There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that employee incentives are more effective, as compared to cash, in helping a company achieve several of its goals, including employee retention, engagement and loyalty.

But despite the advantages of non-monetary incentives like an employee incentive travel program, many companies fail to reach their desired goals. There are a few reasons why companies fail.

One reason why an incentive program may fail is because it has been poorly planned. If planning had been done prior, the plan may not have accounted for the company's overall strategiesinstead, including its financial goals, personnel development and marketing. Whatever the company's goal may be, the incentive plan is utilized to promote behaviors that are aligned with that specific goal.

Another reason why incentive travel programs fail, especially over the long term, is when the company fails to identify and promote best practices which will help boost the organization's performance. Instead of working efficiently to achieve a specific goal, team members are working doubly hard yet still failing to achieve a goal.

An incentive program may fail because the plan developed by the company does not drive the employees toward the desired behavior. Although profitability may be the end goal the organization has in mind, modifying employee behavior will allow the company to achieve that as well as other goals.

Another key reason why an incentive program fails is because the organization does not have a good performance-evaluation process. An employee performance evaluation process can be used in conjunction with an incentive scheme to drive employees toward a specific behavior. Furthermore, the evaluation should be simple to perform and understand, and should also be conducted regularly.

If your company's incentive program is not producing the desired results, take a look at how performance is measured. Although profitability may be on top of your mind, take a good look at your company's cash flow. Ideally, you should not borrow money to pay for the bonuses of your employees. Instead of simply looking at profitability, look at your free cash flow.

Still another thing to consider when incentive plans do not produce expected results would be the assignments you give to your people. Some employees perform poorly simply because of a tough assignment wherein there are several odds stacked against them.

An employee incentive travel program is a vital tool that can help your organization achieve its goals. However, it is essential for you and the people who are tasked with planning to consider and factor in various elements within your organization and make the necessary adjustments to ensure success.