Creating an Incentive Travel Program

Looking to start an Incentive Travel Program for your company?

Described below are three initial steps which should be taken before contacting an incentive travel partner.

Motivating employees to do their very best within your company is golden. As humans we revel in the opportunity to show our skills and thus be rewarded. Incentive trips have been proven to motivate employees like no other incentive offer.

Incentive travel programs allow employees to work towards a tangible reward. Also, a program such as this offers the possibility to satisfy each human being’s inherit desire to see and travel the world. As an innovative way to motivate employees, the positive impact an incentive travel program within a company can bring is worth looking into. The following three steps will help you in launching an incentive program which can potentially show an increase in business, employee retention, and office place morale.

Identify the goal.

A clear and concise goal must be defined in order to create a successful employee rewards program. A few examples of achievable goals are: increased profit, customer and employee retention, improved work place morale, improved employee productivity, and team building. In which of these areas will your company benefit from most? Although an incentive travel program will likely boost improvement in each of these areas, it is important to state a single common goal which employees can work towards. Once a goal is selected, provide each employee with a specific objective which they must meet to qualify.

Determine how to fund the program, and create a budget. Funding an incentive travel program should be considered a business investment which is likely to pay off for all parties involved (company and employee). There are two ways to fund the program. 1) Using a fixed amount of money dependent upon a projection of sales or a yearly budgeted amount. 2) Using a portion of expected increase in (monetary) performance which would be the result of the program.

Monitor employee performance.

Evaluate success indicators by tracking performance of employees through a variety of ways such as sales increases and customer retention. Employees must agree to a common goal which must be met in order to qualify for program participation. Goal measurement must then be agreed upon by both employees and employers.  Flexibility must be considered in the event that extenuating circumstances arise which prohibits the employee from meeting the desired goal. The goal must not have the ability to be manipulated by either group and should be reasonable and attainable.

Incentive Travel programs should be created and performed with immense care. They are often big investments which have the strong ability to pay off extremely well when implemented correctly. Take time in finding the right incentive travel partner who will take all of the work and worry out of planning and executing a successful program.