Family Friendly Incentive Travel

So, what’s up with kids and incentive travel programs you ask?  Well, there’s certainly a growing shift towards being more family friendly these days, which is being driven by a variety of factors.  Primarily, these would involve today’s demands at work with leaner and “doing more with less” philosophies, family lifestyles as well as the idea and desire of organizations to create stronger motivational value for participants in order to achieve greater business performance.

If you or anyone within an organization have been thinking about whether or not a "Family Friendly" element within your incentive travel strategy is a worth while idea, consider reading this article - click here

As organizations make family friendly decisions, concerns typically surface regarding potential distractions, objections by participants without children as well as with regard to how they would fund such inclusions. Here are a few short insights to keep in mind:

• Distractions – Typically this surrounds the desire to have an educational, networking or award element within a program. With the right destination selected and good planning, there are a number of ways to have one-on-one time with your participants, and they with their families.
• Participants without Children – Based upon a National Study by Maritz Travel and Maritz Research, we found that nearly 4 out of every 5 incentive travel participants without children believe that kids should be allowed to participate. It seems that they want to celebrate with their colleagues and peers, as well as get to know their families better too.
• Budgets – Whether you’re paying for, subsidizing or creating special buy-in rate options, incentive travel earners are looking for ways to bring their families along and reward them for their support in helping achieve business objectives.

Overall, organizations that don’t’ think family friendly incentive travel programs can play a big role need to think again. Helping create the opportunity to share these rewards and experiences go a long way in building stronger affinity with the organization. While it might not be right for every program, it’s worth the time and effort to do some research and gain a better view of what’s best for your participants and your organization.

Increase Motivational Value with Family Friendly Incentive Travel Programs

American culture and the work place have experienced dramatic changes, especially over this past year. Today dual income families are the norm. Unemployment is up. So is the average work week. The corporate demand to do more with less has had a significant impact on incentive program participants … and their families. The result is a significant increase on the stress levels of the family.

Incentive travel programs have long been a key way to motivate performance by providing experiences that embody attributes such as camaraderie, credibility, respect, fairness and pride – all key attributes associated with the 100 Best Companies from the Great Place to Work Institute. So how does the family play into this?

Incentive travel programs aren’t just an opportunity to recognize and reward the employee, channel partner or customer for their commitment and achievement; but, a chance to recognize the sacrifices and support the family made as a whole. Including the family in the program can greatly boost participant engagement and performance.

Leading organizations are turning toward the adoption of more family friendly program elements. The main reason, it’s a significant motivational factor that provides families the opportunity to share in striving for and achieving incentive goals, as well as in the reward and recognition. After all, participants with families look to their spouse and children for support and want to have an opportunity to reward them as well.