Incentive - November 2008 - (Page 18)

INTERVIEW Fay Beauchine: THIS TOO SHALL PASS ay Beauchine is calm. That is noteworthy because the pair of interviews that made up this article took place on Sept. 22 and Oct. 10—bracketing two-and-one-half very un-calm weeks, as the more than 3,000point drop in the stock market's benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average will attest. In the course of a few weeks, at least two financial industry clients of Minneapolisbased Carlson Marketing, of which Beauchine is executive vice president of global engagement and events, have been acquired. And there is ample anecdotal evidence that companies are reducing their incentive spending generally. So why is she calm? By Leo Jakobson In a pair of interviews as the stock market went into crisis, Carlson Marketing’s head of global engagement and events sounded remarkably unworried F The Long View For one thing, over the course of Carlson Marketing’s 70-plus years in business, the firm has learned, “good companies run incentive programs, they recognize and reward employees,” Beauchine says. “They may stop for six months to a year to figure 18 | Incentive | November 2008 | incentivemag.com Photo: Nancy Kuehn out what they want to do, but that’s when we are involved—figuring out what to do.” “Eventually the dust settles and companies still have the same issue: ‘How do I move product?’ ” says Beauchine. “Keeping employees engaged and happy is a good investment for the company and good for the economy. I have a friend who welcomes a recession every few years, [saying] a lot of nonsense falls off. Companies that focus on aligning incentives with business objectives will succeed.” She is concerned about the public outrage generated by AIG, which held a lavish incentive program at a California resort just days after accepting an $85 billion government bailout, but notes “the right to reward employees for a job well done is different than executive compensation packages for failed strategies.” [see story, p. 8] Besides, she says, there is always opportunity. “If companies reduce their budgets for incentives, they usually increase them elsewhere,” she adds, pointing to engagement programs. These are particularly common after mergers and acquisitions, she notes. “If two companies are combining, we are very good at engagement—helping those employees connect with the new company.” Further, companies are generally cutting incentive programs around the edges, according to “Effects of a Down Economy on the Incentive Industry,” a survey the Incentive Research Federation released a day after that first interview at The Motivation Show in Chicago. Among the findings, travel planners are seeing shorter programs, more interest in domestic destinations or less spending on room gifts and spa treatments. There are smart ways to spend less without damaging incentive programs, Beauchine adds. As president of the NBTA Foundation, the research and educational arm of the National Business Travel Association, she points to a study the organization released this summer comparing the tax rates of the 50 top U.S. travel destination http://www.incentivemag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Incentive - November 2008

Incentive - November 2008 Editor’s Note Headlines Cover Story: Pop, Fizz! Incentive Interview Cracking the Recognition Code Primer Travel News Canada, City Style Potentials Here and Now Cameras: Picture of Innovation The Spirit of Giving Advertiser Index Last Word

Incentive - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.