At ITG, we know that travel incentives work but sometimes, employee recognition can be practiced closer to home. Today’s employee isn’t yesterday’s. What they want in terms of recognition now is that it be public. They want to share the fact they’re being recognized for their achievements among their peers. In in the prevailing climate of downsizing and de-cluttering, the last thing they want is more stuff. What they want are experiences that resonate and inspire. Let’s look at emerging trends for improving employee recognition in 2019.
If you’re still struggling to create a coherent company culture, the time is now to get it together. Company culture and how employees experience it is becoming a priority and many companies are answering it, starting with the physical environment. An open office plan is rapidly being revealed as less revolutionary than previously believed. Finding the balance between collegiality and privacy is one way to undergird your cultural identity, because physical setting is a key way in which employees view your company’s cultural reality. Keeping your employees up to date by investing in them with training for new technological realities is one way to tell them how highly valued they are. But right at the top of the heap in the “culture as experience” pile is playing the wellness card. Investing in your employees’ wellbeing is an enormous gesture that says you care. And in an environment in which health and wellbeing are increasingly central to the way people are approaching life, it’s a winner.
Almost 3/4s of employees answering a survey from United Health cited health and wellness programs as highly desirable. And 70% of companies are hearing them. Offering programs that support the wellbeing of your employees is a gift to them and to you. You get reduced sick days and increased engagement. They get the knowledge that they’re working a culture that nurtures them for the good of the whole. Once believed to be helpful but not necessary, programs that speak to the wellbeing of employees are becoming a leading priority.
Most of you reading will have worked with many Millennials. Hot on their heels is Generation Z. They’re entering the workforce and frankly, they more like Millennials on steroids than a cohort of their own. With the highest rates of technological command, social media presence and mobile device ownership, Generation Z is not be trifled with. These are the leaders of tomorrow – plugged in and ready to take the bull by the horns. What do they want? They want job security and they want a balance between their working lives and everything else. Whereas Millennials demanded flexibility, Gen Z is the generation of balance and technological heft that their predecessors paved the way for. These are the people you’ll need in the future, so start thinking about how you can create the balance and stability, as well as the recognition, they crave. Incentive Travel Group has been taking people places for over 2 decades, with programming, planning, logistics and execution excellence.
