In today's date, many organizations employ incentive travel programs because these programs motivate the employees and increase their productivity. In fact, according to research by the Incentive Travel Council and Site International Foundation, 96% of employees express travel incentives motivate them. Travel incentives motivate your employees to help achieve business objectives by increasing productivity, enhancing performance, increasing sales, and achieving targets. Moreover, these corporate incentives provide numerous other benefits as well. Generally, companies use travel incentives to motivate their sales force to achieve sales targets.
Let's look into this blog; we will discuss the significance of travel incentive and how it provides ROI for your organization.
Travel incentive is used to support and appreciate the employees. According to the studies, it is one of the significant incentives to motivate staff and increase their productivity to achieve objectives. Giving employees incentive trip work as a motivation for them. It gives the satisfaction to staff that their efforts are appreciated by their organization. Research conducted on 200,000 people, including employees and managers, showed that regarding the question "My company values high performance," the companies that achieve the lowest 25% return on investment of 2.4. However, those in the top 25% had an average return on investment three times high. It shows that the organizations that invest in incentive travel reach higher productivity.
In the United States, businesses suffer the loss of an estimated $11 billion yearly due to staff turnover, according to the stats. 79% of employees who resigned from their jobs mention that "lack of appreciation" is a primary reason for quitting. According to research, travel incentive programs can help to prevent employee turnover. Society for Human Resources Management has revealed in their report that the organizations with recognition programs such as travel incentives have played effectively in retention, engagement, and performance (SHRM/Globoforce, 2012). Furthermore, if employees feel that their company is giving them value and rewards, that will lead to workplace satisfaction. So, it will be a wise decision to invest in travel incentives to appreciate your staff and retain professional employees.
When staff sees that their organization respects and recognizes their efforts, they feel more motivated and become more loyal to the company. Moreover, 72% of staff awarded with travel incentives state they feel more loyal to their organization. In their study, Site International Foundation and the Incentive Travel Council revealed that loyal staff are like ambassadors for your company and will work efficiently to make sure that the organization achieves its objectives.
Travel incentive plays a vital role in relieving the stress of employees. Employees that receive travel incentives feel reduced stress, increased productivity, and more confidence. It will benefit the employees and your organization because your staff will return to work feeling motivated. Moreover, employees will work more efficiently and fulfill their tasks with higher productivity.
When employees go for an incentive trip in a group, it gives an excellent opportunity for teamwork and friendship. During their trip, employees will spend some quality time and memorable experiences together, providing them the opportunity to know each other. After the trip, the employees will have a stronger bond when they start their job responsibilities. Moreover, it will improve the workplace environment, and employees prefer to work as a team. Furthermore, a positive work environment also helps in retaining employees.
In a survey, on a scale of 1 to 10, managers rate the significance of a positive work environment at 8.5. Since the covid-19 pandemic, organizations are now allowing employees to work remotely. Travel incentive gives a chance for employees to meet up with their office colleagues that will help in team-building and bonding.
We have discussed how beneficial it is to provide travel incentives. It can help boost your employees' confidence, increase productivity, and help achieve business objectives. Furthermore, it can also help your organization set productivity standards and adjust strategy according to your business goal. For example, if John achieves the sales target by selling 20 items in a month and Watson only sold 12, John will be eligible for the travel incentive reward. However, now management knows that selling 20 items is an achievable sales target for a month, so it is better to identify John's best strategies and help Watson overcome his weaknesses.
Businesses have to compete with other market players in this challenging work environment. Therefore, it is essential to retain talented employees and increase sales and revenue. Therefore, travel incentive is highly beneficial for companies and worth to invest. Furthermore, travel incentives help you achieve your business objectives and give you a higher return on investment. Moreover, it will motivate employees to boost their confidence and retain skilled staff.
Organizations should make every attempt to retain capable employees and hire those who are proficient in their field as well. Promote a workplace culture that cares for the well-being of staff, and you will see your business flourishing. Moreover, it helps in competing with business rivals with more effective results. Furthermore, nobody wants to leave an organization that appreciates the efforts of its employees. Likewise, everyone wants to join a company that provides incentives to their employees and recognizes their efforts.
