Some employers are optimistic about next year. Nearly two-thirds of companies that froze salary increases this year said they expect to increase pay in 2010, according to a recent report by Towers Perrin. Employers are still cautious, however; increases are likely to be small – median increase are estimated to be around 3 percent – as only one-third of employers expect a significant improvement in the economy in the first half of 2010.

"Companies are making an effort to gradually return some sense of normalcy to compensation budgets in the coming year," said Ravin Jesuthasan, Towers Perrin Managing Principal. "But in the current environment, 'normal' is a relative concept. Employees coming off a year with no salary increases or bonuses will likely appreciate a small bump in compensation, even if it is noticeably off from pre-recession norms."

Expect increased differentiation in salary increases as employers struggle to retain – or win back – employees they lost during the recession. According to the report, 70 percent of companies are concerned about losing key talent as a result of cuts they've already made. As such, nearly half of companies say they plan to use the same differentiation strategy they've been using to award raises based on employee performance, and an additional 40 percent will be more selective when looking at individual performance. Furthermore, many companies indicated they plan to increase hiring next year and will look at competing organizations as a possible source of talent, the report authors write.