Business Motivation: In The News

Organizations must focus on two key concerns to retain and motivate their talent: increasing employee engagement and developing systems that provide better support for the success of their employees. A recent article in the Hay Group Leader notes that to foster high levels of engagement, companies must make greater use of non-monetary rewards such as career growth opportunities, meaningful job design, training, and recognition programs. But research shows that high employee engagement alone does not guarantee an organization's effectiveness. What's missing is real "employee enablement" to position motivated employees to succeed.

How do you ensure that you're doing the best possible job of enabling your employees? Hay Group outlines six steps to better engagement and motivation:
In order to succeed in engaging and motivating employees, organizations should:

• Ensure there is a clearly communicated link between performance and rewards within the organization.
  
  
• Ensure that there is proper differentiation in performance ratings between employees.
  
  
• Root out bad business practices, such as unnecessary work and duplication, that can adversely affect employee enablement.
  
  
• Put the right people in the right jobs by focusing on job sizing and the kind of person that best fits the role.
  
  
• Monitor and improve the work climate within the organization by ensuring that leaders have the right competencies and management styles to motivate employees.
  
  
• Focus on non-monetary rewards such as career growth opportunities, development, and recognition programs.

For a more complete look at the Hay Group report, visit the Hay Group website at www.haygroup.com, or click here.

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The new name for the print and electronic editions of Motivation Strategies magazine is Engagement Strategies. The rechristened publication will cover engagement in all its various forms and functions, from research, leadership, motivation and technology to products, programs, destinations, and communications – a comprehensive approach focused on maximizing performance and profits through people.

“By forcing companies to fundamentally rethink the way they get and keep business, the recession is creating a powerful impetus for organizations of all sizes to improve financial results by identifying and building relationships with all of the people that are critical to their success, both internally and externally,” says Jim Kilmetis of Selling Communications Inc., publisher of Engagement Strategies.

Engagement Strategies will continue to be published five times a year in print and as a monthly e-mail digest, as well as via RSS feed and online at www.EngagementStrategiesOnline.com starting in July.

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While corporate incentive travel programs are not immune to the effects of the economy, their utility as a strategic business tool persists, according to the findings of a recent Pulse Survey from the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) entitled “Incentive Industry Trends Outlook 2009.”

The IRF Pulse Survey indicates that while incentive travel programs will indeed be altered due to budget constraints, their utility as a strategic business tool persists. “This supports the beliefs of those who work within the incentive industry that incentive programs are results-oriented, cost effective, useful for multiple applications and highly measurable,” says Rodger Stotz, chief research officer of the IRF. Incentive travel providers, corporate incentive travel buyers, suppliers (e.g., hoteliers) and others participated in the survey.

Other key findings from Industry Trends Outlook 2009 Pulse Survey include:

• Use of experience-related awards and gift cards are on the rise.
  
  
• Incentive providers face challenges and opportunities. With the exception of “per diem cash allowances,” all incentive program elements measured were expected to face deeper budget cuts. Results reveal the deepest cuts are expected in incentive company management fees. Other anticipated reductions include incentive company involvement, on-site gifts, number of total qualifiers, communications budgets, and overall awards budgets.
  
  
• Respondents in March 2009 were much less likely than those in October 2008 to agree that competitor reactions impact the products and services included in their company incentive programs. Furthermore, respondents were less likely to agree in March than in October that their company is sensitive to perceptions of program extravagance to the extent that the type of awards and program inclusions would be changed.  

For more information on the Incentive Research Foundation, visit its website at www.TheIRF.org. For a copy of the full survey report, click here.

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The recently released 2009 Vertical Markets Study from the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) indicates incentive program providers need to more powerfully communicate and demonstrate their expertise in defining and measuring the success of incentive programs to potential clients, suggests Rodger Stotz, chief research officer of the IRF.

The study assessed approaches to, and deployment of, incentive programs in six vertical industries. It revealed that there is a disconnect between program goals and measures of program success. Across all industries, respondents list soft issues and hard to measure results, such as building customer loyalty/trust and starting new relationships, as the “most valuable goals when designing an incentive program.” However, when asked how respondents “measure the success of their programs,” 79 percent indicated it was total incremental improvement of sales/profits over program objectives.