Travel Incentive Plans
We are offering travel incentive planning services. From the initial stages to the plan's implementation, we will guide you in every step to implement your desired travel incentive plan. Our travel incentive plans will motivate, engage, and uplift your employees' confidence and boost return on investment for your organization.
Our incentive trips will thrill, engage and inspire your employees and boost long-term ROI for your company. So get our help and opt for the customized incentive plan according to your employees.
We aim to provide the best travel incentive plans designed for the organizations. Contact us today or visit our website incentivetravelgroup.com to learn more about travel incentive programs.
In a world that is growing increasingly unstable due to terrorism and civil unrest, many people don’t feel as confident about traveling as they once did.
But there are some key actions employers can take to help their road warriors feel more at ease while they’re out there.
Let’s look at 5 ways to keep employees safe while traveling.
Everyone’s afraid of things they don’t understand or know about. That’s why providing your traveling employees with information about the destination and conditions is the best travel policy practice.
A fact sheet, providing key information like what to expect from the climate, the city, and even the neighborhood your traveling employee is headed for, reduces the mystery and ups the interest. Include a list of local services, restaurants, and public transit.
Tailor the information you provide to your individual travelers. Some may have medical conditions or require medication. Ensure that you include information about medical services and pharmacies for these travelers.
Being aware of factors like this will help you meet your duty of care for the specific employee traveling.
If your business doesn’t have travel insurance coverage, it’s time to get that sorted.
If you already have this in place, then it’s incumbent on you to communicate information about this insurance to travelers before they embark on their trip.
Are there health requirements your traveler needs to know about before taking off? Do they need inoculations? Should they not be drinking tap water? Is it OK to eat street food?
You’re the employer, so it’s your job to make your traveling employees aware of these factors before they go.
Nobody really wants to think about it, but responsible employers do.
If your employees are traveling to a destination in the throes of change, including intermittent civil unrest, then having an emergency plan in place which includes communication and evacuation is a best practice.
Being equipped with secure, reliable communication in this instance is key to an emergency plan being effective, so ensure that’s the case.
PRO-TIP: When your road warriors are entering “hot zones” or visiting destinations with a reputation for unrest, then enrolling with the US Embassy should be a matter of protocol. This ensures that the person is accounted for should instability arise.
Are you concerned about existing protocols at your company for keeping your employees safe while traveling? Let ITG take the reins and develop your corporate travel policy to encompass traveler safety.
With over 20 years in the business, we bring you wide-ranging experience in incentive travel programming, rewards, meeting and conference planning and so much more. We’re the experts who raise the bar, making your travel program the one to replicate.
Ready for an outsourced solution to all your corporate travel needs? Then, you’re ready for the pros at ITG. Contact us to discuss these 5 ways to keep employees safe while traveling. Discover excellence with the team at ITG.
Employee motivation should be your most important goal to sucess. You’ve got a full roster of employees. But do you know who’s doing the heavy lifting?
Not all of them! That’s a sure thing.
It’s tough to keep your staff engaged every minute or every day. Tough. Not impossible. What you need to do to keep all of them as connected as possible to the goal they’re collectively reaching for, is to enhance their motivational instinct.
And that instinct is, primarily, self-interest.
Employee motivation – a veritable gold mine of increased profits – is elusive at times. But with the right strategy, you can get your employees engaged and keep them that way.
Employers can no longer count on fallbacks like pay increases, bonuses and benefits enhancement. Employees don’t get a thrill from those. If you’re a quality employer, your employees are already deriving the monetary benefit of that quality.
It’s no good to tell them they’ll keep their jobs if they perform to expectations. When you’re trying to grow, “doing the minimum” isn’t going to cut it. And this employment market belongs to employees. Their mobility has never been better, especially if they’re highly skilled.
It’s not like they don’t know their value. They’ll head for greener pastures if they’re not getting what they need from your company.
Motivation is speaking to employee self-interest in a more compelling way. That “more compelling way” means putting something on the table to sets off employee pleasure centers.
Travel, for example. Tying your company goals to the dreams and desires of your employees is a proven way to extract from them the kind of top performance and productivity you’re looking for.
