Pay Raise Scenario Planner

Why This Matters

The conversation your client is avoiding is the one that costs the most.

Inflation has been running at 3–4%. The average SMB raise in 2023–2024 was 3.8%. When a client gives 2% raises — or skips them entirely — they feel like they saved money. What they actually did was take a pay cut on behalf of every employee. And employees know it.

Research from Gallup shows that employees who feel underpaid are 2.4× more likely to be actively job searching. Replacing one of those people costs 50–100% of their salary. The "expensive" raise is almost always cheaper than the turnover it prevents.

💡 Your moment: Walk your client through the math — raise cost vs. replacement cost, side by side. Most have never seen it framed that way. When you reframe compensation as risk management, you change the entire conversation. That's an advisor's job, not a bookkeeper's.

Step 2 — Payroll Details

Current Annual Payroll ($)

Total gross wages across all employees

Total Employees

Employer Payroll Tax Rate (%)

FICA + FUTA + SUTA combined

Add Custom Raise % (optional)

Scale benefits with salary (e.g. 401k match)

Scenario Comparison — with Industry Benchmark

Scenario	Add'l Payroll/Year	Incl. Taxes	Total Monthly Add'l	New Annual Payroll	vs. Benchmark

Wage growth benchmarks: SHRM 2024 Salary Budget Survey, ERI Salary Survey, BLS Employment Cost Index, WorldatWork Salary Budget Survey. Inflation benchmark from BLS CPI 12-month average.

The Retention Risk Picture

Per-Employee Fully-Loaded Cost of 1% Raise

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The conversation your client is avoiding is the one that costs the most.

Step 1 — Industry Context

Step 2 — Payroll Details

Scenario Comparison — with Industry Benchmark

The Retention Risk Picture