A new TribeHR Pay Raise Index reveals that women received more pay raises than men during the first 9 months of 2012, but men earned larger pay raises.

TribeHR analyzed salary and workplace recognition ("kudos") data from 20,000 employees at 2,200 small to medium-sized companies between Q1-Q3 2012, and found that, 7.4 percent of women received raises, while only 6.2 percent of men received raises

However, when analyzing the size of pay raises, the TribeHR Pay Raise Index found that men were three times more likely to earn a salary increase in excess of 25 percent. Looking at pay raises of 5 percent or more, 60 percent went to men and just 38 percent to women.

Overall, the Index reported that average salary increase for employees at small and medium-sized businesses grew by almost 11 percent between Q1 and Q3 2012. The size of the average salary raise grew from 8 percent in Q1, to 13 percent in Q2, but then dropped to 11 percent in Q3 [see the infographic illustrating the data]. The TribeHR Pay Raise Index also examined the correlation between salary increases and employees who had received documented recognition for a job well done. It found that 85 percent of documented recognition was given by peers, and that employees who received recognition from peers were two to three times more likely to earn a pay raise.

"The new TribeHR Pay Raise Index reveals a mixed picture when it comes to fair pay," said TribeHR CEO Joseph Fung. "It's interesting to see that women seem to be overtaking men in terms of the number of pay raises given, but there's still a stark imbalance in the size of salary increases awarded. Employee satisfaction and workplace culture play an increasingly large role in a business' brand reputation—and those who pay fairly and amply recognize employee contributions will reap the benefits when it comes to hiring and talent retention." TribeHR is the creator of the first cloud-based social HR platform designed to help HR managers improve social recruitment.