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PayScale Insight Lab

Score4.2 out of 10

25 Reviews and Ratings

What is PayScale Insight Lab?

PayScale Insight Lab is a sales intelligence software solution offered by PayScale, Inc.

Categories & Use Cases

Use PayScale for peace of mind when it comes to fair compensation!

Pros

  • The ability to align with your particular geographic area.
  • Ability to modify skills in the job description.
  • Very user-friendly. You don’t need a manual in order to use it!

Cons

  • It’s time consuming to initially set-up. But once you’re there, reports run very quickly.

Return on Investment

  • Ensure fairness in our compensation model so our turnover rate is within our target.
  • Show employees where our information comes from. That the data is comprehensive and based on what is happening in each location.

Alternatives Considered

Ceridian Dayforce and Certica Solutions Certify

Making Comp easy for all!

Pros

  • Payscale has a significant number of job profiles for which you are able to gather market data on. We have roughly 120 jobs at our company and we were able to match all but two, which are very niche to our industry and company.
  • Insight offers amazing analytical capabilities. We have employees in other states, so Payscale helped us to create labor markets for each area in which we employ someone so to be able to ensure we are paying them accurately to where they live relative to the DC-market. This contributes to ensuring equitably and fairness with our pay practices.
  • Insight does a great job at allowing you to ensure accurate matches. In addition to an array of titles, you can also customize your match with years of experience, education levels, supervisory duties, certifications, specialized skills, and a few other details as applicable, all that contribute to the finalized mid-point match calculated. You can also choose different industries, company sizes, and locations to match against your data.
  • You are able to create total comp statements, which was a new offering for our employees.

Cons

  • I think there is always room to add more titles and niche industry data to their offerings. It would be cool to see an offering that allowed you to submit a request to have a particular title/job to their data listings and Payscale can see who else might be requesting the same kind of niche position.
  • It would also be helpful if there was a way to store past salary data for employees.

Return on Investment

  • Insight has reduced the amount of time spent on determining where to slot a job in our structure. In the past we used multiple paper-source salary surveys so a lot of time was spent on fingering through binders to find the best match and then trying to determine how that compared to current jobs equivalent in stature.
  • The first time we went through this process, we did determine that changes that needed to be made to the structure did pose some negative impact on certain employees (ex. it was determined that one job was slotted in a grade higher than it should be so once we reclassified these folks, we determined that some of them were above the lowered salary range and became redlined. While this had a visually negative impact, we made efforts to promote these individuals or create development plans to get them back into a higher grade.
  • We now have access to these very detailed market reports, which we can print and share with managers. These reports aid in helping our communication with managers be much more efficient and effective. We are able to present "evidence" if you will on where the markets places any new roles as they have designed them. It has given HR more credibility in our recommendations.

Alternatives Considered

MarketPay

Review and revamping Compensation with this amazing tool!

Pros

  • Their customer service is fantastic. I absolutely adore my Relationship Success Manager, I still have a great relationship with the Account Executive that brought us on board.
  • The tool has some hiccups but overall, of the three tools I demo'ed, it is the most user friendly. PayScale is transparent about the issues they are experiencing and what is on the horizon for improvements of the tool. We all expect some things to go a little wrong or not be the as user friendly as WE THINK it should be, and I appreciate that PayScale acknowledges that and is transparent about what's in the works for improvements along the way.
  • I like the ability to customize pay structures, create favorites, and create new jobs on the fly. I've really enjoyed working in the tool and I'm excited to get our data cleaned up so that we can use all PayScale reporting and dashboards have to offer.

Cons

  • The data export is a little wonky and I tend to have regular issues with it. I report them each time and I get honest, timely answers. I am able to snip straight from the tool, but I think it would be more efficient for me and external users of the information if I were able to consistently export through the tool a great output.
  • I wish we could set up a regular file feed and wouldn't have to do manual uploads.

Return on Investment

  • Since implementing PayScale we've been able to do full department reviews of job descriptions, job grading, and job creation without incurring a large out of pocket expense with a comp consultant doing the job grading for us.
  • We have had a growing list of "hot jobs" that leaders have asked us to review for pay inequities and market alignment. We've been able to make the necessary changes within our organization to keep us aligned with the market, or prove that we are aligned and that we do not need to incur additional salary expense for roles that are already right on price.

Alternatives Considered

Salary.com and payfactors

Other Software Used

Bullhorn CRM, Ceridian Dayforce, Innotas

An essential compensation resource

Pros

  • Providing data so that you can ensure you are paying your employees fair and competitively with the market. You are able to make data-driven, confident decisions about compensation that enhance retention and trust between employee and employer.
  • Payscale's customer service team is wonderful and always available. Moreover, they are often open to providing more customized solutions if your need is a bit different than the standard package.
  • Research into multiple labour markets/locations is a useful tool as we often have to account for differences across our office locations, which can sometimes cross borders and large geographical areas. This ensures that we don't take a blanket approach to compensation and can account for regional differences where required.

Cons

  • Job titles can prove to be a challenge as they sometimes do not connect as well as you'd hope. This may require some extra work on our part to fit our needs into what Payscale provides. Generally, this is a small concern, but it is still something that should be updated to keep with some of the changes in titles/roles.
  • It would be great if Payscale offered an online tool/area for watching recorded webinars or training sessions rather than having to do it live. As others have mentioned, with a busy schedule, it is sometimes challenging to find the time to watch live. Having a database would help ensure that the training can be accessed at any time.
  • Options to perhaps break down some of the data in reports to provide to others who are less versed in the contents of the report and the overall system. I'd prefer to have to explain less of what is presented and let the data speak for itself where possible.

Return on Investment

  • We wanted to ensure that we were able to support our compensation strategy and decisions with verifiable and trusted market data, and Payscale Insight has allowed us to do that. Now, compensation conversations with employees are more effective and transparent, enhancing our engagement and retention.
  • Additionally, we have been able to better train our managers to understand our compensation philosophy and how we can leverage it to improve performance and set effective goals for our employees.
  • Payscale Insight has become our main source for compensation data, eliminating the significant time investment it would previously take to bring it all together, review and make a decision.

Alternatives Considered

ADP Workforce Now and Namely

Other Software Used

SurveyMonkey, Ceridian Dayforce, BambooHR

Pay Scales in Your Favor

Pros

  • Provide Salary Range Based on Location & Industry
  • Great Tool for Compensation Management
  • Provide Useful Data for Succession Planning & Career Advancement

Cons

  • Filter Inaccurate Data Collection from Potential Salary Inflation

Return on Investment

  • Reduced time that is spent researching compensation.
  • Managers require less guidance from HR which allows us to focus on other things
  • The only negative impact might be cost, but it is worth the investment for our company.

Usability

Other Software Used

Paylocity, Namely