Incentive Research Foundation Announces Top 10 Trends

The Incentive Research Foundation is pleased to announce the release of its signature study, The IRF 2018 Trends Study. The study highlights 10 key trends that will affect organizations, their products and services and the workforce in 2018. From market optimism to concerns about risk and safety, the study identifies key areas of change and their implications for workforce engagement, incentive travel and recognition.

“The IRF 2018 Trends Study clearly demonstrates that professionals in the non-cash rewards industry continue to experience a tremendous amount of change,” said IRF President Melissa Van Dyke. “From culture shifts to technological advances to regulatory pressure, the IRF is tracking some essential shifts in the industry and discussing how to anticipate and respond to these trends.”

The Top Ten Trends for Incentive Travel, Reward and Recognition Programs in 2018 are:

1.  Building a Brand-Asset Culture Becomes a Business Imperative: With over 80 percent of businesses’ value in their intangibles, the IRF expects non-cash awards to grow as the focus on brand, culture, and innovation becomes even more critical to business success.

2.  Market Optimism Leads to Budget Growth: The incentive travel industry’s net optimism score for the economy is up almost 20 points from 2017, and average annual per-person spend of $3,915 reflects a 4 percent increase.

3.  Regulatory Pressure Drives Changes: Over 70 percent of respondents to the IRF’s Regulations Study said they had made changes to their programs’ design, communications, rewards, and/or reporting in response to regulations.

4.  Cost and Time Tensions Continue: Although incentive travel budgets were up again in 2017, 60 percent of respondents said costs are rising faster than budgets.

5.  Increased Focus on Managing Risk and Ensuring Safety: From PCI compliance to concerns over the EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), ensuring program participant data is secure and appropriately used is a central concern for all types of non-cash award programs.

6.  Expanding Capability with Increasingly Predicative and Intelligent Technology: Predictive analytics, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality capabilities will be a fundamental requirement for the effective incentive, rewards, and events business partner.

7.  Wellness Hits a Tipping Point: Expectations for Comfort & Healthy Options: The largest number of net increases (38%) reported by IRF trend respondents was the inclusion of wellness/well-being components, focused on fitness, food, and comfort, in their programs.

8.  Unique Destinations Gaining Popularity: Planners are interested in new and different sub-destinations. Whereas Rome may have been the primary consideration in the past, Puglia, Italy is becoming an attractive option.

9.  Merchandise Awards Move Toward the Meaningful: There is a strong desire in 2018 not for more choice, but for more meaning. Impactful products may have local sourcing or organic roots and be easily personalized and customizable.

10.  Gift Cards Gain Momentum: Mid-size firms on average spend almost half a million dollars annually on gift cards across all programs, while the largest firms each spend over $1 million annually.

The IRF 2018 Trends Study was supported by IRF Research Advocacy Partner Prevue Magazine. To view or download a copy of the full study, please visit: IRF 2018 Trends Study.