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Karen is the Managing Director of Total Rewards Consulting, Inc., with over 25 years experience in Human Resources including significant expertise in compensation as well as benefits and HR systems management in both corporate and consulting environments.  Karen’s clients have included major firms such as Pepsi and Abbott and companies of all sizes and industries, including not-for profit organizations.

Karen holds an MBA from Dominican University is both an SHPR and GPHR and is currently serving as a SHRM Compensation and Benefit special expertise panel member. Karen also has extensive speaking and teaching credentials, including presentations for the SHRM national convention, WorldatWork, the Human Resources Management Association of Chicago (HRMAC), numerous SHRM chapters and SHRM state conferences, as well as teaching compensation, benefits and human resource management courses for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), De Paul University in Chicago, Illinois, and Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois.

Overview: The use of incentives continues to surge in popularity.  A recent survey found that 81 percent of U.S. organizations (up from 68 percent just six years ago) are using variable pay—or incentives—for employees outside the sales force.  Top management is increasingly calling for it as a solution to all manner of performance issues.  While we know that incentives can be a powerful force for the positive, they also have the potential to be ineffective and even damaging when implemented to “fix” ill-defined problems. Before you decide to jump on the incentive band wagon, let’s take a deep breath and outline the types of questions to ask and the resulting process steps necessary to create effective incentive plans.