Providing an exceptional experience is a unique way to motivate your team members. Travel programs can break through barriers that often exist between employees, encouraging collaboration and idea-sharing amongst top performers.
Unlike cash bonuses, which fade in the rearview mirror and are quickly spent or tangled up with daily living expenses, travel experiences remain a powerful motivator. This may help reduce employee turnover and improve satisfaction levels.
1. Increased Engagement
Travel is a unique reward for many employees, and it provides excitement and a sense of accomplishment. It can also provide the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ – inspiring discretionary effort to meet a tight deadline or keep up with a demanding project.
When companies offer a travel incentive, employees are able to rest and rejuvenate, often by enjoying new experiences, like visiting exotic locations or taking in local culture. This restorative time can help to increase productivity, particularly when it comes to solving complex business problems. This is because employees are better equipped to approach these challenges with fresh ideas and solutions when they’re fully engaged.
This increased engagement is not only beneficial to your company’s bottom line, but it can also contribute to happier employees. This, in turn, can improve morale, which can further boost productivity. In addition, a more engaged workforce can contribute to a positive customer experience, which is an important factor in decreasing churn and increasing loyalty.
While cash incentives are still a common motivational tool, experiential rewards such as travel have become increasingly popular in recent years. In fact, it’s been reported that travel programs are more effective than traditional rewards at boosting employee performance and morale.
In a competitive business environment, travel incentive programs can help to motivate employees and drive sales. By offering this type of reward, you can set your company apart from other businesses in the industry and attract top talent to your organization. Additionally, travel rewards can help to increase retention, which can be an important factor in reducing turnover. In the end, this can save your company money on recruitment and training costs.
2. Increased Productivity
A well-designed travel incentive program helps to generate more revenue for your company. This is because employees who are happy with their work and work at peak productivity will help drive sales, increasing overall corporate revenues.
Unlike monetary bonuses and raises, which are often perceived as insignificant by today’s employees, a unique travel experience is seen as a more meaningful perk that can have a much higher impact on motivation levels. In fact, a recent study conducted by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) reveals that experiential rewards like travel are more effective than cash at motivating people to achieve their goals.
With this in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that travel incentives are the most valuable perks your company can offer. When compared to monetary rewards, they have been shown to provide nearly triple the performance lift.
Travel incentives are also a great way to encourage friendly competition in the workplace. If your team members see each other competing for the same trip, they will be motivated to work harder than their counterparts to secure the reward. This type of competitive spirit can also motivate your team to perform even better the next time around.
Not only does the positive boost in morale provided by unique travel experiences contribute to a happier workforce, but it can also help your company’s image. This is because your employees would love to rave about their experience with their friends and family, which can create a positive public perception of your business. This, in turn, could help you attract more talented applicants to your company.
3. Increased Morale
If you’re looking to recruit, the morale boost provided by travel incentives will help you attract top talent. However, it will also ensure your current employees remain engaged and motivated. This is important because employee retention is linked to productivity and performance, so keeping your employees happy will save you money in the long run.
Travel gives employees a chance to break away from the usual routine and experience something new. This helps them refresh and refocus, making them more productive once they return to the office. It also builds strong bonds between employees, especially if they are traveling together. Team incentive travel creates a sense of camaraderie and competition, which can be highly motivating.
Unlike monetary bonuses, which get deposited into their bank accounts and then forgotten about, travel-based rewards are more memorable and feel like real rewards. Employees can share photos and stories from their trips with colleagues, which keeps them feeling excited and happy for a longer time. In fact, a recent study found that non-monetary rewards produce more sustained motivation than cash.
In addition to increasing morale, a great benefit of travel incentives is that they can inspire your employees to push themselves harder. This is particularly important for the middle 80% of your workforce, who have the potential to become high performers. By using the power of travel to motivate these mid-level employees, your company can achieve a higher level of performance and deliver a better ROI.
In the age of sites like Glassdoor and Great Place to Work, promoting your company culture’s more important than ever. By sharing inspiring images from your employee travel programs, you can give yourself a competitive edge when recruiting.
4. Increased Retention
When employees are recognized for their hard work with something other than a paycheck, it can give them a sense of value and belonging. This is especially important for the millennial generation and other younger employees. Travel incentives have become a popular way to do this, as many of these rewards are customizable and can align with the employee’s individual goals and culture.
In addition to creating a sense of belonging, traveling also creates a bond between employees. Unlike cash-based rewards, which may be spent on bills or a vacation, travel incentives can provide memories that last for years to come. When an employee receives a trip, they can share photos, souvenirs, and stories with their coworkers, which gives them a sense of pride that will continue to motivate them to reach their next goal.
The comradery built during an incentive trip can also result in a stronger support network at home. Often, top performers will invite their families along on the trips to help them feel supported and encouraged to keep up the good work. In addition, these interactions can provide a platform for discussion of business matters in an off-the-cuff setting, which can lead to new perspectives and strategies that can improve productivity back at the office.
Employees who feel valued and respected by their company are more likely to stick around and be productive assets. This can be especially important for sales teams, where one key member can make or break a weekly profit for the whole team. When a company has an effective travel incentive program in place, it can help prevent the loss of this type of talent.
5. Increased Profit
Many companies will look at the initial cost of travel incentives and may turn them down based on their budgets. However, this is a mistake as the increase in profit that they provide can far exceed their costs. Travel incentives encourage team members to work hard and push each other to achieve their goals, which in turn boosts the company’s overall sales. Having a highly motivated team makes it easier to retain clients and build a strong reputation for the business.
In addition, a travel incentive program allows the employee to experience something they will remember and share with family, friends, and social media. This will give the individual a sense of accomplishment they can’t obtain by receiving a cash bonus. It will also help to motivate them to strive for a repeat experience.
Unlike cash bonuses, which most individuals will spend quickly and forget about, experiential rewards allow employees to enjoy the trip for years to come. They can remember the delicious jerk chicken they ate in the Caribbean, the fresh seafood they had while sailing in Alaska, or the wine they enjoyed while visiting Italy. These memories will inspire them to continue working hard in hopes of earning a return trip.
While it is true that a travel incentive program will only be as effective as the company’s willingness to make it happen, it is worth the investment in the long run. A travel expert will be able to help the corporation find ways to save on expenses so that the experience is affordable and within budget for the entire team. Then, the company can use their team’s testimonials and photos from their trip to promote their company as a great place to work.
