Productive people are skilled at finding creative solutions to challenges. They work smarter, not harder, to get things done efficiently. When workers are productive, they anticipate potential obstacles and develop solutions ahead of time, which helps the organization avoid many problems that others encounter.
As a business owner or team leader, understanding how to motivate your workforce is essential for ensuring that they enthusiastically contribute their best efforts every day and helping the company achieve its sales and performance goals, regardless of what they may be.
Incentive travels and presentation of custom award plaques to employees as recognition of a job well done have been discovered to be a big morale boost for company employees.
How to motivate your team with incentive travels
A lot of workers want incentive travel, including remote and remote-flexible staff. Over 80 percent of them prefer working remotely from their vacation location to extend the length of their trip. This shows how much they enjoy the time at their dream travel destinations.
What is incentive travel?
An incentive is a reward or benefit promised in advance to encourage someone to take a desired action.
Generally, all employees work for the incentives of paychecks and benefits. However, incentive travel is a cherry on top of the cake company management adds to reward productivity and loyalty.
It is typically an all-expenses-paid trip that prioritizes the employees’ enjoyment and relaxation above business objectives.
How much should incentive travel cost?
The Incentive Research Foundation recommends companies spend between 1.5-2% of their payroll to fund their social recognition program like incentive travel.
The program is expected to pay for itself as it boosts the employee’s morale to be more productive.
Benefits of incentive travel
According to Harvard Business Review, employees who take time off for vacation experience greater success at work, lower stress levels, and increased happiness at work and home.
Credit card companies, hotels, and related businesses use cash-back and gift cards as incentives. Meanwhile, companies that want to drive sales now include incentive travel to get more business.
Enticing incentives can make it easier for your sales team to convince prospects and land more deals. This can significantly boost their morale and, in turn, improve overall productivity and sales performance.
10 corporate incentive travel examples and activities
Trips abroad (to places like Europe, the Caribbean, and Hawaii)
Luxury beach vacations
Cultural tours
Wellness retreats
Shopping trips
Group lunch
Team building exercises
Working with local charities
Cocktail reception
Award ceremonies
How to motivate your team with custom awards
Traditionally, monetary incentives such as bonuses and stocks have been used by companies for years to boost employee morale and performance.
However, recent research suggests that symbolic awards, such as congratulatory cards, public recognition, custom awards, and certificates, can significantly increase intrinsic motivation, performance, and retention rates.
What are custom awards?
Custom awards are personalized awards designed and created to recognize specific achievements or contributions of certain employees. They can be made from various materials, including glass, crystal, metal, wood, and acrylic.
They are designed in different shapes and sizes and can be engraved with the recipient’s name, the award title, and a personalized message to personalize the company’s appreciation of their work.
Cost of custom awards
Custom awards are affordable for most companies. They are cheaper than travel incentives and a perfect alternative for organizations that cannot afford to sponsor a trip for their top performers.
If a company can afford it, custom awards presentation and incentive travel can both be a reward for productive employees. While vacations allow people to take time off office stress and visit their dream locations, custom awards are everlasting.
They help the employee remember the company’s appreciation of their contributions anytime they see the award plaque on their desk or at home.
Benefits of custom awards
Aside from boosting your team’s morale, other benefits of custom awards include:
Reduce employee turnover
Recruitment is expensive and challenging. This is why it is vital always to keep your best employees. If they do not feel appreciated, they will surely go somewhere else.
Some studies predict the cost to replace an employee is about three to four times the position’s salary. It can be more for an understaffed organization.
Improve employer branding
Employer branding is the representation of a company to prospective employees. Finding the perfect fit for openings in your organization can be challenging as top talents are usually in high demand.
Traditionally, this branding encompasses the company’s values, work culture, and reputation in the job market. Today, job seekers talk to their network for insider information about how you treat your workers.
Custom awards can improve your employee branding and help attract top talents.
Help to recognize hidden talent
You can only notice distinct characteristics of your employees when you look closely enough. Custom awards presentations require an evaluation of staff performance.
During this process, it is not unlikely to notice certain employees’ distinct talents and strategize how best to leverage them for better productivity.
SOURCE: Incentive Travel and Custom Awards: How to Motivate Your Team