The idea of coming out on top and winning an incentive gets the juices flowing, the healthy competition going and motivation sparking.
Employee motivation, when expressly included in company culture as one of its pillars, is an effective model for growing your company by engaging and thus, retaining your star people.
That’s how incentive programs work. When woven into a strong company culture, they send a message of rewards for the kind of work that reaches a little further than what’s expected. When that culture embraces all effort that contributes to growth and success, it becomes a buoyant reality that raises the level of employee engagement and stems turnover.
A quality incentive program which taps into the dreams and desires of employees is where your gold mine of increased profits begins. With exceptional ROIs which leave monetary incentives and rewards in the dust, travel incentives serve to hit employees where they live – offering them something extraordinary in return for their best effort.
With more than 2 decades creating quality incentives and incentive programming for companies like yours, Incentive Travel Group is your outsourced solution to unlocking employee motivation.
We help take your operation to the next level without burying your existing human resources. Instead, we’re an extension of what you’ve got on board, bringing you a professional incentive solution.
Ready to go for gold? Contact us.
Corporate Travel Incentives undeniably drive profit for companies who deploy them. On average, US companies see a return of more than $12 for every $1 spent on corporate travel programing.
That’s an ROI to love!
So, how do you get your employees to adopt the program you have in place? Employee engagement is crucial to getting the most out of your travel program, so let’s examine how to drive corporate travel program adoption with the people who matter most – your employees.
Consumer experience is just as important to your employees as it is to other consumers. But are your travel management interfaces as friendly as they should be?
What are they missing? Here’s what they should include to make user interface as friendly and engaging as possible:
If your corporate travel tools aren’t delivering these, they’re encouraging your employees to go “off road” to look for the experience they find most beneficial. They want flexibility, which means you need to provide access to a vast array of options.
You also need to ensure that the tools you have in place offer flexibility that doesn’t hinder user travel planning. And when they get stuck, who’s there to help? A lack of support isn’t going to win any fans.
Make your corporate travel interfaces as simple, flexible and easy to use as possible, offering your employees an experience which rivals other options. That’s what’s going to bring them (willingly) to the party.
Sure, you care about your employees but does your travel management software reflect that? If you’re not ensuring that they’re safe and comfortable while they’re out there doing your business, trust evaporates.
Trust is the element that binds people together and it’s no different in a corporate setting. You need your employees to trust that you’re there when they need you and that you’re not going to leave them hanging when they’re stuck, far from home.
Building trust into your interface is expressed by quality and professionalism in the vendors and services your travel tools are offering.
Frequent business travelers know that anything can happen out there. Changes in itineraries and schedules happen, so being there is part of maintaining a corporate travel program that your employees love and use as a matter of course.
The clearer you make your presence to employees (by your actions and flexibility in the event of sudden changes) the more confidence they’re going to have in your program and the more likely they are to adopt it.
Being there when they need you is key.
We’re an outsourced solution to your corporate travel needs, including programing and ensuring total adoption by your travelers. We’ve been in the business for more than 20 years, so we understand what employees need to stay on course and engaged.
While your staff gets the job done, we take corporate travel off their plates. Talk to us about designing the ideal corporate travel program that gets everyone on board.
With US unemployment low and top-performing employees highly mobile due to this factor, employers need all the help they can get when strategizing around retention. All the tools in your toolbox are needed in a climate like this, so this post is about the many ways travel incentives make employees produce better results.
Employees who produce better results are icons, representing the success of your corporate culture. They’re also the people most likely to stick around when they’re treated well.
Let’s look at how travel incentives can improve motivation, inspiration, and results.
Everyone loves a trip to a place they’ve never been. And when that trip is a travel incentive offered to your employees for a job well done, or for having returned the top sales figures, it’s highly desired.
A trip as a reward creates a vacation that the employer pays for, recognizing the successful employee’s efforts toward obtaining it. Who doesn’t want that?
Having a travel incentive program in place, allows HR professionals to point to the program as a benefit, attracting great talent. And word gets out about companies with cultures that encourage high-performing employees this way.
Those are companies that highly skilled, rock star employees want to work for.
