Feature: Motivation: Global staff incentives

New technology is making it easier for companies to motivate their staff and channel partners on a global basis

In the age of global brands, employers are taking advantage of new technology to also globalise the way that they motivate staff to sell their brands. Particularly in the IT and telecoms sectors, companies are developing programmes that can use the same mechanics from Los Angeles to London to Lagos.

This is one of the drivers in the growth of Accor Group’s Accentiv’ incentives network, which now operates in 19 countries on four continents. The UK’s Capital Incentives & Motivation became part of the group eight years ago and now offers incentive products that cross borders such as the Compliments prepaid cards and vouchers. “Since becoming part of Accentiv’, Accor’s relationship marketing business, we have been working closely with our European colleagues to develop pan-European campaigns where the structure of the programme is universal and the only difference is in local versions of similar rewards and the languages,” says managing director Derrick Hardman.

“In spite of what the current debates about working-time directives and differences in working cultures across Europe may indicate, we are finding that employees across Europe are in fact very similar in some respects – and the common ground is motivation. As a result, pan-European motivation campaigns are not only highly practical, they seem to be increasing in popularity.”

The Grass Roots Group has been at the forefront of this move towards globalisation and has grown from a Hertfordshire-based business focused on the UK to having operations based in nearly all parts of the globe. The Grass Roots name is now behind incentive programmes created by agencies from Miami to Dubai, from New Delhi to Singapore, with an office in China due to open soon. Its cross-border offer includes the online rewards platform, Global Options, which provides international companies with a single mechanism for the communication and fulfilment of incentive and reward programmes.

Another leading motivation house, P&MM, has broadened its work with international clients through solutions such as the online rewardbanking.com and the prepaid Spree card, which can be uploaded with reward cash and then spent at over 24 million outlets in the world that accept MasterCard.

John Sylvester, director of motivation at P&MM, points out that cost is not the main factor for the trend towards global incentive programmes. “The reality is that the cost advantages of working across multiple European countries are there, but they are not outstanding because you still have to produce your material in different languages and there are certain local administration requirements. But you do centralise some of the development and organisation of the programme.

“What you do get is consistency of branding. The key advantage is that it fits in with their commercial structure. If they are structured on an EMEA basis, they want to run an EMEA programme.”

Adam Maher, director of loyalty at Maximiles, the international online incentive company, believes there are cost savings from centralising a programme. “Where sales and marketing departments at leading international brands are structured to communicate with regions of the world such as Europe and Africa, rather than on an individual country-by-country basis, they understandably expect any suppliers of marketing services they use to be able to successfully operate internationally as they do,” he says. “These international brands understand the advantages of using one provider of motivation solutions who can operate across all international markets, rather than appoint one in every country, for cost and efficiency purposes.

While a global system can overcome boundaries in terms of IT, the key is in the communication. As Sylvester at P&MM points out, “if you are running international incentive programmes, you need to think globally but act locally”. This means not only using the local language – although a lot of global programmes in the IT and telecoms sector use English (or American English) – but also understanding the cultural differences in terms of what merchandise is the best motivator. Sylvester says the advantage of using prepaid cards such as Spree is that, when it comes to spending them, they work in the same way as bank debit and credit cards, which helps to make communicating the proposition easier. “One of the beauties of it is that people know how the cards work and expect the cards to behave in a certain way,” he explains. “They just need to understand how to load it and the terms and conditions of the programme, which can all be communicated in their local language.”

He adds that it would be ideal to also be able to offer prepaid incentive cards in local currencies, but this is not normally practical. “There has to be a happy medium here because the more currencies you are issuing the cards with, the higher the set-up cost for customers,” he explains. “So we have chosen to go just for sterling for the UK, the euro for the eurozone and the US dollar. We have found that that combination gives us a set of options which are acceptable to run US and EMEA programmes.

“We do have some running outside the EMEA boundaries but the numbers of people are small enough to make it feasible with US dollar cards,” he adds. “The business language of these organisations is US dollars. They set targets in dollars and take orders in dollars.”

However, even when it comes to prepaid cards, there is a need to carry out research in each country, even if you are just looking within Europe, points out Fiona Duncan, vice president of innovation and acceptance at Visa Europe. Speaking at last month’s Prepaid08 conference in London, she said: “Europe operates so differently from country to country. It has different cultural needs. You have to reinvent everything everywhere you go, understand what people need culturally and financially.”

Also speaking at the prepaid industry conference, Alice Diepenbrock, an analyst at research group Euromonitor, pointed out that consumers’ acceptance of cards – either for retail or incentives – was far more developed in the UK than in other countries in Western Europe.

However, the growth of prepaid cards was happening quickly, especially in Eastern Europe but also around the world, as people became more accustomed to using them in their daily lives, such as for public transport. “Worry about rising prices means people might have to put more control on their spending and prepaid cards are one means to do that,” she added. “The downsizing of lifestyles is going mainstream, they want to take it slower. Consumers are shifting down for lifestyle reasons and are interested in quality of life, a work-life balance, so they need to control their spending.”

However, vouchers are not being totally left out by the move to global programmes. While they are generally restricted by currency issues, some incentive products have found a solution to make them appeal to multi-national companies. The Full Experience Company’s Smartbox, which offers spa, adventure and leisure experiences, is part of an international business that operates in 14 countries from France to Canada. Its UK sales manager, Bunie Anyaegbunam, says: “By offering the same incentives to your employee internationally, you are sending the message that you promote company unity and solidarity on all levels.”

Catherine Forrest, business incentives manager at House of Fraser, points out that the internet means that UK retailers with no stores overseas can now tap into cross-border incentive programmes. “While we don’t have stores abroad, except for Dublin, we are launching a functionality which will enable customers to redeem our vouchers online via our transactional webstore,” she explains. “So it would be quite feasible for someone in the UK to present our vouchers to personnel in, say, France and for the recipients to shop online using their vouchers.”

Intranet and web-based programmes not only overcome redemption and language barriers, they can also make it easier to manage a cross-border scheme more effectively, says Maher at Maximiles. “An online platform enables the scheme operator to gather and analyse data and feedback across its global operations and adjust the programme in real time for maximum impact,” he explains. “The flexibility to easily and quickly adjust the scheme for different countries and tactical campaigns is also important to take advantage of local opportunities.”

Hardman at Capital Incentives agrees that the web is the key to worldwide motivation. “Today, with the internet making schemes far more practical and quick to set up, there are so few obstacles to contend with. I believe this is a step towards an increasing trend for major organisations to deliver truly pan-European motivation schemes for their staff.”