By Ruth Mantell
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The pay gap is "widening significantly" between higher- and lower-performing employees, with firms focusing constrained budgets on "key and top employees," according to survey analysis released Wednesday by Mercer, a human resources consultancy. Top performers received average base pay increases of 4.4% this year, compared with 2.8% for average performers, and 0.4% for the lowest performers, according to Mercer. "Differentiating salary increases based on performance has become a necessity with limited resources. In this less-than-robust environment, top-performing employees are an employers' competitive weapon and they are doing their best to reward them accordingly," said Catherine Hartmann, a consulting business principal at Mercer. Mercer also reported that 69% of employers are "working to increase differentiation of pay based on performance." Looking forward, Mercer said the overall average increase in base pay is expected to be 3% in 2012, compared with 2.9% in 2011, and 2.7% in 2010.
