SITE Plans Incentives Road Show

<B> SITE Plans Incentives Road Show</B>

By Chris Davis

A large majority of American corporations don't use any incentive other than cash to motivate employees, and the new president of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives wants to help change that fact.

Wendy Moffatt, president of Spectra Travel England Ltd., takes over as SITE president at the organization's annual meeting this week in Acapulco. Under her watch, she said, the organization must make further inroads into the American market and expand the reach of the incentive travel industry. "The Incentive Federation, of which SITE is a member, undertook a survey some time ago that came to the frightening conclusion that 74 percent of American corporations do not use anything other than cash to motivate their workforce," Moffatt told Meetings Today. "We're focusing on trying to reach out to them."

SITE will take an active role in converting non-users through a series of invitation-only seminars and workshops designed to highlight the benefits of incentive travel. Presentations will be held first in various cities throughout the United States, and then around the globe.

The ultimate goal is to convince corporations that travel, rather than cash, will improve their bottom lines. While cash incentives have a finite value to the employee, who knows exactly what the incentive is worth, the cost of an incentive trip cannot be quantified, and has a higher perceived value. "SITE has many measurement models that prove the incremental sales that pay for incentive trips. But companies always will use the same methods until it is proven that other ways of motivating people actually reap better rewards," Moffatt said.

In the current economic climate, that may be easier said than done. Moffatt acknowledged that convincing companies already concerned about an economic downturn to start offering employees incentive trips will be no small feat. The perception that they should cut incentives in hard times is not an easy barrier to overcome.

"People have to be motivated even more in difficult economic times than they do in good times," she said. "Incentive travel programs should be increased during a recession rather than cut back--though of course it's very difficult when you're laying off part of your work force to offer a trip to some exotic location to your top achievers. But that's a perception rather than reality."

Moffatt, who has been a member of SITE since 1986, will serve as the organization's president through 1999. She has served for six years on the SITE Great Britain board of directors, including two as chapter chair, and for three years on the international board of directors, including a stint as vice president of education.