North American employees prefer incentive travel to five days of paid time off. Photo Credit: Adobe stock/ Antonioguillem
North American employees who have experienced incentive group travel
in the past are significantly more likely to prefer it as a reward
choice over paid time off work or a monetary gift, regardless of age or
career stage.
This is according to insights from a recent webinar hosted by the
Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), entitled Generational Expectations
of Incentives. It examined the changing priorities of today’s workforce
and which types of incentives and rewards motivate early, mid, and late
career employees, using data from a recent survey of employees in North
America.
It noted that incentive travel is becoming more of an exciting
prospect for younger people in particular, with more survey respondents
within that age group compared to others saying they would prefer a
group travel incentive over five days of paid time off.
Zoe Chorpenning, senior account manager, client services at
performance improvement provider One10, who previously worked at
Salesforce and Microsoft, reflected on her incentive and rewards
experiences at all these businesses. “With these group incentive travel
trips you’re sent to an amazing location and they bring out the whole
red carpet, “ she said. “These experiences are incomparable - you have
the opportunity to network and be a few doors down from your VP of
sales, to be with all these amazing people who are able to put a face to
your name early on in your career, and to network with other top
performers.”
The younger age groups
Coming out of those trips, she added, younger employees are more
motivated than ever and want to be included in the following year's
trips.
Morgan Crain, senior programme manager, reward & recognition at
data security company Rubrik said elevated experiences continue to
appeal across all age groups. “You’re not spending this type of money to
roll out the red carpet for a trip like this unless you're getting
married or you have some big milestone in your life that you're
celebrating,” she said. “One-on-one time with company executives is
invaluable - it enables [employees] to make that connection early on in
their careers.”
IRF research also showed that people who had experienced incentive
travel and ‘red carpet’ treatment and who had seen the resulting career
benefits, rated this as the best reward. “Most of these red carpets,
great destinations, group travels are reserved for the top, top
performers, and that's exactly the group that’s most motivated by that,”
said Allan Schweyer, chief academic advisor at the IRF. “But the
younger ones, those in early-stage careers with lower incomes were also
surprisingly drawn to this, even though they may not be able to qualify
yet. But it was clear that this was something that they were very
interested in qualifying for in the future so (incentive travel) acts as
a motivator for that group as well.”
Types of programmes that appeal
The research also focused on which types of incentive programmes hold
the most appeal. Schweyer outlined how people are increasingly drawn to
programmes that offer relaxation and wellness, in pool or beach-side
locations. “Design a programme where the meetings are condensed, where
there’s lots of free time and where you can choose to do the activities -
it’s a combination of the enticing and the optional,” he said.
Rubrik’s Crain said that as an end user, it is really important to
take programme design into perspective, to consider what your leaders
and attendees are looking to achieve from the trips, as well as
assessing tax and financial implications.
“It’s important to find a balance, with networking, happy hour and a
bigger celebration to activities ranging from time at a spa to going
ziplining in the jungle, for example,” she said.