Every employee deserves appreciation from the company for their contribution. However, offering cash incentives to employees seems like a thing of the past. As Gen Z and Millennials comprise the majority of the US workforce, the business travel incentive program seems to be the trend now.
A business travel incentive program is an incentive structure where the top-performing employees or teams are sent on all-inclusive paid trips as a token of appreciation for their work. This article covers top reasons why a company sends their employees on business trips.
An efficient business travel incentive program offers a personal touch to employee incentives, giving employees memories for a lifetime. It is a unique way to appreciate your employees.
Let’s see some benefits of a business travel incentive program.
12 Benefits of a Business Travel Incentive Program
1. Employee Engagement
Engaged employees are an asset to the company. However, increasing employee engagement is a tricky business as you want to keep the employees happy, motivated, dedicated, and productive, all at the same time.
When it comes to employee engagement, a business travel incentive program is a win-win situation for companies. Employees who are offered vacations and getaways as a reward feel valued and connected with the company.
2. Enhanced Creativity
Creativity is vital for every company’s success. It can help employees solve major problems, come up with fresh ideas, and develop products that have better acceptability among customers. However, constantly working in a monotonous corporate environment can have a negative impact on employees’ creativity. Hence, they need a way to rejuvenate occasionally.
With a business travel incentive program, you can help employees nourish their creative side. When employees travel to unfamiliar destinations, they are pushed out of their comfort zone and come in contact with different traditions and cultures. This exposure inspires them and fosters the development of new ideas.
3. Optimum Productivity
You would imagine how going on trips can improve an employee’s productivity. In the corporate world, every employee goes through mental stress, be it meeting deadlines, working long hours, or job insecurity. And, according to a study by NCBI, it was determined that mental stress directly affects a person’s productivity.
One of the major benefits of business trip is they can improve productivity. When an employee goes on a business trip, he or she is isolated from the daily work environment. Therefore, when the employees come back, they are refreshed and ready to take on the job with more vigor. Hence, a corporate travel incentive program can help you ensure optimum productivity.
4. Long-lasting Delight
When you offer employees monetary rewards for a job well done, it’s great. However, as the money goes directly to their bank accounts, they tend to forget it in a matter of days.
Alternatively, travel incentives feel like a well-earned reward. Employees go on a vacation, snap photos, meet new people, and get to bring back awesome memories. When they come back, they show these photos to their colleagues and share anecdotes, keeping them happy for a longer time.
5. Healthy Competition
Healthy competition always brings the best among employees. When they see someone doing well in the workplace, it makes them realize that they can do it too.
A business travel incentive program is a great way to promote healthy competition. When they see their colleagues going on amazing trips and sharing their experiences, they are motivated to succeed and be the next in line.
6. High Retention Rate
According to Builtin, employee turnover costs around $1500 for an hourly worker and 100-150% for technical positions. Hence, it is often wise to retain the existing employee than hire a new one.
An effective corporate travel incentive program helps immensely in improving the employee retention rate. Sending employees on trips does wonders to their morale as they feel that the company finally appreciates the hard work they put in -day in and day out.
7. Tangible Reward
Compared to a monetary reward, business travel incentives are more tangible. When an employee gets a cash reward, it goes unnoticed by others. Hence, the employee does not get the recognition he or she is seeking from their peers.
On the other hand, a business travel incentive is tangible as everyone notices when you go on a trip. People ask the employee how the trip was, which they would not in the case of a cash prize.
8. Talent Acquisition
Good candidates always do their due diligence before taking up a job offer. In today’s world, there are various platforms, such as Glassdoor, on which they can view the comments by the current employees. Moreover, word of mouth is also a major factor when it comes to picking a company.
Offering travel incentives leads to your employees sharing their experiences on these platforms and giving your company a thumbs up. It presents your company as a fun palace to work at rather than a mechanical corporate structure.
Therefore, with a travel incentive program in place, you can attract and acquire new talent with ease.
9. Brand Building
It is the generation of social media, where people post everything interesting in their life, whether personal or in the workplace. Everyone knows what’s going on in an organization. People see a friend going on a company trip and wonder why their company does not provide the same.
If you have a business travel incentive program, it will surely build your brand reputation. When your employee posts what a wonderful experience they had during their trip, it automatically boosts your company’s reputation.
10. Personalized Touch
Various companies have a standard reward system, where an employee who performs well gets a pre-defined reward. Although any kind of reward is welcoming, it feels a little common to employees. It gives them the sense that everyone gets these rewards at some point in time.
With a corporate travel incentive program, employees get business travel as an incentive for their performance and feel that the company is making an effort. You can give them some options from the list of locations, making employees feel they are deciding their trip destination.
11. Stronger Team Bonds
Strong bonds among teams can be highly beneficial for a company. Teams that bond well fosters better communication, increased coordination, and quicker decision-making. One way you can enable better team bonding is by giving them a chance to travel together through a corporate travel incentive program.
When a team travels together, they experience adventures and make good memories. This helps them create strong relationships. Moreover, they get a chance to have informal discussions, which help them understand each other’s perspectives properly. With a deeper level of interpersonal understanding, they can work well together.
12. Maximum ROI
Whenever you put an incentive program in place, it is designed to motivate employees to be the best version of themselves. Hence, the incentive that drives employees the most has the highest ROI.
With a business travel incentive program, you get maximum ROI as the effects of a trip last for a longer time. Giving the same amount of cash reward does not have the same effect; hence, less ROI. Moreover, as the employee comes back happy, his output automatically increases.
Tips to Create a Successful Corporate Travel Incentive Program
1. Select Measurable Metrics
While creating your travel incentive program, choose clear and measurable metrics as targets. Your employees should know about the goals they must achieve to earn business travel as an incentive. For instance, a financial benchmark like a quarterly sales target is specific and measurable.
Hence, it is an ideal metric for your travel incentive program. If you want to increase the scope of your program, you can include a combination of financial and customer service-related benchmarks. Incorporating various targets can be an excellent way to encourage more employees across multiple departments.
2. Make your Incentive Trip Lucrative
Your travel incentive program will be successful only if employees find the reward attractive. Therefore, you should design your incentive trips in a way that includes adventurous and fun activities.
For example, you can plan collective local sightseeing. It is a pleasant experience everyone can enjoy without any hesitation or awkwardness. Hence, it is a great way to make employees feel appreciated.
3. Build Anticipation
Building anticipation around your corporate travel incentive program will make employees eager to win the incentive trip. Hence, you must take all the necessary steps to keep employees updated about the perks of the trip.
You can start by sending regular trip notifications during annual general meetings and team catchups. Moreover, you can share the images and testimonials of previous winners to ignite interest. You can also choose to reveal selective details about the itinerary at regular intervals as the teams achieve specific targets while striving for the final goal to keep the competitive fire burning.
4. Collect Feedback
To ensure that your corporate travel incentive program is actually beneficial for your employees, you must establish a feedback mechanism. You could ask the employees if the trip activities made them feel rejuvenated. You can also ask them if they have any additional suggestions.
Collecting employee feedback will help you eradicate major flaws in the travel incentive program and make it more suitable for employees’ needs.
Offer Employees Travel Booking Incentives As Well
You can give employees incentives at the time of travel booking as well. Once you have rewarded the employee with a trip, he or she can get incentives even when booking tickets on travel management software.
ITILITE offers a business travel incentive program that rewards employees for choosing a cost-effective travel option.
To know more, get a free demo of ITILITE.