 “The difference between goals and measures of success points to a disconnect in business where the psychological and financial impact of incentives intersects,” Stotz says. “There is an opportunity here for incentive program providers to help clients better define goals and measures that can then help justify budgets going forward.”

For additional information about the Incentive Research Foundation, visit its website at www.TheIRF.org. To view a more detailed copy of the Vertical Markets study, click here.

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The Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) released the results of its annual study confirming that despite a 6.89 percent decline in distributor sales of promotional products for 2008, the $18.1 billion total was the third-highest sales number on record. The annual study was conducted exclusively for PPAI by Richard A. Nelson, Ph.D., at the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and Rick Ebel, principal of Glenrich Business Studies in Corvallis, Oregon.

Despite the 6.89 percent decrease from 2007, promotional products have experienced an average increase of 0.8 percent from 2006 to 2008. This is in stark contrast to the average revenue for more traditional forms of advertising, including newspapers (down more than 8 percent), business magazines (down 3.9 percent) and radio (down 3.3 percent) for the same time period.* In 2008 alone, newspapers were down 17.7 percent, radio nine percent, and business magazines 7.3 percent.

“In light of the recession and the dramatic decrease in sales attributed to the PhRMA Code in the last half of 2008, we were not surprised at the drop in sales last year,” said Steve Slagle, PPAI president and CEO. “2008 was a tough year for many of our members. However, it was particularly interesting that the more tangible and personally engaging forms of advertising fared much better overall compared to more passive media like television, radio and newspaper, which all reported a sharp decline. These numbers further reflect the inherent ROI that promotional products boast over mainstream media.”

For more information about Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) or to learn more about the proven power of promotional products (including research and case studies), visit the PPAI website at www.ppai.org. For a summary version of PPAI’s 2008 sales report, click here.

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The Site International Foundation has announced it will lead the first comprehensive forecast of trends and activity specific to the motivational events and travel industry. The ongoing research project will be called The Site Index — the annual analysis and forecast for the motivational events industry.  The program is being launched with the assistance of donations from the InterContinental Hotels Group and the Canadian Tourism Commission. 

Data for The Site Index will be derived from surveys of a global group of highly qualified incentive travel and motivational event users and providers, which will be conducted throughout the year. The research will examine internal and external challenges to the industry and how these factors impact the stability and growth of our market. It will also address behaviors of buyers and supplier partners, providing leading indicators for future trends.

Incentive travel professionals interested in participating in these studies may apply online at siteindex.uwaterloo.ca.  For more information about The Site Index, contact Scott Jeffrey, Ph.D. at sajeffre@engmail.uwaterloo.ca. Organizations interested in supporting the industry and the Site International Foundation, please contact Allison Summers, executive director, Site International Foundation at asummers@siteglobal.com.

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ROI is a fact of life for customer service initiatives, productivity goals, marketing campaigns, and any operational area within an organization – including reward programs. That's why Site International Foundation has released its newest whitepaper, “A Measurement Model to Validate the Performance of a Motivational Experience Program,” offering a measurement methodology that can be altered to fit multiple business and revenue strategies.

The white paper lays out a methodology for determining an award program investment based on incremental sales and gross profit projections, determining an award spend per qualifier, and how to identify ROI and use that ROI projection to validate the business case for the program or event.

The mission of the Site International Foundation is to enhance the awareness and effectiveness of motivational experiences and incentive travel, thereby increasing usage globally. For more information on the foundation, visit the Site website at www.siteglobal.com. To view this whitepaper, click here.

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The field of Enterprise Engagement is now officially represented on Wikipedia. The Wikipedia entry defining and discussing “Enterprise Engagement” now provides all parties both inside and outside the industry with an all-inclusive source of background and research for clients and others who are interested in better understanding this emerging field of business operations and the vital role played by incentive programs, rewards and recognition. Click here to check it out.

In addition, to keep up to date with the latest news, research, and resources related to Enterprise Engagement, you can join the Enterprise Engagement Alliance communities on LinkedIn or Twitter – just go to either site and search for “Enterprise Engagement.”

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