Salary ranges are now a standard part of many job postings. As of late 2026, 17 states and Washington, D.C., have pay transparency laws, and many require employers to list salary ranges in job postings. That means members of your team can now compare their pay with what other employers advertise for the same role, and with what you advertise, too.
It turns out that many employees are looking. According to Paychex’s Employee Compensation Confidence Index, an anonymous, public survey of 1,034 full-time U.S. employees about their pay, conducted online by independent research firm Centiment, 55% have seen the same work they do posted at a higher pay rate than they earn. Most won’t tell you about it, though: 64% didn’t ask for a raise after seeing their role listed at a higher salary, and 31% started looking for a new job instead.
A higher posted range doesn’t always mean an employee is underpaid. But when employees can’t see what explains the difference, the posting shapes how they feel about their pay. Paychex provides insight into what the data shows about how employees react, and how to respond before a pay question turns into a resignation.
When employees see their role advertised for more money, few take the question straight to their employer. Just over a third asked for a raise, while others talked to coworkers, started job hunting, or did nothing at all:
That silence could be a retention risk. Employees who’ve seen a higher-paying posting are about twice as likely to quit a job over a pay problem (24% vs. 13%). More broadly, a whopping 61% of those who saw a higher posting have seriously considered leaving over pay, compared with 30% who didn’t.
Where employees see the posting matters, too. Among all employees surveyed, 37% saw a higher-paying posting at another company, and 21% saw one at their current employer. Of those who saw their role posted at their own company, 46% asked for a raise, compared with 30% of those who saw it only at another company. Your own job listings are the hardest postings for current employees to explain away.
Employees under 46 years old are the most likely to notice, and the youngest are the most likely to act on it. Among employees aged 18 to 29, 64% have seen a higher-paying role, and 42% of them started job hunting as a result. In comparison, 46% of employees aged 46 to 61 have seen a higher-paying role, and only 21% of those started job hunting.
Here’s how to get ahead of these conversations with your employees.
Before you publish a job listing, compare the posted range with what current employees in the same role earn. If you’re offering new hires more than your existing team, a situation known as pay inversion, the posting shows your current employees exactly how much more. Compare:
If the comparison turns up current employees paid below what you’re offering new hires, adjust their pay before the listing goes live, or be ready to address it.
Your employees are already researching market pay. Here’s how they check whether their pay is competitive:
Use the same sources they do. Collect three to five postings for comparable roles in your local market, and pull wage data for your industry, occupation and region from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . The most current BLS data, released in May 2026, reflects wages as of May 2025, so factor in market shifts since then. For a deeper look, here’s how employers benchmark pay.
Then, benchmark on a set schedule, not just when someone asks. Among employees who check their pay, 30% do so only when job hunting, and 26% only when they hear about someone else’s pay.
Only 21% of employees say their employer shares pay range data with them. When you don’t explain how you set pay, job postings fill in the blanks. You don’t need to publish every salary, but employees should understand:
You can also expect that employees will talk about pay with each other. Under the National Labor Relations Act, most private-sector employees have a legally protected right to discuss wages, so you generally can’t prohibit those conversations. The law excludes supervisors, independent contractors and some other categories of workers, however.
When an employee does bring a higher-paying posting to their manager, how the manager responds affects whether that employee stays. Make sure managers know how to:
Budgets don’t always allow for an immediate raise. But a flat no without a next step sends employees back to the job boards. Instead, offer:
Pay transparency laws mean employees will keep seeing what other employers advertise, and most won’t ask you about it first. Reviewing pay before you post a role, benchmarking on a regular schedule and explaining how you make pay decisions gives employees a reason to bring their questions to you instead of to a recruiter.
The survey was conducted online by Centiment for Paychex, with a total sample size of 1,034 full-time employed U.S. adults aged 18 and older. To qualify, each respondent had to be currently employed by an employer (not self-employed or a business owner) and receive a regular paycheck. Fieldwork was undertaken from August 21 to August 31, 2026. Results are weighted to match the U.S. census. The margin of error is approximately ±3% for the overall sample at a 95% confidence level.
This story was produced by Paychex and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
