Generation Y – the 76 million people born between 1978 and 2000 – have recently entered, are about to enter, or will enter the workplace in the not too distant future. And they’re bringing with them a whole new set of recruitment, motivation and retention challenges.
Research shows that members of Generation Y are likely to change jobs every two years, continually searching for new challenges and experiences. And, according to a recent Conference Board report on job satisfaction, less than 39 percent of workers under the age of 25 are satisfied with their employment situation– giving Gen Y-ers the lowest job satisfaction level of any demographic group.
One way companies can adapt their hiring and retention processes to fit this generation is to build effective reward and compensation packages, customized to provide the unique motivation Generation Y is looking for.
Research indicates that Generation Y brings different values and attitudes to the workplace than did prior generations. They want a clear path for advancement. They are driven to make an immediate impact in their positions. To them, work-life balance is a necessity, not a luxury.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Incentive Travel Program Resurgence Driven by New Uses, Expanded Participation - Part 3
More participants, more results
Once reserved for the sales team, use of incentive travel to motivate employees throughout an organization is becoming increasingly popular. Based on the principle that organizational success is better achieved when all areas are driving performance, the trend is to use incentive travel programs to motivate staff members throughout an organization. According to a 2006 incentive travel user survey by Incentive, an industry publication, today’s travel incentive trip earners’ breakdown as follows:
• Sales personnel 65.9%
• Non-Sales personnel 39.5%
• Dealers/distributors 39.5%
*Note: Some respondents indicated more than one group is included in their programs.
Travel incentive programs are still most frequently used to motivate sales. But more and more companies are beginning to successfully drive total organizational performance, with travel incentives. These companies know the programs pay for themselves — and the proof is in the bottom line.
Two areas to think about when considering the potential impact an incentive travel program can have on non-sales roles: costs and profits. Benefits will vary from company to company, but key targeted objectives include a variety of specific performance categories including:
• Recognition of performance excellence
• Promoting teamwork
• Building morale
• Improving customer service, experience and loyalty
• Supporting the sales function’s success
• Meeting Safety Goals
All of which impact cost efficiency gains and productivity improvements throughout the organization.
Recognition matters
According to a recent Maritz Poll®, 55 percent of employees “agree” or “strongly agree” that the quality of their company’s recognition efforts impacts their job performance. That’s a large segment of employees who will work harder and better for the right kind of reward.
Pleasing more, and different kinds of employees
When it comes to travel incentives, one size definitely does not fit all. It’s important to know the different segments of employees within the organization. The travel experience that motivates a single, 25-year-old male may be quite different than what interests a 40-year-old mother of two. For instance, that 25-year-old might be drawn to trips involving eco and adventure travel or emerging destinations such as Bucharest, Romania’, Reykjavik, Iceland, or the Baltic region of Latvia, while the mother of two might prefer a family getaway to Orlando, Florida.
Knowing who prefers to swim with the dolphins as opposed to taking a sight-seeing trip to Rome, then directing the program accordingly, will spell the difference between a good program and a great one.
It’s a new day
Times have changed in the world of employee benefits. Once, you could satisfy your employees and prospective employees by offering a good package of health benefits. Today, the cost of health insurance coverage for employees has gotten to the point of being burdensome – and promises to only get worse. Taking benefits away without a suitable replacement is a morale killer. Companies can still attract and keep first-class employees with another kind of employee benefit: incentive travel. Not just for sales personnel anymore, incentive travel programs can reward everyone for loyalty, hard work and productivity. And, have a positive impact on the bottom line.
Once reserved for the sales team, use of incentive travel to motivate employees throughout an organization is becoming increasingly popular. Based on the principle that organizational success is better achieved when all areas are driving performance, the trend is to use incentive travel programs to motivate staff members throughout an organization. According to a 2006 incentive travel user survey by Incentive, an industry publication, today’s travel incentive trip earners’ breakdown as follows:
• Sales personnel 65.9%
• Non-Sales personnel 39.5%
• Dealers/distributors 39.5%
*Note: Some respondents indicated more than one group is included in their programs.
Travel incentive programs are still most frequently used to motivate sales. But more and more companies are beginning to successfully drive total organizational performance, with travel incentives. These companies know the programs pay for themselves — and the proof is in the bottom line.
Two areas to think about when considering the potential impact an incentive travel program can have on non-sales roles: costs and profits. Benefits will vary from company to company, but key targeted objectives include a variety of specific performance categories including:
• Recognition of performance excellence
• Promoting teamwork
• Building morale
• Improving customer service, experience and loyalty
• Supporting the sales function’s success
• Meeting Safety Goals
All of which impact cost efficiency gains and productivity improvements throughout the organization.
Recognition matters
According to a recent Maritz Poll®, 55 percent of employees “agree” or “strongly agree” that the quality of their company’s recognition efforts impacts their job performance. That’s a large segment of employees who will work harder and better for the right kind of reward.
