Rewards That Drive High Performance: Success Stories from Leading Organizations

Just as "you get what you pay for" once rang true, companies today are adhering to another piece of wisdom: "You pay for what you get." This is a revolutionary new approach to compensation where pay is no longer viewed as an unavoidable expense, but as a powerful tool to achieve organizational goals.

And while most companies know that rewards should be tied to real performance (rather than mere longevity and effort), only a few of them actually prove it by letting employees share in the results they helped to achieve. Not just with a pat on the back or a kind word, but with significant, tangible, financial rewards.

Rewards That Drive High Performance profiles 39 companies that have successfully linked compensation to achievement. These original case studies reveal how each company devised its own blend of salary systems, incentive and bonus programs, personal recognition, and other rewards to recognize superior work and motivate high performance. And they give you a fascinating, behind-the-scenes portrait of what's happening at some of America's leading corporations, including:

* How Saturn Corporation's unique reward system helped revive America's moribund car manufacturing industry--and how it continues to support a culture of customer focus, collaboration, and market responsiveness * How Starbucks Coffee Company created a total, integrated reward and human resources program that puts employees first--and serves as a lever to the company's tremendous growth (from 11 stores in 1987 to 1,800 retail locations today) * How Corning Incorporated's goal-sharing program helps it retain market leadership in an increasingly competitive environment * How Levi Strauss & Co.'s Partners in Performance and Global Success Sharing programs work to retain the core values of a family-type business--and to sustain a highly productive, committed workforce * How Amazon.com's reward program has been specifically designed to appeal to the kind of people it wants to recruit: aggressive, bright, and invested in the long-term success of this dynamic company.

Best, yet, with Rewards That Drive High Performance you'll learn not only why each company needed to change and how it developed a reward program to support those changes. You'll also understand how to adapt these programs to enhance the spirit of your own organization, to redefine the relationship between employer and employee, and to improve your company's competitiveness and vitality.

Thomas B. Wilson is president of the Wilson Group, Inc., a consulting firm that helps companies design and implement performance-based reward systems. WGI clients have used his reward systems to improve quality and productivity, increase revenues, enhance customer service, build teamwork, implement strategic change initiatives, and more. Mr. Wilson is a frequent speaker at conferences and the author of Innovative Reward Systems for the Changing Workplace, as well as numerous professional articles. He lives and works in Concord, Massachusetts.