A starting point for setting pay — not the final word
Pick a role, state and experience level for an indicative pay range to sense-check your thinking against. It is a rough planning guide — a starting band, not a salary survey — so always confirm the figure with a published source before you set someone's wage.
Takes ~1 minute · Your figures stay in your browser until you choose to share them
Indicative range
A rough band to sense-check
State adjustment
Approximate by location
Experience adjustment
Rough seniority shift
Verify the figure
Against a published source
About this tool
Salary Benchmarking Tool
Setting pay for a role is one of the harder judgement calls a small-business owner makes. Go too low and you struggle to attract or keep good people; go too high and you erode margin without meaning to. The trouble is that reliable pay data is scattered across job boards, recruiter guides and Award schedules, and most owners end up guessing or copying whatever the last person was paid. This tool gives you a fast, honest starting point: pick a role, state and experience level and it builds an indicative pay range to sense-check your thinking against — deliberately framed as a rough planning band, not a salary survey, so you never mistake a starting anchor for measured market data.
How it works
You choose a role category and specific role (across admin, hospitality, trades, retail, healthcare, IT, finance and sales), your state or territory, and an experience level from junior through to lead or manager. From a rough role reference point, the tool applies two approximate adjustments — one for your location and one for seniority — to produce a central planning anchor, then wraps a deliberately wide band around it so the result reads as a range rather than false precision. It also shows the anchor grossed up with employer superannuation so you see roughly what the role costs you, not just the headline wage, and if you enter a figure you are considering it tells you where that sits relative to the range. Crucially, the tool is explicit that these are planning anchors, not survey figures: every result points you to published sources (Fair Work pay guides and recruiter salary guides) to confirm the real number, and reminds you that for Award-covered roles the relevant Modern Award minimum is the legal floor you must check.
Who it’s for
Australian small-business owners and managers who need a quick, honest starting point when deciding what to pay for a role before verifying the figure against a published source.
- It produces an indicative planning range by role, state and experience level — an honest starting anchor to sense-check against, explicitly not a salary survey or measured market data.
- It shows the total cost to employer including superannuation, so you are budgeting for the real cost of a role rather than just the advertised wage.
- It always directs you to verify the figure against published sources, and flags that for Award-covered roles the Modern Award minimum sets the legal pay floor.
Frequently asked questions
Is this an actual salary survey I can rely on to set someone's pay?
No — and the tool is deliberately upfront about that. The figures are rough planning anchors, not measured medians or published averages. They exist to give you a sensible starting band to sense-check your thinking, not a number to copy. Before you set anyone's pay, confirm the figure against a published source such as the Fair Work pay guides or a recruiter salary guide, and check the relevant Modern Award minimum where the role is Award-covered.
How does it account for location and experience?
It starts from a rough reference point for the role, then applies two approximate adjustments: one for your state or territory and one for the experience level you select, from junior up to lead or manager. These are rules of thumb that shift the planning band up or down — they signal direction, not precision, which is why the result is shown as a wide range rather than a single exact figure.
Does the range include on-costs like superannuation?
Yes. Alongside the wage range it shows an indicative total cost to employer with superannuation added, so you are planning around what the role actually costs your business rather than the headline salary alone. It is still an indicative figure — your real on-costs also include items like workers compensation and payroll tax where applicable, which are worth modelling separately.