BizSugar.com › Management › Pay-for-performance digs in with employers

More employers now supplement salaries with one-time bonuses and rewards, with more than 90 percent of employers offering such "variable pay" in 2007, up from 80 percent in 2006, according to an annual survey of about 1,000 large U.S. employers by Hewitt Associates, the human resources consulting firm in Lincolnshire, Ill.

Spending on such programs hit almost 12 percent of employers' payroll budgets on average last year, up from 9 percent in 2003, and Hewitt expects that figure to top 12 percent in 2008.

So, there is money available beyond traditional salary increases, but it's only available to certain workers who meet and exceed companies' performance expectations.