What Your Employees Can Take Away from a Group Incentive Travel Experience

It's healthy and beneficial to get people away from their work environment for the purpose of some relaxation and recreation (healthy for the employees and beneficial to the organization overall). While employees are expected to put in great work as much as they can, they should also have the opportunity to take a break, unwind, recharge their batteries and return to the workplace refreshed, inspired and rejuvenated from their time off.

Of course, employees can put together a weekend trip or an extended vacation on their own account, but the experience of heading over to a great destination to unwind on the company's account is also something that they would be happy to receive. To this end, companies have incentive travel programs that award top performers with travel opportunities that acknowledge their effort, boost their morale, and motivate them to become even better members of the corporate team.

While companies would often give individual incentives, they can also offer group incentive travel to exceptional teams, and this can impart more benefits to the recipients of the incentive than they may initially believe.

Here are some of the important things that employees can take away from traveling with a group as an incentive:

1. They gain a chance to build better relationships, greater trust, and stronger teamwork with colleagues. Compared to traveling alone or with family, traveling with a group of your co-workers teaches you to get to know the team better and interact more effectively with them — spending time together on a recreational trip can do that. Not everyone will be best friends by the time the trip is over, but there will surely be more open lines of communication and less awkward silences around the water cooler after their shared experience.

2. They learn to take up leadership and time management. There may be a single person assigned to monitor most of the arrangements throughout the trip, but there will be plenty of opportunities for everyone to take the reins or contribute to the smooth flow of the event. Working in a group also teaches each member to be mindful of their schedules, be considerate of everyone's time, and be punctual with appointments, reservations and travel arrangements so that the rest of the group won't be held up.

3. They gain a good boost to their morale and motivation. Being appreciated for your good work is always a good feeling, since you learn that the upper management considers your efforts to be pivotal in the company's growth and development. Being put in a group of like-minded, recognized and equally driven workers helps you gain more confidence in your abilities and pushes you to sustain your performance for the long term.

4. They discover better ways to become efficient. Group incentive travel will usually have anything from simple to more complex team building exercises that get everyone to work together, brainstorm for ideas, find solutions, and execute strategies to achieve the desired results. These activities teach values that are carried over to their professional responsibilities, helping to build a more cohesive team that takes the company closer to its goals.