ST. LOUIS, June 9, 2011 – Non-cash incentives are being tapped as a way to both control spending and motivate employees and channel partners in an economy defined by growing austerity.  The average employee cash incentive award is now $732--triple the cost of non-cash awards, according to preliminary findings of a new joint study about incentive awards conducted by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) and the Incentive Federation. The cash award is not part of base or variable pay, but rather given as an incentive.

Although full-study results will not be available until later this summer, several key findings were unveiled at the IRF’s annual Incentive Invitational held recently in Las Vegas. “We were fortunate to  have preliminary results of the study as part of our popular roundtable discussions to help attendees get a better understanding of the type and value of the awards that are being used, especially following the recession,” said Jeff Broudy, chairman of the IRF board of trustees.

“The study validates our experience and belief that the average cost of a cash award is roughly triple that of either merchandise ($206) or gift cards ($240),” according to Incentive Federation Chairman Stephen Slagle.  “The total cost of incentives is especially important in our post-recession economy, so the data points stimulated extensive discussion around the benefits of each award type,” he explained.

“Surprisingly, we found that the average travel award was higher than we expected at $3,115 with nearly 75 percent of the respondents including a business meeting or element as part of the travel package,” said Broudy.

The study also found that less than 18 percent of those who use non-cash awards determine the value of these awards based on hard data, with most opting to use intuition or observation to determine award value. IRF President Melissa Van Dyke commented that this finding presented an important issue for further exploration and education. “We also noted increased use of more than one award type and continuing growth in the use of gift cards,” she concluded.

The IRF and Incentive Federation are expecting more actionable findings when the full study is released, anticipating that it will provide additional data for incentive professionals and human resource decision-makers to adjust their organization’s overall recognition strategies to better suit a post-recession economy.