What the cycle awarded, and to whom

The May 2026 cycle covered all 351 workers: 298 got an award, 28 were eligible and got none, 25 were not yet eligible. The awards average 1.5 percent on 38,472,000.00 of base, which is 48,090.00 a month, and payroll can see it.

RulePartition the population before quoting a rate: awarded, eligible without an award, not yet eligible. Three buckets that sum to headcount, every cycle.

Neverquote cycle cost as an annual number alone. The ledger meets it monthly; publish the monthly figure payroll will actually show.

One line answers the two questions every cycle gets: who received an increase, and what it costs each month from now on.

◆ The population, partitioned351 workers, three buckets, no remainder.

May 2026 cycle	Workers
Awarded an increase	298
Eligible, no award	28
Not yet eligible	25
Population at cycle close	351

The award rate is 298 over 326 eligible, not 298 over 351; quoting rates without the partition flatters or damns a cycle depending on hiring. The 25 not yet eligible are recent starts still inside the eligibility window. Sample values are illustrative, never client data.

◆ The spendwhat the awards cost, annually and monthly.

Measure	Amount
Base bill of awarded workers	38,472,000.00
Average award rate	1.5%
Annual cost of the cycle	577,080.00
Monthly cost from 1 May	48,090.00

The monthly line is the number the rest of the catalog can check: 48,090.00 is exactly the merit driver the payroll bridge names for May, and the budget it drew down is closed out on the merit budget report. One cycle, three pages, one number.

◆ The compa auditwho the money went to, by position in band.

Compa quartile at award	Awarded workers
Below 0.85	41
0.85 to 1.00	118
1.00 to 1.15	112
Above 1.15	27
All awarded	298

A healthy cycle leans its money below the midpoint. Twenty-seven awards above 1.15 is the calibration conversation: each one may be right, but each one should have been a decision, not a default.

◆ The owned answerthe cycle from the change events, not a screenshot.

Every award is a pay change event with a reason code and an effective date, kept in the change history. The cycle report is a query over those events joined to the snapshot, so it can be rerun, audited, and tied to payroll.

Everything on this page comes off the compensation star; the report is ordinary arithmetic over that model, documented there once.

Use case

Problem

Cycle results live in the tool’s screens: rates quoted on shifting denominators, cost quoted annually, and no way to prove what payroll actually absorbed.

What we build

The cycle as queries over pay change events: the three-bucket partition, spend stated annually and monthly, and the compa audit of where the money landed.

What you get

A cycle you can close: buckets that sum to headcount, a monthly cost the payroll bridge confirms to the cent, and the calibration outliers named.

Can you prove what the merit cycle cost payroll?

We build the cycle on change events, tied to the payroll bridge to the cent.

Talk to us

Terms on this page

merit cycle: The scheduled review that awards base increases, here effective 1 May.
eligible: In the cycle’s scope by hire date and status; the honest denominator.
award rate: Average increase across awarded workers’ combined base.
awarded base: The combined base bill of workers who received an increase.
compa quartile: Position in the guideline band at the moment of award.
effective date: The date the new base takes economic effect.