Pleasing more, and different kinds of employees
When it comes to travel incentives, one size definitely does not fit all. It’s important to know the different segments of employees within the organization. The travel experience that motivates a single, 25-year-old male may be quite different than what interests a 40-year-old mother of two. For instance, that 25-year-old might be drawn to trips involving eco and adventure travel or emerging destinations such as Bucharest, Romania’, Reykjavik, Iceland, or the Baltic region of Latvia, while the mother of two might prefer a family getaway to Orlando, Florida.
Knowing who prefers to swim with the dolphins as opposed to taking a sight-seeing trip to Rome, then directing the program accordingly, will spell the difference between a good program and a great one.
It’s a new day
Times have changed in the world of employee benefits. Once, you could satisfy your employees and prospective employees by offering a good package of health benefits. Today, the cost of health insurance coverage for employees has gotten to the point of being burdensome – and promises to only get worse. Taking benefits away without a suitable replacement is a morale killer. Companies can still attract and keep first-class employees with another kind of employee benefit: incentive travel. Not just for sales personnel anymore, incentive travel programs can reward everyone for loyalty, hard work and productivity. And, have a positive impact on the bottom line.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Incentive Travel Program Resurgence Driven by New Uses, Expanded Participation - Part 2
Attracting and retaining the best employees
According to a recent Federal Reserve report, businesses are currently having difficulty recruiting well-qualified workers. Companies with the biggest benefits and incentive packages are attracting the most eligible recruits and holding on to their best employees. However, the definition of “incentive” is shifting. Today’s job seekers differ from previous generations in important ways. For instance, cash seems to be less of an incentive than it once was. In fact, such things as holiday bonuses, spot bonuses and other cash payments for performance have become so expected that many consider the added compensation part of their overall take home salary. And it’s this sense of entitlement that has removed a good deal of the motivational punch from cash rewards. Moreover, a recent Maritz, Inc. study found non-cash incentive programs, which focus on trophy-value rewards such as travel, are the most desirable and effective motivators.
Offering employees and recruits the possibility of earning exciting and rewarding travel for their productivity can serve to offset the perceived “negativity” resulting from curtailed benefits. And, the desirability of incentive travel is giving employees and prospective employees a good reason to choose an employer, and stay once they get there.
The use of travel incentives in training
Beyond motivating productivity and increasing the desirability of a company as an employer, the use of travel-related incentives can be used to motivate employees to make themselves more valuable to the company by increasing their knowledge base. According to Dennis Costello, sales effectiveness practice consultant for Maritz, companies are beginning to open up to training-based uses for incentive programs. “More and more companies are now willing to provide incentives for what we call enabling activities such as skill acquisition and product knowledge.”
Dare to achieve, and reap the rewards
With incentives such as cash and bonuses viewed by employees as “entitlements” and part of the normal compensation, they’ve lost their ability to motivate. In fact, according to an email survey conducted by Corporate Meetings & Incentives, 58 percent of respondents said travel is more effective than cash as a motivator. Survey respondents considered travel to be the most effective reward. Unlike cash, travel incentive programs are always seen as “something to strive for” that can be earned with the right dedication to on-the-job production. In other words, you “get” your bonus every year, come rain or shine, but you can “earn” a trip if you work hard enough.
It’s true that the prospect of earning incentive travel will drive productivity throughout a company. But by how much? According to a 2003 Incentive Travel Facts survey of companies, travel incentives increase sales by an average of 15 percent. In addition, half of the survey respondents reported that travel incentive programs met from 75 percent to 99 percent of their objectives.
To be Continued...
According to a recent Federal Reserve report, businesses are currently having difficulty recruiting well-qualified workers. Companies with the biggest benefits and incentive packages are attracting the most eligible recruits and holding on to their best employees. However, the definition of “incentive” is shifting. Today’s job seekers differ from previous generations in important ways. For instance, cash seems to be less of an incentive than it once was. In fact, such things as holiday bonuses, spot bonuses and other cash payments for performance have become so expected that many consider the added compensation part of their overall take home salary. And it’s this sense of entitlement that has removed a good deal of the motivational punch from cash rewards. Moreover, a recent Maritz, Inc. study found non-cash incentive programs, which focus on trophy-value rewards such as travel, are the most desirable and effective motivators.
Offering employees and recruits the possibility of earning exciting and rewarding travel for their productivity can serve to offset the perceived “negativity” resulting from curtailed benefits. And, the desirability of incentive travel is giving employees and prospective employees a good reason to choose an employer, and stay once they get there.
The use of travel incentives in training
Beyond motivating productivity and increasing the desirability of a company as an employer, the use of travel-related incentives can be used to motivate employees to make themselves more valuable to the company by increasing their knowledge base. According to Dennis Costello, sales effectiveness practice consultant for Maritz, companies are beginning to open up to training-based uses for incentive programs. “More and more companies are now willing to provide incentives for what we call enabling activities such as skill acquisition and product knowledge.”
