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What is Merit Increase?
A merit increase is a raise tied to individual performance, typically delivered during the annual review cycle. Merit pools at most companies average around 3–4% and are distributed unevenly based on ratings.
Examples
- A 5% merit increase for a top-rated engineer.
- A 2% merit for a meets-expectations rating.
- Zero merit for a performance-improvement-plan employee.
Why this matters
RaiseCheck checks whether your merit is ahead of or behind the market — a 4% raise can still be a pay cut if comparable roles jumped 10%.
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