Something that is often ignored with merit pay, because it works (actually it doesn’t but we digress) in corporate America, typically the better performance increases the company income. Doesn’t happen in education or the public sector. Not apples to apples. Apple and squirrels
Merit pay only works if you have additional hours left in the day to put into your job. Corporate America can't imagine that teachers already give every waking hour to their jobs without the promise of an annual bonus.