How do we retain talent in KW?

[robdrimmie]

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.

All I'm disagreeing with is your assertion that there is no market. Of course there is. Prices are not published, there's no central source where you can go and acquire employees like I can acquire bananas, but there is a supply of talent and demand for it. If I say "I want to hire a developer with five years of node js experience" and you have a feel for what that person's salary should be, we're talking about a market.

Many companies compare against the known salary information of other employers. I can't say if the majority do or don't, I can only provide anecdotal data, as someone involved in the process of preparing that data for consumption and as a hiring manager who has been provided competitive information as part of the hiring process in three fairly different organizations (a not-for-profit, a small development agency and a large multi-national corporation).

For the record, I don't think it's problematic that you don't, and it seems probable that you're compensating folks just fine. Because there's a market that you have some knowledge of. It's the people who want to offer a fresh Waterloo CS grad $30k because that's roughly what they pay their entry-level manual labour who are clueless of the market.