An incentive programs is an employee motivation technique that offers cash, gifts, special recognition, goods, or other awards for exceeding performance goals. An incentive program may be a contest with a single employee or group of employees winning a prize, or it may be structured to reward as many employees as are able to achieve the defined performance goal. Many incentive programs are designed to support sales or piecework goals. To be effective, the rules of the incentive program must be clearly understood and administered fairly.