Investigate trends within your company by function, manager, role or location, and then directly compare you practices with other business within your industry or against businesses across the entire country.

FORBES: Are You Paying the Right Price for Employee Loyalty?

From an organizational standpoint, this implies that being a pay leader within an industry may do little for employee satisfaction, because the people with whom your workers naturally compare themselves, their colleagues, are also getting paid at above-market levels.

FORBES: Will A Raise Make You Like Your Job Better? Maybe Not