Wage & Benefits Surveys For Economic Developers
Site selectors and local businesses need current, local wage and benefits data to make decisions. Sensible Surveys gives your county the numbers economic decisions depend on, without a six-month consulting engagement.
Why local data matters
Local Data You Can't Get Anywhere Else
To make local decisions, you need local data. The only way to get those answers is to ask the right questions in the right way. Sensible Surveys brings simplicity and ease-of-use to complex surveys, so local businesses and people give you the answers you need to make the decisions that matter.
Survey Planning
Before we get started, we need to understand your needs and goals. Our first step is a set of meetings to go through every question in our template with you to ensure we cover every data point you require. We make recommendations, change the questionnaire for you, and ensure your data is viable year over year.
What you get
Sensible Surveys Premium Edition
Our fully-featured software makes requesting surveys, collecting answers, and distributing results easy for everyone. Engage us to survey participants or run it yourself. Either way, you receive a year of access to the most premium edition.
Advanced Benefits Survey Template
The default benefits survey covers every aspect necessary at industry and enterprise levels: PTO, insurance, retirement, wellness, and more.
Compensation Module
Customizable analytics dashboard with sorting, searching, and filters by industry, company size, employee types, shift types, career path, and percentile-based or actual wages.
Participant Assistance
Surveys only matter if participants complete them. Our team helps every step of the way.
Intro & Follow-up Phone Calls
US-based, full-time staff make calls to establish trust, help participants complete surveys, and explain the value of participation.
Welcome & Follow-up Emails
Personalized, automatic emails inform participants where they are in the process and remind them as deadlines approach.
Video Calls
We provide video calls to walk users through surveys, help them upload data, and review example results.
Survey Marketing
Participation is the difference between a half-finished spreadsheet and a benchmark you can defend. We help you frame why participating matters to your audience: the data they get back, how their numbers compare, and why the survey is worth their 30 minutes. Combined with the participant outreach above, this is how completion rates stay high.
Support When & How You Need It
Whether you need a quick answer or end-to-end help running a survey, we’re available by phone, email, and video M–F, 9am – 5pm Eastern.
Economic Developer FAQs
What if our county is too small to get statistically meaningful data?
Safe Harbor protects identities by hiding any slice with too few respondents. For broad benchmarks (manufacturing wages, healthcare benefits at scale) even 30–50 participants typically yields useful aggregates. We’ll talk through expected confidence during planning before you commit, so there are no surprises after launch.
How is this different from hiring a consultant to run our wage study?
A consultant delivers one report and typically costs $20K–$80K. With Sensible Surveys you own the platform for the year, can rerun the same study annually for direct year-over-year comparison, and your team learns the data over time. The methodology is Ph.D.-led, so it’s defensible to the same standards.
Can we co-brand the report with our EDA?
Yes. Export comes in two PDF versions: branded with the Sensible Surveys logo, or clean for you to add your own. CSV exports are unbranded by default. Many EDAs build a report packet with their own cover and intro and use ours as the data appendix.
How long from signing to launching our first survey?
Most teams launch within 2–3 weeks. We need a planning session or two to walk the template against your goals, help you import your participant list, and confirm the Safe Harbor threshold. The clock really starts when your participant list is ready.
Who owns the data?
You do. Your survey, your responses, your aggregated report. Excel/CSV export any time. We do not resell or share with third parties.
Can we share or sell results to site selectors and local businesses?
Yes. Many EDAs license the report to site selectors, sell it to local employers, or include it in membership packages. See the “Three ways Economic Developers put the data to work” section above for the common models.
Complex surveys to send and don’t know where to start?
Book a 20-minute demo. We’ll show you the system, talk through your goals, and tell you whether we’re a fit. No pressure.