Once you’ve got them through the front door, there’s nothing like travel incentives to inspire loyalty. That’s especially true when you’ve tailored your program to the desires of employees.
Feeling respected and valued, employees who benefit from travel incentives are more likely to stay. They’ll be nourished by an enhanced feeling of connection to the organization they work for when they sense that you notice what they bring to the party.
And there’s no question that employee loyalty puts a dent in turnover and the high costs associated with it, both fiscally and in terms of morale.
There’s no question that a healthy workforce out-performs an unhealthy one. Burnout and stress can both be mitigated with a well-deployed and carefully crafted travel incentives program.
Stress has physical consequences for human beings. When you’re able to provide your employees with a “thank you” in the form of an all-expenses-paid trip, you’re giving them the gift of time away from what’s stressing them and burning them out.
Your business reduces absenteeism and healthcare costs associated with sickness caused by stress (illnesses like heart disease, for starters).
Rear ends in seats don’t mean much if those rear ends aren’t producing.
Travel incentives inspire employees to reach a little higher. The time they spend out of the office serves to reinvigorate their efforts, helping them to refocus and return better results, via boosted productivity.
These are just some of the ways travel incentives make employees produce better results. Those results are the ROI you want for your travel incentive dollar. Increased productivity, reduced turnover, and enhanced motivation and loyalty are all factors that mean a healthy, robust workplace that gets your business where you need it to be.
Contact Incentive Travel Group for more information.
If your enterprise is situated in the retail sector, you’ll be aware that almost all your employees (95%) are paid hourly. What’s more, your workforce is diverse, employing people from many different demographics, from high school students to seniors supplementing their pension incomes. So, how do you make everybody happy? How do you inspire your workers with incentive programs for the hourly workforce?
Here are some basic guidelines.
Your best bet with lower cost incentives is to include everyone. Even if you’re a Main Street mom and pop store, you can invite your employees to celebrate a great month by hosting a pizza party, or providing them with gift cards, as a way of thanking them.
A monthly birthday celebration for all employees having a birthday in the same month is another good way to show your appreciation.
Considerate gestures like providing snacks and coffee in the break room is another winning strategy. Instead of giving them one small break at noon, give them a little more time and some great snacks. Instead of going out to buy a bite, they can relax on-site and feel catered to by their employer.
Plan events that will interest your staff. Invite a speaker to talk about the finer points of customer service or display strategies that boost sales at the point of purchase.
Plan meals out together, “just because”. These can be tied to a seasonal event, or just be a picnic in a local park with games for employee families, burgers, and hot dogs. It doesn’t need to be fancy to build team spirit and loyalty.
Get your employees involved in your sponsorship efforts. Give them discounted tickets to local events like hockey games and new film releases. Little gifts like this encourage your employees and show them that you’re thinking of them.
If you can manage this one, bonuses and other fiscal perks never go out of style. Just remember - be fair. Include your entire staff and base your incentives on goals that aren’t too far out or unattainable. And tie those goals to company growth, so they have a purpose that is easily discernable.
To be avoided: favoritism. That’s actionable under the law and awarding bonuses and other money-based rewards this way can land you in hot water.
Base bonuses on yearly, average salary, or choose things like years of service to award bonuses, or sales figures for the year. Also, time off with pay is a highly prized incentive your employees will love you for.
Incentive programs for the hourly workforce don’t need to be unduly complicated. They just need to do their job. Think carefully about who your employees are. A best practice in this regard is to survey them to find out what they’d like to see.
Incentive Travel Group is your source for all kinds of incentive and rewards programs. For over 20 years, we’ve been raising the bar in the sector. Contact us to get the incentives edge.
The modern workplace has changed rapidly in recent years. A good paycheck and benefits are a start, but employees now want more.
They want upward mobility, certainly but they also want that mobility to reflect a career trajectory about which they’re passionate.
With the market leaning toward highly skilled employees, the cream of the crop is highly mobile. Keeping these people on your bus is therefore a matter of giving them what they want.
And part of what they want is travel.
While setting up a travel program to satisfy the itchy feet of your people is a little more complex than keeping the snack cupboard well-stocked, it renders dividends that make it all worthwhile.
