A key discovery from the survey of incentive program participants co-sponsored by the Incentive Research Federation and the Incentive Marketing Association is the importance of the overall experience. Somewhat surprisingly, respondents said the award choice is even less important in large award scenarios (programs in which goals took a year or more to attain) than small reward scenarios.
Participants in large award scenarios consider “professional development” an important component of award programs (32 percent versus 14 percent in small award programs). IRF President Melissa Van Dyke says professional development includes networking opportunities and other career-enhancing elements that can accompany recognition.
Other interesting findings from the study:
Work setting matters. The importance of the award, the professional impact, the person doing the recognizing and the communication cuts similarly when you compare gender, age, income and job role. Differences occur when you compare work environments in large award programs. Factory workers and those in a retail setting place more importance on the professional impact of an award than professionals who work
in an office or home office.
Cash is not king. For large rewards, such as annual sales program recognition, the study found that when participants were rewarded by the right level of management, with the right communication and professional development, 80 percent would prefer incentive travel and experiences in that award scenario, not cash.
For smaller awards, such as short-term and spot recognition programs, the study found that when participants were rewarded by the right level of manage-ment, and with the right communication and professional development potential, about 66 percent of participants preferred a personally meaningful non-cash reward instead of cash.
“We have always said to date that if you put cash, merchandise, gift cards and travel in front of people and asked them what they want, they will say cash. That is actually not true,” Van Dyke says. “We need to stop thinking that the question is just about cash and non-cash. The question is about award experiences and creating those experiences.”
Individual travel is preferred over group events. Participants expressed a significant preference for a three- or four-night resort getaway for two (42 percent) over all other types of incentive travel programs, including group events with top-performing peers (9 percent). Many users of incentive travel favor group events because of the higher perceived ROI to the program sponsor. It will be interesting to monitor this to see if companies give way to the preference for individual incentive travel. For now, says Van Dyke, a compromise appears to be giving participants and their spouses on a group trip more free time.
