Incentive Survey Maps Reward and Recognition Program Patterns

Incentive Research Foundation/Incentive Federation Study Finds Most Industries Using Programs Aimed at Employees, Sales Channels

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) and Incentive Federation have just released more results of their comprehensive survey of 170 recognition and rewards administrators that delineates current practices for reward and recognition programs.  

In an executive briefing of the results, The Use of Reward and Recognition Awards in Organizations, the survey quantifies:

• Current usage of awards by type -- cash, travel, merchandise and pre-paid cards
• The basis for selecting certain types of awards
• The targeted value of awards by type
• How award values are determined
• The evaluation of awards for achieving objectives.

According to IRF President Melissa Van Dyke the overall findings of the survey indicate that independent of the industry involved — Finance/Insurance, Manufacturing, Technology, Medical —  the respondents generally rely on "classic incentive programs" that are most often aimed at internal employees and people within distribution or sales channels.

"Among other things, we found that, while award types were widely dispersed, pre-paid gift cards were used by 65 percent of all firms, with 26 percent using them exclusively," said Van Dyke. "When we drill down further, gift cards are preferred as an easy way to provide spot award self-selected items to recipients using smaller reward budgets. Conversely, travel is overwhelmingly used for larger budgets ($500k+) and for behavior tied to overall, annualized goal attainment," she continued.

Incentive Federation Chairman Karen Renk underscored the importance of the survey's findings, especially the fact that respondents reported the optimal percent of employee income for awards was between 2 to 5 percent. "We discovered that more than half of the respondents rely on intuition or experience to determine the budgets for their recognition and reward programs and that many are not sure about reliably measuring program effectiveness—areas where our organizations can certainly help with additional research," Renk commented.  

An executive summary of the survey results was released in conjunction with the Motivation Show at Chicago's McCormick Place West, October 4-6. Copies are also available on the IRF home page at www.TheIRF.org.

About the IRF:

The Incentive Research Foundation (www.TheIRF.org) funds and promotes research to advance the science and enhance the awareness and appropriate application of motivation and incentives in business and industry globally. The goal is to increase the understanding, effective use, and resultant benefits of incentives to businesses that currently use incentives and others interested in improved performance.

About The Incentive Federation

Founded in 1984, the Incentive Federation is the umbrella legislative organization for the incentive field representing national trade associations, trade publications, and national trade shows. It is the only organization whose membership includes all of the industry's national trade associations and individual companies. The Incentive Marketing Association, the Promotional Products Association International, Recognition Professionals International, The Incentive Research Foundation, and SITE International Foundation are active members. More information can be found at: http://www.incentivefederation.org/

CONTACTS: Sue Voyles
734.667.2005
[email protected]

Melissa Van Dyke
314.473.5601
[email protected]

SOURCE Incentive Research Foundation

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