A new whitepaper lists that, after a two-year pullback, many companies have rediscovered travel incentives are directly linked to employee performance and customer loyalty and plan to renew benefits and rewards for their workers, channel partners and customers.
"Incentive Travel Recovering from Belly-flop," published by the Incentive Travel Council (ITC) of the Incentive Marketing Association, quotes a recent executive survey and presents findings from a review on two companies who chose to maintain their travel incentive programs in this tight economy.
"It's a perfect time for corporations to get back to the grassroots value of incentives, particularly travel," said Carol Wain, ITC president. "Short, mid- or long-term, it's a proven and psychological fact that employees, channel partners, and customers respond better to the carrot; not the stick.”
Additionally, in a media release about the report, Wain explained it’s unfortunate that the organizations who abandoned these investments “had to learn the hard way” that the constituents involved in their mission want, need and deserve to be motivated, recognized and rewarded.
"The fact is that, right now – with the economy still in recovery – it is going to take a creative approach to solve issues and achieve department objectives," Wain said.
The mentioned Society of Travel Executives survey notes more than 80 percent of surveyed companies said they plan to incorporate motivational travel in the next one to three years, and many of the same companies report a current, real-time return to travel incentives.
In retaining their incentives, DriveSavers of Novata, CA and SFN Group of Fort Lauderdale, FL, are noted as having managed their programs creatively and realized effective and measurable results.
To access the whitepaper, visit www.incentivemarketing.org and go to the "Featured Resources" section.
