By Shawn Zeller - Managers who've done it say it's surprisingly hard to link performance and salaries. Written for the government context, issues are relevant to any oranization looking at performance pay. (Added: 13-Aug-2005 Hits: 395 )

By Scott Yahes - Are incentive programs good for the company or bad for morale? It depends on whether the rewards help support corporate goals, such as increased profit and customer loyalty, or if they merely engender unhealthy competitiveness and back-stabbing among employees. Excellent article with some startling results gained from REMOVING individual rewards. (Added: 13-Aug-2005 Hits: 105 )

By Julie Monahan - To better align sales efforts with customer needs, employee incentive rewards must be apportioned appropriately. (Added: 19-Dec-2005 Hits: 75 )

By Alfie Kohn - To this day, enthusiasm for pay-for-performance runs far ahead of any data supporting its effectiveness%u2014even as measured by standardized-test scores, much less by meaningful indicators of learning. But then that, too, echoes the results in other workplaces. To the best of my knowledge, no controlled scientific study has ever found a long-term enhancement of the quality of work as a result of any incentive system. In fact, numerous studies have confirmed that performance on tasks, particularly complex tasks, is generally lower when people are promised a reward for doing them, or for doing them well. As a rule, the more prominent or enticing the reward, the more destructive its effects. So why are pay-for-performance plans so reliably unsuccessful, if not counterproductive? (Added: 13-Aug-2005 Hits: 73 )

By Martin Sipkoff - Paying incentives to physicians to practice evidence-based medicine appears to be an idea whose time has come. Such programs -- even if successful -- may create a new set of problems. (Added: 19-Dec-2005 Hits: 61 )

By Jeff Lyons - More than half of North American companies now use variable compensation programs, offering financial and non-financial rewards that vary with performance levels. Why are these programs becoming so prevalent? (Added: 21-Dec-2005 Hits: 73 )