Dare to achieve, and reap the rewards
With incentives such as cash and bonuses viewed by employees as “entitlements” and part of the normal compensation, they’ve lost their ability to motivate. In fact, according to an email survey conducted by Corporate Meetings & Incentives, 58 percent of respondents said travel is more effective than cash as a motivator. Survey respondents considered travel to be the most effective reward. Unlike cash, travel incentive programs are always seen as “something to strive for” that can be earned with the right dedication to on-the-job production. In other words, you “get” your bonus every year, come rain or shine, but you can “earn” a trip if you work hard enough.
It’s true that the prospect of earning incentive travel will drive productivity throughout a company. But by how much? According to a 2003 Incentive Travel Facts survey of companies, travel incentives increase sales by an average of 15 percent. In addition, half of the survey respondents reported that travel incentive programs met from 75 percent to 99 percent of their objectives.
To be Continued...
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Incentive Travel Program Resurgence Driven by New Uses, Expanded Participation - Part 1
Until recently, travel as an incentive had been on a bit of a downturn – corporate scandals, terrorism, more stringent accounting standards and regulatory constraints had put a damper on companies’ and participants’ appetite for travel.
Today, companies have overcome the concerns of the last several years, and travel incentives are not only back, new applications and more participants are driving its resurgence.
Helping fill the benefits gap
The cost of employee benefits, particularly health care, has steadily risen almost to the point of being crippling to many companies. According to figures compiled by the National Coalition on Health Care, in 2005, total national health expenditures rose 6.9 percent — two times the rate of inflation. Total spending was $2 trillion in 2005, or $6,700 per person. In 2006, employer health insurance premiums increased by 7.7 percent — again two times the rate of inflation. And U.S. health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade, reaching $4 trillion by 2015.
As a result of escalating costs, many companies have scaled back their company-paid health plans and looking for employees to share more of the burden. The effect of this cost shifting on employee satisfaction is clear. According to a September 2006 Maritz Poll®, conducted by Maritz Research, benefits are extremely important to almost half (48 percent) of respondents; and 80 percent consider benefits to be at least “somewhat important” as a selection criteria for employment. In the same poll, nearly half (45 percent) of respondents with a health plan indicated that their employers had asked them to shoulder more of the costs of their health care benefits within the past year. The paradox is that, while employees without benefits are less satisfied with their jobs than employees who have benefits, they were significantly more satisfied than employees who had benefits reduced or eliminated. So for the sake of morale, a company that finds it necessary to cut back on benefits would be wise to find a lower cost supplement.
More companies are adopting incentive travel as the replacement for other, more traditional benefits. This is because it’s a desired and effective reward for performance. In a 2003 Wirthlin Worldwide Research survey of employees, the question was posed “Suppose your employer wanted to reward your work performance. What would you find most rewarding?” An overwhelming 88 percent indicated “a trip they plan and take with a companion to the destination of their choice.” Another 5 percent indicated “a trip planned for them and a companion of choice with their coworkers,” while .50 percent said they would prefer “a trip planned just for them and their coworkers.”
In a world where employee benefits, once used for recruiting and keeping employees, are shrinking, the addition of travel incentive programs is a viable and valued replacement for lost or reduced benefits.
To be Continued...
Today, companies have overcome the concerns of the last several years, and travel incentives are not only back, new applications and more participants are driving its resurgence.
Helping fill the benefits gap
The cost of employee benefits, particularly health care, has steadily risen almost to the point of being crippling to many companies. According to figures compiled by the National Coalition on Health Care, in 2005, total national health expenditures rose 6.9 percent — two times the rate of inflation. Total spending was $2 trillion in 2005, or $6,700 per person. In 2006, employer health insurance premiums increased by 7.7 percent — again two times the rate of inflation. And U.S. health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade, reaching $4 trillion by 2015.
As a result of escalating costs, many companies have scaled back their company-paid health plans and looking for employees to share more of the burden. The effect of this cost shifting on employee satisfaction is clear. According to a September 2006 Maritz Poll®, conducted by Maritz Research, benefits are extremely important to almost half (48 percent) of respondents; and 80 percent consider benefits to be at least “somewhat important” as a selection criteria for employment. In the same poll, nearly half (45 percent) of respondents with a health plan indicated that their employers had asked them to shoulder more of the costs of their health care benefits within the past year. The paradox is that, while employees without benefits are less satisfied with their jobs than employees who have benefits, they were significantly more satisfied than employees who had benefits reduced or eliminated. So for the sake of morale, a company that finds it necessary to cut back on benefits would be wise to find a lower cost supplement.
More companies are adopting incentive travel as the replacement for other, more traditional benefits. This is because it’s a desired and effective reward for performance. In a 2003 Wirthlin Worldwide Research survey of employees, the question was posed “Suppose your employer wanted to reward your work performance. What would you find most rewarding?” An overwhelming 88 percent indicated “a trip they plan and take with a companion to the destination of their choice.” Another 5 percent indicated “a trip planned for them and a companion of choice with their coworkers,” while .50 percent said they would prefer “a trip planned just for them and their coworkers.”
In a world where employee benefits, once used for recruiting and keeping employees, are shrinking, the addition of travel incentive programs is a viable and valued replacement for lost or reduced benefits.
To be Continued...
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