Employers know they need to find ways to motivate high-achieving employees to, in turn, keep them. According to the Incentive Research Foundation's new white paper, "Critical Findings for Recognition Travel Programs," creating an all-employee recognition travel program might be a great place to start.

In the white paper, the IRF details findings from a case study of a company that has established a recognition travel program for non-sales employees. Traditionally, awards programs have been reserved for salespeople who must fulfill quotes. Through interviews and survey responses, the IRF discovered six significant findings regarding factors such as employee alignment, nominations, executive support, evaluations and measurement.

"One of the most interesting discoveries was the power of the nomination process itself," said Jeff Broudy, chairman of the IRF board of trustees. "Even though the program was designed to reward only two to three percent of the employees, nearly half of the potential winners indicated that they were motivated by it."