Incentive travel is an wonderful way for a company to not only show top-performing employees their appreciation, but to provide them with the motivation they need to continue to be at the top of their game. When organizations are considering planning incentive travel, there are numerous destinations from which to choose. Whether the destination is close to home or across the ocean, it is important that the travel incentive spark the interest of the organization's employees. If employees are not interested in the travel itinerary or destination, the motivational aspect of the trip will be moot and productivity may be stifled. Increasing productivity is an important factor.

While these land venues such as hotels and resorts can be quite interesting and are often located in desirable cities, employees may not find these types of meeting venues as attractive as other types of incentive travel. One type of incentive travel that is becoming popular is incentive cruises. An incentive cruise allows organizations to hold meetings at sea while treating their employees to tropical, exotic, and far away destinations. Incentive cruises provide employees with a serene setting to think outside the box which can lead to increased productivity. Increased productivity and paradise? It can happen with an incentive cruise.

Don't let the competition take your top producers. A new research report from Deloitte reports, for the first time since initiating its longitudinal study of global talent trends and strategies in January, those executives surveyed are more inclined to believe the worst of the economic crisis has passed.

At the same time, there are many companies at risk for not implementing talent or innovation strategies required to seize the opportunities presented by a recovering economy. Here are highlights from the study:

• The worst may be behind us. For the first time since this study was launched in January 2009, more surveyed executives now believe the worst of the economic downturn is over, as opposed to impending, by a decisive 31 percent to 7 percent margin.

• Reducing headcount is secondary to training and retention as a top talent priority.

• Less than half (48 percent) of surveyed executives reported layoffs in the last quarter, down from 61 percent in May.
Surveyed executives are ramping up retention initiatives to keep key leaders and high-potential employees on board.

• Nearly one-in-three executives surveyed (31 percent) reported they are increasing career path opportunities—a jump of 11 percent from January (20 percent).
 

So what are you doing to keep your most talented producers in the game?