Work Incentives: Incentive Travel Trips Versus Performance Bonuses

January 22, 2016 / in Employee Motivation

Which would you rather receive: an employer-sponsored, free trip to a beautiful destination that includes a plethora of unique, entertaining sights, or money? It would cost to send you on the trip in the form of a bonus check? If you are tempted to choose the latter, just remember that bonuses have been a part of your employment history for several years, so you might feel inclined to choose the unique trip instead.

This is one reason why thriving companies offer travel trips as work incentives to employees who perform at the top of their game. Often, these employees are considered “top talent” and have reaped the benefits of that status in the form of large, performance-based bonuses. “Money talks,” as the old saying goes, but for top talent, incentive travel trips can talk more convincingly, as it were, serving as ideal work incentives for the four reasons listed below.

1. More Tangible Than Money

Receiving money is exciting, but only because receiving the things that money can buy is even more exciting. For most performers, after all, there are different ways of compensating them — a reward comprised not of cash or checks, but of an incentive travel trip at a way to connect on a deeper level. That top performers might spend their generous bonuses on if they had the opportunity to do so. Due to the exceptional uniqueness of the trips, that chance seldom exists.

2. Nearly Impossible to Recreate

The anatomy of an incentive travel trip is as follows: A company sends qualifying employees on an exciting journey that the company pays for. While on the trip, travelers experience unique adventures and see what are selected with the help of an incentive travel trip planner. Bonding with fellow employees while enjoying novel experiences is a highly rewarding experience on a personal level, and is typically an experience that is almost impossible to create on one’s own.

3. Improves Employee Relationships

For most companies, incentive travel trips are about more than rewarding top performers with unique travel experiences. The trips also serve to strengthen relationships between employees by providing them with a shared experience. When they return, other workers see the trip’s recipients as top performers, helping to foster a team environment that exhibits bold morale. Simply stated, monetary or commission bonuses don’t present these qualitative benefits.

4. Doesn’t Replace Annual Bonuses

Important clarification: Incentive travel trips seldom use them to replace annual bonuses. Due to budgetary considerations, bonuses may be smaller than they would be if trips were not offered, but top performers aren’t left wondering that they had received bonuses instead of a trip to a special destination. Most companies that offer incentive travel trips as rewards that extend beyond bonuses to further motivate a company’s most valuable performers to maintain top performance.

Start Planning Your Trip Today

Annual bonuses are great work incentives for rewarding employees for excellent performance, but incentive travel trips in the reward structure can deliver benefits that bonuses alone do not, particularly strong employee relationships that improve morale in the workplace. For assistance planning a trip that presents these benefits, call us today at (704) 540-1482. We look forward to providing you and your dedicated employees with a work incentive like no other!