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Few compensation ideas have swept the business world as quickly as group incentive or gain sharing plans. Unlike traditional profit-sharing plans, group incentive plans emphasize unit or department results rather than company wide results. Unlike individual or project-team incentives, everyone in the unit is usually included. The idea behind group incentives is simple and compelling: employees will be more productive if part of their compensation is tied to business objectives. Companies get better performance and may even be able to cut fixed costs by minimizing annual pay increases. A study by the Consortium for Alternative Rewards Strategies found that group incentive plans averaged returns of $2.22 for every dollar of payout. Designing and implementing such a plan, however, is problematic. You must choose the right objectives and inform and get support from managers and employees. HMU tells you how to determine whether your company's plan is on track, and what you should do if it's not.