect compensation data, with individual surveys reaching thousands of business participants.
How it works for you
From invitation to results, here is what to expect step by step.
Click the link in your invitation email.
No account to create on the first visit. The link signs you in.
Answer at your own pace.
Plan on about 30 minutes total. Every answer autosaves, so you can close the tab and come back later without losing anything.
Stuck on a question?
Our team will get on a video call and walk you through it. Most sticking points are a single formatting question and clear up in five minutes.
Review and submit.
A review page shows everything you have entered before you submit, so you can fix anything that looks off.
Get notified when results publish.
You will receive an email the moment the program organizers release the results.
Log in and explore.
Compare your numbers to the rest of the participants, filter and slice the data, and download what you need.
Next year is even faster.
Your prior answers are saved between cycles. When you are invited again, you review and edit your prior responses instead of starting from scratch.
Participant FAQs
Can my company's specific compensation data be identified by anyone?
No. Safe Harbor anonymization hides any data slice with too few respondents, so you can’t be reverse-engineered out of a benchmark. You see aggregates; the program organizers see aggregates; nobody sees your row.
How long does this take?
About 30 minutes for most participants. The platform autosaves every answer so you can close the tab and come back later. Returning participants from prior cycles take less. Your prior answers pre-fill on the next cycle.
What if I don't have all my compensation data on hand?
Save your progress and come back. Most participants pull payroll exports or compensation ranges from their HRIS, fill in what they have, and return to finish. If you get stuck on a specific question, our team gets on a video call to walk you through it.
What do I get out of participating?
When the results publish you log in and see exactly how your numbers compare to the rest of the local participants: pay percentiles by role, benefits packages by industry, year-over-year trends. Same dataset the program organizers get. No premium tier.
Who sees the results, and when?
The program organizers (typically your county’s Economic Development Authority) get the data first, do an internal review, then release it to participants by email. You log in and see the released report. Non-participants don’t see anything unless the organizers choose to share or sell separately.
Is my data sold to third parties?
No. The platform is run by Sensible Surveys (a division of JH Media Group) and we do not sell, share, or resell participant data. The program organizers control what happens with the aggregated, anonymized results.
Got your invitation? Take your survey now.
Sign in with the link from your invitation email. Need a fresh link, or have a question first? Give us a call.