Resource Library - Research

The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) surveyed industry professionals during the month of April 2010, asking them about incentive travel programs, merchandise/non-cash programs, and ROI/budget considerations. The most promising data show that respondents appear to be more optimistic about the current economic climate than they were in either the Summer or Fall of last year. When asked, "In your opinion, what impact will the economy have on your ability to plan and implement incentive travel programs?" 69% say it will have a positive impact vs. only 33% in the Fall of 2009 and just 24% in the Summer of 2009. Similarly, those who say the economy will have a positive impact on merchandise/non-cash incentive programs increased from 20% (Summer '09) and 26% (Fall '09) to 41% currently. Still, one-third of those surveyed predict that budgets for incentive travel will decrease this year, while 37% say they'll remain unchanged. Things were a little better on the merchandise/non-cash side, where only 22% expect a decline (down from 51%), while 40% predict an increase and 37% say they see no change in budgets. This indicates that although there's an uptick in optimism about the economy in general, it may not translate into more money for programs – at least not in the near term. ... [ read more ]

Social media, blogs, and e-newsletter technology enable almost any organization to become its own media company to generate leads, enhance thought leadership, build relationships and enhance sales ratios. Very few in business implement strategic integrated communications programs, often because they lack the people with the journalistic and other content creation skills needed for effective content marketing or they fail to integrate the communications programs into their sales and support process. ... [ read more ]

Are there differences in how a computer manufacturer plans and implements an incentive program versus how a pharmaceutical company or new car dealer does? What about a commercial banking operation, insurance agency or a telecommunications company? Are there processes, types of incentives used, or other nuances that are unique to these markets? Which industries are more likely to develop their programs in-house, as opposed to securing an outside vendor? The Vertical Market Study attempts to answer these and other questions. It provides a full report on how the six specific industries planned and implemented incentive travel, motivational meetings and special events.... [ read more ]

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars spent annually by organizations to engage employees and customers, numerous independent research studies find that neither employee nor customer engagement have improved appreciably in more than a decade. ... [ read more ]

Conceived in the 1990s, the concept of Total Rewards represented a revolution in thinking related to compensation that to this day has not been fulfilled at many organizations, that is: a strategic, holistic approach to compensation that considers every aspect of the employee experience and his or her capabilities and potential contributions to the organization. ... [ read more ]

Each year in the United States, organizations spend tens of billions of dollars on cash and non-cash rewards for consumer, distributor, sales and employee incentive programs –merchandise, gift cards, group and individual travel programs, time off, cash, etc. But few organizations invest the necessary time to understand which rewards should be used for which people to encourage what outcomes... [ read more ]

This "model" human capital report condenses the longer profile of the "ideal" practitioner of Stakeholder Capitalism - a fabricated organization known as IMC, an integrated communications company. See ESM: -"The Perfect Company: Anatomy of an Ideal Practitioner of Stakeholder Capitalism." This model was created to help organizations of all sizes visualize the format and contents of a human capital report based on ISO 30414 Human Capital reporting standards for employees and ISO 10018 People Engagement standards for customers, channel and supply chain partners, and communities. ... [ read more ]

A critical element of Enterprise Engagement involves studying the diverse audiences and specific engagement levers that need to be addressed in order to understand the facts behind certain key assumptions. Research plays a major role in that effort. ... [ read more ]

A fundamental premise of Stakeholder Capitalism and Human Capital Management and measurement is that organizations with higher levels of people engagement do better. HCMoneyBall, which created the SaaS platform known as HCMetrix for human capital analytics and benchmarking, provides a free calculator enabling any organization to track its Human Capital ROI (HCROI) and the potential impact on financial performance.... [ read more ]

Avatar Solutions recently announced the results of its annual analysis of employee engagement levels in the U.S., finding that only 29.2% of employees surveyed were "Actively Engaged," 58.8% were "Partially Engaged" and 12% were "Actively Disengaged." ... [ read more ]

Few people in academia better understand the convergence of analytics and Enterprise Engagement than Charles Scherbaum, Associate Professor of Psychology at Baruch College and a member of the doctoral faculty at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Scherbaum, an early contributor to the Enterprise Engagement Alliance curriculum on analytics... [ read more ]

Even top corporate executives who are aware of engagement practices aren’t always aware of the financial return they can deliver. The Engaged Company Stock Index shows that companies with high levels of employee, customer and community engagement financially outperform ... [ read more ]

Gamification form Badgeville has released the results of an independent survey of over 500 business workers, ranging from entry-level employees to C-level executives, looking at the success of gamification across U.S. organizations. The results: 78% of workers are utilizing games-based motivation at work and nearly all (91%) say these systems improve... [ read more ]

In this excerpt from his new book, ‘Laddering: Unlocking the Potential of Consumer Behavior,’ PossibleNOW VP Eric Holtzclaw explains how techniques such as laddering, lensing and latticing can radically and permanently change the way you view your products, services, customers and marketing message ... [ read more ]

Ask anyone involved with technology implementation, and they'll tell you that the most frequent cause of failure is to strategically and consistently address the people issue. ... [ read more ]

Few people in academia better understand the convergence of analytics and Enterprise Engagement than Charles Scherbaum, Associate Professor of Psychology at Baruch College and a member of the doctoral faculty at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Scherbaum, an early contributor to the Enterprise Engagement Alliance curriculum on analytics... [ read more ]

Readily available employee engagement applications supported by effective management practices can transform the traditional, ineffective employee performance management and appraisal process.... [ read more ]

Mobile technology is just the latest tipping point for Enterprise Engagement, as it brings everyone in all areas of business the power to engage people in a highly tangible way. A recent study by International Data Corporation, commissioned by OpenMarket, which considers itself a leader in enterprise mobile engagement, found that most companies take an ad hoc approach to mobile engagement... [ read more ]

Gamification form Badgeville has released the results of an independent survey of over 500 business workers, ranging from entry-level employees to C-level executives, looking at the success of gamification across U.S. organizations. The results: 78% of workers are utilizing games-based motivation at work and nearly all (91%) say these systems improve... [ read more ]

In this excerpt from his new book, ‘Laddering: Unlocking the Potential of Consumer Behavior,’ PossibleNOW VP Eric Holtzclaw explains how techniques such as laddering, lensing and latticing can radically and permanently change the way you view your products, services, customers and marketing message ... [ read more ]

This "model" human capital report condenses the longer profile of the "ideal" practitioner of Stakeholder Capitalism - a fabricated organization known as IMC, an integrated communications company. See ESM: -"The Perfect Company: Anatomy of an Ideal Practitioner of Stakeholder Capitalism." This model was created to help organizations of all sizes visualize the format and contents of a human capital report based on ISO 30414 Human Capital reporting standards for employees and ISO 10018 People Engagement standards for customers, channel and supply chain partners, and communities. ... [ read more ]

A common error that frontline managers sometimes make is to focus their performance improvement efforts on employees’ weaknesses, rather than focus on their strengths. But Gallup research shows that the worst thing managers can do is to ignore their employees altogether. According to Gallup researchers Brian Brim and Jim Asplund, “If your manager focuses on your strengths, your chances of being actively disengaged at work are only 1 in 100. If your manager ignores you, however, you are twice as likely to be actively disengaged than if your manager focuses on your weaknesses. Being overlooked, it seems, is more harmful to employees’ engagement than having to discuss their weaknesses with their manager.” This paper offers a summary of their research.... [ read more ]

The 10018 Guidelines on People Involvement and Competence were created by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) Technical Committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, Subcommittee SC 3, Supporting technologies. These standards are based on ... [ read more ]