Travel incentives have a proven impact on employee morale. Going on vacation is something we all look forward to, but when the vacation is provided as a reward for a job well done, or presented as a brass ring for superior results, the impact is even more beneficial.
Productivity and morale are given a boost and culture is galvanized by these factors. Happy employees benefit from a culture which meets their needs and answers their desires stick around and work hard. Employers enjoy a solid, consistent workforce and reduced turnover costs.
An employee travel program may be more complicated than addressing the snack cupboard in the break room but there are some smart ways to make it easier for your company to offer.
One of the more obvious means of making travel easier to offer your employees is by incorporating travel into their roles.
Conferences and trade shows are a great way to get your employees to destinations of interest, adding excitement and a sense of ownership. Being on the ground to represent your company is both an honor and an opportunity.
Offering your star performers paid travel packages as rewards is another way to boost morale and strengthen the culture of performance you’re building
Maybe it’s not possible to send everyone but sending top-performing staff sends the right message. That message is that people who go beyond what’s required will be rewarded.
Building travel into your corporate culture is a matter of raising its profile and actively seeking to encourage employees to travel more often, for pleasure, work and on your dime.
Does this sound expensive? Not really, when you consider the ROI represented by corporate travel incentives – it’s astronomical and encompasses better retention and performance and reduced turnover.
ITG has been getting people places for over 20 years. We’re the incentives experts, building incentive programs while taking the details off your plate.
From rewards to travel vouchers, to group incentives, ITG is your source for winning incentives that boost morale, while getting the best from your people.
If you’re ready to create a workplace staffed by happy people, you’re ready for what ITG has to offer.
Is there anything more redolent of a delicious reward than the weekend getaway?
The weekend getaway is a cherished break with the ordinary. You may not be going far – but you’re going to enjoy yourself to the fullest. With only a couple of days to spare, it’s always an epic experience.
For employee motivations programs, a weekend getaway is one of the more attractive offerings. People love the idea of slipping away for the weekend. There’s something almost decadent about it!
So, if your company has a travel incentive program in place, including a weekend getaway incentive as a regular feature is a best practice.
Busy people may enjoy an extended vacation only once a year, but a weekend getaway is a means of getting out of Dodge, without all the packing and traveling.
In return for very little effort, these mini vacations offer a much-needed change of scenery and the rest and relaxation people crave, without the stress of travel and extensive packing. An overnight bag, a quick car ride and BAM, you’re kicking back in style.
And because of the time frame, the weekend getaway is an incentive that packs a big punch for a smaller investment in your bottom line (which travel incentives are, basically).
Sending a top-performing employee on a weekend getaway, like larger scale travel incentives, is a matter of “giving the people what they want”.
Spa weekends, getaways at elite retreats, or even a staycation at a luxury property in your city (with tickets to a show or a sporting event) are all great ideas to fire up employee motivation.
Knowing your people is the key to creating the ideal weekend getaway. And much depends on your location. Companies who know their employees well and have taken the time to get into their heads, will have the greatest success at planning the ideal weekend getaway.
Short-term luxury, plum tickets to a game in the VIP box, tickets to a high value concert or show, or a stay at an eco-resort are all great options for weekend getaways.
One of the most attractive features of the weekend getaway is that employees don’t fear returning to a pile of work that needs priority attention.
Is there anything worse to come back to after a vacation?
Keeping the adventure short and sweet is attractive to busy employees. A short break to recharge and reset is just the ticket for engaged employees who care about their jobs and know the work is going to keep coming, even while they’re away.
In short, the weekend getaway is a stress-free gift you’ll find your employees will appreciate enormously!
For corporate employee motivation programs - a weekend getaway lets your employees know you appreciate their hard work and diligence. It’s a reward they’ll love, requiring little effort on their part.
Talk to us about your employee motivation program. We’ve been creating winning incentives for over 20 years to motivate and inspire your employees.
Business travel can wear down even the most resilient road warrior. Up in the air, you’re not sure what your next meal will be or if you can remember where you’re supposed to be eating it.
And then, there are those “other” people. They’re not always the most pleasant individuals to deal with because, like you, many are traveling on business. Cranky, tired and ragged around the edges, they’re sometimes challenging.
