The demands of a changing workforce are creating increasing demand for incentive professionals to boost...
As of 2016, 84% of U.S. businesses utilize non-cash incentives and rewards as a method of retaining and engaging their employees, salespeople, channel/dealer partners, and clients. As the body of evidence supporting best practices and optimal program design continues to grow, businesses are increasingly looking to outside partners for expertise on how to most effectively…
2019 Voice of the Market: The Use of Non-Cash Rewards & Recognition is a qualitative study of incentive program owners that explores what they prioritize when designing, implementing, and executing incentive programs. The objective of the study is straightforward: listen to the people designing and operating reward and recognition programs on the front line. Interview subjects…
Most of today’s research benchmarking “top performing companies” leverages pre-existing lists ““ for example the Fortune 500 or Best Places to Work. The research collected for The IRF Top Performers Study series was designed to use a national cross-section of firms with at least $100 million in revenue, collecting data to objectively classify each firm…
The IRF 2019 Trends Study highlights ten key trends that will affect organizations, their products and services, and the workforce in 2019. From market optimism to concerns about risk and safety, the study identifies key areas of change and their implications for workforce engagement, incentive travel and recognition. 1. The Economy and Merger & Acquisition Activity…
The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) sponsors regular trends surveys covering topics of current interest to those in the incentive industry. incentive providers, suppliers to the industry, and corporate incentive merchandise and travel buyers.
The exploration of the current uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in people management in the IRF’s study, Predictive Analytics and Artificial Intelligence in People Management, demonstrates that AI already helps organizations find, attract, hire, and onboard talent by predicting what individuals want and need and whether their skills and attributes match the firm’s needs. Moreover,…
INTRODUCTION Rewards and recognition program designers are at a crossroads. Only two decades ago practitioners mainly provided sales managers with trophies, merchandise, and travel rewards. Over the years, their focus shifted to the design of incentive reward and travel programs. Today, many practitioners have become true professionals with deep knowledge of motivational theory and leading practices in…
Over the past several decades, the use of non-cash rewards by U.S. companies has exploded. In the 1990’s, about one-quarter of US firms were estimated to use non-cash rewards. Today’s estimates place market penetration over 80%. [Source: Incentives Marketplace Estimate – 2016, Incentive Federation] This proliferation likely has many causes: increased emphasis on employee engagement,…
In most contemporary organizations, work involves problem-solving, analysis, leveraging in-sights, exercising creativity, and deep collaboration with colleagues and other stakeholders. The more interesting, creative, and purposeful the work is, the more the work itself can be the reward (Pink, 2006; Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 2001). Consequently, many traditional compen-sation and rewards systems have struggled to…
Most leaders expect their investments in incentive, reward and recognition (IRR) programs to drive more sales, increase revenue, result in a larger share of the market, or produce some oth-er return on investment. Leaders may also seek measurable improvements in production costs, product quality, reduced accidents and down-time, lower attrition and absenteeism, and in-creased engagement,…
This study the first in a two-part series. In part one, Award Program Value & Evidence, we discuss the role of recognition in incentive, reward and recognition initiatives and the broad benefits of cash and non-cash rewards. We conclude Award Program Value & Evidence, with a discussion around the measurement and reporting of the hard,…
To understand their prevalence deeper, the Incentive Research Foundation researched how gift cards are sourced for incentive and recognition programs, how much money is budgeted toward them, what types are being purchased, and where opportunities lie for stakeholders. A survey was administered to 300 industry professionals who run incentive or recognition programs for their companies.…
