Are you paid well enough?

Compensation and culture. Those workplace terms are at the heart of Comparably, a Santa Monica start-up that aims to give people more insight into whether they’re being paid appropriately and deriving enough joy from work.

 

“We’ve built a platform to show what’s your market value, where you rank in the company and how you compare in happiness,” Chief Executive Jason Nazar says. “If you think about two big things people are focused on at work, it’s how good is my experience and how much am I making.”

 

Specific info

 

It’s a bit like Glassdoor, Payscale and other existing online services. But Comparably is looking to draw better data to generate more accurate company reviews, and it wants to develop a well-known brand through workplace-focused articles and other services. Nazar says Comparably information will be more organised and specific 

than competitors.

 

Nazar, who previously founded and sold online document-sharing service Docstoc, started working on the project late last year with three other people. To start, they’re inviting people who work at other Los Angeles technology companies to sign up, anonymously share how much money they make and answer a short survey about their employers’ offices, perks and cultural traits.

 

A few companies and recruiters handed over salary data to initially populate the service. But once there’s more data, Comparably expects to offer granular assessments: It could tell a young, female CEO that she makes $12,000 (Dh44,075) less than the average CEO at a tech start-up with 11 to 50 employees in Los Angeles, a sign that maybe she’s being undervalued relative to men, who dominate that position.

 

Discreet dealings

 

Comparably also provides forums for users to chat anonymously with others in the industry who share their job function, such as product engineers and chief marketing officers. Users who connect their LinkedIn account to Comparably will get additional information specific to their company.

 

Security measures, including scrambling email addresses, are intended to ensure that anonymous submissions stay that way, Nazar says.

 

Comparably is funded by $6.5 million from several venture capital funds with major Southern California ties, including Upfront Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Crosscut Ventures, Pritzker Group, Rincon Venture Partners and BAM Ventures.