83% of Employers Offer Merit Pay Increases to Improve Retention

As the job market slowly continues to open up, more employers are seeking ways to attract and retain the most valuable talent, and many are looking to rewards systems to facilitate this process.  The Compdata Surveys BenchmarkPro 2012 survey results found 82.8 percent of employers offer merit increases as one of the many systems used to reward employees. The average merit increase budget reported for 2012 was 2.7 percent, with 2.8 percent projected for 2013.

Bonuses are a popular reward option, as they are offered by 67.6 percent of employers surveyed. Nearly 40 percent of organizations use incentive pay, compared to spot incentives at 23.6 percent. Skill-based pay is utilized by 12.6 percent of survey respondents and key contributor rewards are used the least, 4.9 percent. Continue Reading