Incentive Travel 101 your questions answered

By Joanne Kelly, Head of CR Events

Why should I run a trip with an incentive programme? Engaged employees - an incentive programme that includes a trip, simply put, gives you a better employee; a dedicated, harder worker that’s more engaged within your company. This increases sales for your business and helps boost employee awareness of the company brand.

Motivated employees - holding a trip is a fun way of recognising and rewarding your employees’ hard work. It makes them feel appreciated, motivating them to continue to work hard (and work harder) to win a place on next year’s trip.

Job satisfaction - a trip also gives staff something to look forward to, which boosts job satisfaction. They return from the trip buzzing with excitement, which filters down the rest of the team. This helps to improve morale, while encouraging others to work harder so they can enjoy a future trip too.

Q:

Why offer a place on a trip instead of giving cash or tangible rewards?Cash can be swallowed up in a pay packet and quickly forgotten about.

Trips give memories you can’t put a price on – memories your employees will associate with your company and that last a lifetime.

While tangible rewards, like sports gear and smart phones, are more personal than money, they don’t give those experiences and memories. And, who doesn’t love a holiday?

Q:

Does the trip come out of the employees’ holiday or the working week?This depends on your company – whether or not you’re happy to run the trip in business hours. It can also determine how long you go for.

It’s worth remembering, the trip can be classed as business-related if it’s educational, or will involve networking.

It’s still worth ensuring travel to your trip destination happens over the weekend, so employees are out of work for less time or use fewer days of annual leave.

Q:

Where should we go?Your trip destination depends on factors like your audience, your incentive programme and company culture, but almost always starts with your budget.

With a limited budget you could fly to Dublin, Ireland, for a few days, while a bigger budget can take you further field – the US or Japan, perhaps.

Age groups are important and can impact your destination and itinerary– a younger group might like somewhere with adrenaline fuelled activities and a vibrant nightlife, while older staff might prefer somewhere more relaxing and cultured.

Group sizes are a factor too – a costly long-haul trip would work well for a group of five, while a larger trip of over 100 might be better closer to home.

Q:

How long should we go for and when?The length of your trip depends primarily on your budget and destination. Typically, a European trip should be three to four days, and four to six days for international.

You should want your employees who have won a place on a trip to feel like they’ve been rewarded, they shouldn’t feel like the trip is over as soon as they arrive.

When you go depends on the weather, yes, but also how many trips you want to run a year and your incentive programme.

Q:

What should be included in the trip itinerary? Your trip itinerary needs to suit your target audience and age group. A younger group might enjoy extreme activities like zip wiring or water skiing, while older employees might prefer a cultural experience – a castle tour or walk through a national park.

Try to include some visits to iconic landmarks – a trip to San Francisco wouldn’t be the same without a day at Alcatraz, or a walk over the Golden Gate Bridge. Also, consider doing activities your staff might not otherwise get to experience – a memorable private session feeding elephants in South Africa, for example.

Include a mixture of organised team activities (staff can opt-in and out-of) and free time - particularly if the trip’s open to employees’ spouses or partners.

Also, consider featuring an educational element – a product launch or training day – as your top sales people will probably be in one place.

Q:

How can we maintain momentum over the incentive period to ensure we get a good ROI from incentive travel?It’s best to run an incentive programme for at least three months, so your business has chance to hit sales targets and meet any objectives set out, like raising product or brand awareness.

You could run a six-month programme too, especially for a long-haul destination.

Hold some sales floor days, to help build momentum and drive awareness of the incentive. This helps to keep the incentive front of mind, build up your staff performance and reaffirm their loyalty to your company.

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About CR EventsWe do Events...really well. From team events and sales floor activation days to large-scale

conferences and bespoke once-in-a-lifetime incentive travel experiences, we've got it covered. Our knowledge, expertise, passion and processes are designed to help you get the most out of

your event and ultimately your investment.

Winners of multiple awards – including The Drum UK Event Awards, C&IT Excellence, CRN Sales and Marketing, Incentive and Motivation, and Eventia.

To find out more about our ideas for incentive travel and get the most from your employees, get in touch.

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