As the year quickly draws to a close, plans for corporate celebrations start appearing on the working table. And one of the best experiences to offer employees is an incentive trip.

Incentive trips are a set of recreational and working-related activities done outside of the daily office environment. There may be conferences, a reward for a very hardworking team, an invitation to a show or even a congress; many times, the highlight of the trip is the destination. And even when hybrid events have helped drastically reduce the environmental impact, sometimes face-to-face meetings are necessary for a full team experience.

Although they’re usually categorized as a prize for a work team, the truth is that incentive trips have great benefits for a company:

• Employer branding
  One of the best ways to increase employee loyalty is through employer branding. What makes them want to continue working for your company?  Benefits such as incentive trips can attract the best talent in the industry who might be looking for opportunities. In this way, the best workers will feel they belong to the best company, which also increases the value of the brand among others.  
• Team building
  If you have a new team for a specific project or if communication is going through a rough patch, an incentive trip could be your best solution. The balance between fund and corporate activities and the difference in location are a great tool to improve communication and improve the team’s performance as a group and individually. This, of course, will result in better productivity and creativity.
• Stress reduction
  An incentive trip helps to significantly improve the mood and motivation of the team. Living an experience with colleagues outside the corporate environment will help them to humanize their own perspective, which will significantly improve their relationships. Besides, this will also bring a lot of empathy and positive input to the office, reducing stress levels during busy seasons.

For your incentive trip to be a complete success, keep in mind that the number of recreational activities must be equal to the number of the corporate ones. Make sure to provide enough downtime and know the details of your team’s demographic data, because they will be the basis on which you will build the trip and choose the destination. This information is also important to consider the mobility, food and rest need of your team, as well as their best interests. If you’re not sure about something, traveling to the chosen destination in advance can help you organize the activities and finalize details more efficiently.

You might want to read: “Sports tourism: the main attraction of corporative incentives ”.