Company budgets may not be stretching to merit increases, but when it comes to recruiting new employees and keeping existing ones, organizations are increasingly turning to alternative and incidental bonuses.

That's according to a report from the Society for Human Resource Management, which said that the bonuses don't even necessarily take the form of cash but can be in other forms, such as training or increased career development opportunities. Such bonuses are incident-based rewards, and are not the same as variable-pay incentive bonus programs that typically provide periodic annual, or even quarterly, payouts.

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Citing a July study from WorldatWork, an association of total rewards professionals, the report said that between 2014 and 2016, such incidental bonuses increased "modestly"; the increase was considerably more substantial between 2010 and 2014. Referral bonuses, for instance, given by 60 percent of organizations in 2010, were offered by 74 percent in 2014 and 76 percent in 2016; sign-on bonuses in 2010 were a tool of 54 percent of organizations, but in 2014 that rose to 63 percent and in 2016 to 65 percent; spot bonuses, given by 43 percent of organizations in 2010, were used by 60 percent and 61 percent in 2014 and 2016, respectively; and retention bonuses, used at 25 percent of organizations in 2010, more than doubled by 2014 to 51 percent and by 2016 to 55 percent.

While 10 percent of organizations don't have any alternative bonus programs, 32 percent use all four types — a big increase, according to WorldatWork, over the situation in 2010, when most organizations used only one kind. In addition, data revealed that many organizations don't even budget for bonus programs, but 55 percent of companies do budget for spot bonus programs and 44 percent have a budget for referral programs.

Smaller companies — those with fewer than 100 employees — are less likely to use sign-on and retention bonuses, but those are the most prevalent offerings at companies with more than 20,000 employees.

Ninety percent of organizations use four or more alternative methods of rewarding employees, whether that's a cash bonus, additional time off, or such perks as tuition reimbursement, fitness center memberships or career development programs. And 71 percent intend to increase their use of such alternatives over the next year.

The article also cited a Korn Ferry Hay Group study finding that spot cash bonuses are more likely to increase in use below the executive level, with 46 percent of companies expected to reward their manager/professional level and clerical/skilled trade level employees with cash rather than other perks. On the other hand, 43 percent expect to boost 401(k), 403(b) or pension contributions for their executives.

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