Have you ever pondered why or if employee incentive travel is more favorable than a cash bonus? Is there more to incentive travel than only honoring employee(s) for a job well done?

Appreciating the things that motivate your employees is a valuable aspect of conducting business. It is vital to know precisely what motivates each person as an individual. If the bonus were a trip, where would your employees like to go? Would they like to be pampered with a spa vacation, go on a cruise to exotic destinations, or is they more attracted in open-air activities such as skiing or golf? Adapting the bonuses you offer is more likely to persuade employees to do their greatest to win the trip.

Incentive travel is an issue in keeping valued personnel members. It is more cost effective to retain skilled employees working for you rather than to train new workers on a regular basis. Thanking employees for a job well done is something else that should not be overlooked. Those two words can incite workers on toward a common goal, particularly in challenging times.

Team efforts that earn a wonderful trip for the team involved promote the weaker members to work toward the capability level of the stronger team members. Contests can stimulate but they can also make staff to work against each other. Cooperative efforts many times get more valuable results and turn out employees who are more loyal too.

An all inclusive cruise meeting is one great way to motivate and thank employees. Putting together a corporate event such as a conference or a business meeting at sea makes a lot of sense, especially when it comes to getting the greatest value from the investments. Cruising can literally slash the cost of land based venues by 25-40%, allowing planners to persevere with today’s shrinking budgets. Why not make your next corporate incentive event a meeting-at-sea?

Are you looking for unique, affordable ways to motivate staff, award employees who met their sales goals, or encourage cohesion, communication and camaraderie among your team members? If so, you may have already discovered that many team building and employee incentive options are rather expensive and may not fit your budget. This is particularly true during the current economic crisis, which has forced more and more companies to get creative when searching for ways to reward or motivate their team as the funds for these types of activities shrink. And, as luck would have it, when team building and employee appreciation budgets are getting tighter due to dropping profits is exactly the time when you need your team to be more motivated and cohesive than ever.

Thankfully, there are plenty of affordable options available that will allow you to create an exciting team building experience or incentive for less than $200 per person.

Here are some examples:

• Organizing ride-alongs for employees to experience the exhilaration of a stock car racing around a track
• Scheduling full- or half-day white water rafting trips
• Arranging one- or two-day customized nature or outdoor adventure programs at a local wilderness area
• Finding a local company that offers bungee jumping