But following these 6 rules of business traveler etiquette can make the whole affair less trying for everyone involved. And isn’t that what you want?
Pity the lowly gate agent, attempting to herd all the cats in the line onto the waiting airplane in time for takeoff.
But in travel situations, things go sideways. That doesn’t give you license to lose your cool, regardless of how important that meeting you’re flying to is. So, be nice. Be Zen. Don’t be “that guy”.
If you haven’t been bonked by a bag during boarding, you probably haven’t traveled much.
So, when boarding, mind the position of your carry on. Be mindful that elbows are sticking out in the aisle and human heads are vulnerable, as you attempt to squash your carry on into the overhead bin. Being aware avoids the “bonk”.
Don’t be the person with two large carry ons. One is enough in these latter days of packed flights. Being a bin hog is uncool.
Further, stow your bag in the bin associated with your seat. Gaming the system by stowing your bag at the front of the plane is deeply impolite, as it fails to recognize the needs of other passengers. If you can’t get it in your bin, talk to a flight attendant.
Under no circumstances are you to treat an airline seat as your personal bathroom. No clipping or filing nails. No flossing and no extravagant brushing, braiding or other grooming of your hair.
Aren’t there enough germs and other detritus on airplanes? We think so. Keep your ablutions to the appointed sanitary facilities.
It’s time to disembark! The seatbelt sign goes off and a rush to the front door ensues. Don’t do it. Everyone on that plane needs to get somewhere. You’re not alone in that, so don’t be thinking you’re special.
Merge into the line, employing patience and that Zen we were talking about earlier.
Now that you’ve arrived in your distant destination, knowing where you are is key to presenting yourself as a worthy emissary of your employer.
Remember that you’re visiting. Understand the customs and protocols of the destination. Be prepared for a different way of doing business and aware of varying social norms.
Be that culturally aware road warrior who leaves a pleasant smell behind and a great impression of your organization.
Contact Incentive Travel Group for excellence in corporate travel and incentive programs.
And don’t forget your etiquette, road warrior!
If you’re as big a fan of TED Talks as we are, you’ll find much to love about this post. Here, we’ll share with you seven TED Talks every HR pro should binge.
This list is a cornucopia of useful information and timely inspiration you’ll be glad you read!
Kwame Christian is director the American Negotiation Institution. In this TED Talk, he discusses the impact of conflict on our lives and the psychological forces driving it. He then offers some professional solutions for arriving at resolution.
Sound and communications expert Julian Treasure shares the power of persuasion and how we tend to waste it, when we speak. Outlining the “7 Deadly Sins of Speaking”, Treasure discusses managing inflection as a means of enhancing communication.
This talk again features Julian Treasure, who argues here for conscious listening, framing it as one of the most undervalued communication skills. And even if you think you’ve heard it all before, you’ll find inspiration here.
Psychotherapist Glenn Rolfson explains in this TedXOslo Talk how to change a work environment that’s become toxic, analyzing the corrosive ingredients of an unhappy workplace. To conclude, he offers several techniques for orchestrating collaboration and higher morale.
Being rigid about checking off bullet points in the hiring process can work against you and in this talk, HR professional Regina Hartley cautions that relevant job experience isn’t always the most important factor in hiring. In fact, focusing on this requirement can cost you great candidates. Instead, she suggests here that “grit” may be a better gauge of who the right person for the role is.
CEO of the Regis Company, Mike Vaughan, talks about asking the type of questions that get meaningful responses from candidates. These questions are designed to tell you as much about the candidate as they do about the subject being addressed.
Everyone trades in bending the truth occasionally. But in the hiring process, seeing through lies is a necessary skill. Pamela Meyer shares techniques for recognizing untruths in this talk. And while perhaps not bulletproof, her insights go a long way toward weeding out the pretenders.
Attracting and retaining top talent is an imperative in an employee’s market. And a culture which upholds rewards, incentives and recognition is how you do it.
At ITG, we’ve been creating winning incentive programs for companies likes yours for more than 20 years. We take the programming and details off your plate and put them on ours.
As an outsourced extension of your capacity, you’re liberated to attend to the big picture, while we help you drive employee motivation. Contact us.
