Merit Cycle & Compensation Budget Planning

Sterling Retail Group • 4,200 FTE • 3.8% Merit Pool • Cycle Day 8 of 21

Merit Pool Consumption
87.2%
+34.2% vs Plan
Target: 65% by Day 8
Performance-Comp Correlation
0.41
Target: 0.65
Weak linkage detected
Top Performers Below Band
47
Rescue Required
11.2% of top quartile
Manager Budget Adherence
68%
32% overbudget
Target: 95%
Cycle Completion Rate
62%
On Track
38% planned for Day 8
Avg Comp Increase (Q1 Perf)
4.8%
Top Quartile
Q4: 2.9%
Equity Refresh Allocation
$2.1M
78% to critical roles
$2.7M pool
Off-Cycle Exception Rate
2.1%
Within threshold
Max: 3%
Post-Cycle Compa-Ratio Shift
+0.04
0.96→1.00
Target: +0.03
Payroll Run-Rate Delta
+$8.7M
Budget: $6.9M
26% over plan

Merit Pool Consumption by Department (Day 8 of 21)

Performance vs. Compensation Increase Scatter (All Employees)

Correlation coefficient: 0.41 (Target: ≥0.65) — Weak performance linkage detected

Manager Budget Adherence Distribution

Comp Increase by Performance Quartile

Top Performers Below Band Minimum (Rescue Required)

Employee ID Department Performance Rating Current Compa-Ratio Proposed Increase Gap to 0.95 Status
EMP-2418 Engineering Exceeds (Q1) 0.87 3.2% -0.08 Action Needed
EMP-3721 Product Exceeds (Q1) 0.89 4.1% -0.06 Action Needed
EMP-1893 Sales Exceeds (Q1) 0.91 5.2% -0.04 Review
EMP-4102 Engineering Exceeds (Q1) 0.84 2.8% -0.11 Action Needed
EMP-2956 Marketing Exceeds (Q1) 0.92 4.5% -0.03 Review
EMP-5284 Engineering Exceeds (Q1) 0.86 3.6% -0.09 Action Needed
EMP-6791 Product Exceeds (Q1) 0.88 3.9% -0.07 Action Needed
EMP-3412 Operations Exceeds (Q1) 0.93 5.1% -0.02 Review
Showing 8 of 47 employees • 11.2% of top quartile below 0.95 compa-ratio