2015 it salary guide

[movtarget]

maybe you just worked for really cheap companies

One of them, you are correct. In all reality, the shared knowledge databases amongst HR professionals (these databases are services they subscribe to) are motivated the exact opposite of Robert Half - the lower the "standard" salary, the more profit their company makes by initial cost and compounding annual raise savings.

All that being said, I've seen what it takes to hire and retain the better employees, and that's what I base my comparison on. I'll use the "lower standard" from HR for non-key positions, and leverage the Robert Half numbers for key positions or to argue greater than a pittance of a raise for the top performers. Both sets of information have usefulness.