How do we retain talent in KW?

[tomh009]

There is no "local market" as such, no one dictates how much any given employer should be paying.

Sure there is. Communitech historically (it is reasonable to assume they still do but I don't have specific knowledge more recent than 2016) manage lists of roles and salaries. Local employers provide their data in exchange for getting access to the aggregate. LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed and other job-related corporations also provide this sort of information. There is 100% a market, it costs money (or data) to access, and employees don't have visibility into it.

That gives you aggregate salary data, yes. We do use Communitech info if we're hiring for a type of position where we have no experience. But if we're hiring for positions similar to what we have done before, we don't even check the Communitech data -- we make our own decisions about how much we want to pay and what level of people we want to hire. And I do expect most other companies do the same.