Step · Reveal
The Loyalty Tax
Enter your answers, then provide your email to view and receive your result.
Staying is not free. Every new hire into your role at a higher number is the price the market has already agreed to pay. You are the one still holding the old number.
What this reveals. One number: the annual and cumulative gap between what you make and what new hires into comparable roles are being offered.
What it does not do. It does not tell you to leave or to demand parity. It documents the size of the tax you have absorbed by staying.
What is your current base compensation?
What are new hires into comparable roles being offered?
Base compensation, for the same level, location, and responsibilities as yours. Sourced from published bands, peer conversations, or actual recent offers you have seen.
How long have you been in this role or grade band?
How confident are you in the new-hire number?
Your own rating of the source. It is shown beside the result and does not change the dollar figure.
How many more years might pass at the current gap?
the cumulative gap between your base and the new-hire figure you entered
The number above is the gap between your base and the new-hire figure you entered, multiplied by your years in the role plus the additional years you selected. Today's gap is applied to every past and projected year. That is a simplifying assumption. Your confidence in the new-hire figure is shown separately. It is your own rating and does not change the dollar figure.
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Assumptions used: current base, new-hire figure, years in role, and projected additional years. Today's gap is applied to every past and projected year as a simplifying assumption. The gap in earlier years may have been smaller or larger. An answer of 10 or more years is counted as 10 years. Confidence in the new-hire figure is your own rating. It is shown on its own row and does not change any dollar figure. The figure is a scenario built from those inputs. It is not a claim against your employer or negotiation advice.
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The email includes the financial result this tool calculated for you. Use an address where you want to receive it. Receiving your result does not add you to the Register waitlist or to our email briefing. Get The Number Answer instantly, short emails from Cynthia, and first word when the Register opens on October 19. It does not subscribe you to our email briefing. Privacy notice
This comparison sets your pay against the new-hire figure you entered and applies today's gap to every year you selected. Your confidence in that figure is shown separately and does not change the amounts. It holds only if the figure is base compensation for the same level, location, and responsibilities as your role. A market comparison is not a valuation of your contribution.
If a retention or compensation conversation is approaching, the comparison is one input. Decision Desk™ examines the contribution behind your ask and prepares a documented position for the discussion.
Bring one date to the Review: the date of the conversation or the external deadline. If it is not set, say so.
Discuss my upcoming compensation decision
The Private Decision Review determines whether the Decision Desk™ is appropriate for the decision in front of you. The Decision Desk™ investment is $5,000, invoiced after acceptance. Nothing is charged for the Review, and submitting it creates no obligation on either side. You remain the decision-maker and negotiator.
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Decision Guide
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