Experiential rewards are becoming increasingly popular. Why should you introduce them as part of your Employee Rewards and Recognition Program?
Employees are used to receiving the odd gift card or monetary reward from work. But what about an experience? Increasingly employers are turning to experiential rewards - be that in the form of gigs, events or travel - to incentivise positive workplace behaviours through their Employee Rewards and Recognition programs.
So why are experiential rewards so popular? There are many psychological reasons behind the power of experiential rewards:
1) Mental accounting
The concept of mental accounting relates to how employees remember a reward. Essentially, when you offer someone cash, they are going to remember it far less than offering them an experience such as a concert to a band they've always wanted to see or a holiday to their dream destination.
What's more, every time they remember that experience they're going to link it in their heads with your company and the employee rewards you have on offer. The same can't be said of cash - employees are unlikely to link their grocery shop or electricity bill payment to the monetary bonus you gave them.
That's why many Employee Rewards and Recognition Programs that solely rely on cash often don't see the same results as those that offer experiences. Indeed 77 per cent of programs that only use transactional rewards fail within the first two years, according to consulting firm Capgemini.
2) Personalisation
Cash is impersonal. Think about when you receive cash for your birthday, instead of a present that completely suits you and your interests. Most people are going to be a lot more grateful to the person that really put time and energy into your gift, rather than the person who simply gave you cash.
Offer your employees a choice of reward so they can pick something that they really want to do.
The same philosophy applies with experiences - you want to offer your employees a choice of reward so they can pick something they really want to do. For example, if their dream has always been to go and see the Australian rugby team and you can provide them with tickets, they will see this reward as a lot more special than simply receiving some cash into their bank account.
Likewise, because the reward on offer is so tailored to their interests, employees will often work a lot harder to get that reward, and you'll see more return on investment as a result.
3) Example setting
Another aspect of experiential rewards is how marketable they are. People like to post what they're doing on social media, especially if they're going on holiday or to an event for free. When they do, other employees will see what type of rewards are on offer, and work harder to get to the same level. This is also good free press for your company, raising brand awareness and positioning you as a company that really cares about your employees.
What experiential rewards can you offer?
There are all sorts of experiential rewards that you could offer to employees. At Power2Motivate, we provide a huge range of options to suit any employees' taste as part of our global rewards gallery. This includes tickets to sporting events or gigs (including those that are sold out to the general public) and travel (such as flight tickets, cruises and accommodation).
If you'd like to learn more about using an experiential rewards program with Power2Motivate, reach out to the team today or request a demo.