Industry Resources

Below, we outline resources for each field in the industry so you'll have the information you need for each aspect of your engagement program.

Engagement, Incentives, Rewards and Recognition

Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) — theirf.org

The IRF is the world’s most comprehensive source for research on motivation, incentives, rewards, and recognition. Their work covers the use of non-cash rewards, the importance of presentation, return on investment (ROI) measurement, program design, and much more.

Incentive Marketing Association — incentivemarketing.org

Incentive Marketing Association’s training and certification programs provide the best training anywhere on Incentives, Rewards and Recognition (IRR) program design. The training is included with memberships, while certification programs are extra.

Engagement Strategies Media (ESM) — enterpriseengagement.org

ESM provides a weekly e-newsletter and website published by the Enterprise Engagement Alliance that covers the latest news, research, trends, and case studies on engagement across the enterprise.

The Enterprise Engagement Advisor Network — eexadvisors.com

The Enterprise Engagement Advisor Network is an industry marketplace managed by Enterprise Engagement Alliance that includes an extensive list of resources.

Incentive & Motivation — incentiveandmotivation.com

Incentive & Motivation is a UK-based incentive trade publication covering all aspects of the industry.

Incentive Magazine — incentivemag.com

Northstar meetings group's Incentive magazine is a US publication that offers news and resources on strategy, merchandise, and travel rewards.

Rewards and Recognition Network — rewardsrecognitionnetwork.com

Rewards and Recognition Network offers a weekly international e-newsletter and website published by the Enterprise Engagement Alliance, covering the latest news, trends, research, solution providers, and case studies in the world of incentives, rewards, and recognition. And best of all, it's free to subscribe.

The Brand Media Coalition — brandmediacoalition.com

The Brand Media Coalition is an industry marketplace that includes extensive resources on rewards and recognition.

Recognition Professionals International (RPI) — recognition.org

RPI offers the world’s only formal learning and certification program for employee recognition and is now an interest group of the Incentive Marketing Association.

Loyalty

Loyalty360 — loyalty360.org

Loyalty360 offers a magazine, events, awards, training and other resources in the loyalty field, as well as an annual US event.

The Wise Marketer — thewisemarketer.com

The Wise Marketer is a global voice for customer loyalty that offers an e-newsletter, industry research, a learning and certification platform, and also holds international events.

Human Resources for Information, Learning and Certification

The following organizations offer information and learning and certification programs in human resources that address various areas of rewards and recognition.

Academy to Innovate HR — aihr.com

Academy to Innovate HR is a Netherlands-based training program for human resources management.

Hacking HR — hackinghrlab.io

A global learning community for those interested in learning, sharing, and collaborating to advance the HR profession.

HR Gazette — hr-gazette.com 

HR Gazette is a UK-based e-newsletter and podcast interested in discussing all areas of human resources management.

HR.com — hr.com

HR.com is a US-based complete information, social media, learning, and certification program serving a worldwide audience.

Human Resources Executive — hrexecutive.com

Human Resources Executive is one of the most established, long-standing media and information properties in the US human resources space.

HR Exchange Network — hrexchangenetwork.com

HR Exchange Network is a global community for the human resources field that offers news and learning on multiple platforms.

HR Certification Institute (HRCI) — hrci.org

HRCI is one of the world's leading human resources certification organizations. It recently announced the creation of a Human Resources Standards Institute to create individual and professional certifications for ISO Human Capital standards.

Society of Human Resources Executives (SHRM) — shrm.org

Based in the US, SHRM is the world’s largest and most influential human resources association, education, and certification platform. Note, that many countries have their own human resources associations, such as Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD) in Great Britain.

WorldatWork — worldatwork.org

WorldatWork is a US-based organization that focuses mostly on compensation and the total rewards employees receive from their employers.

Terms

Here's a list of terms that you may encounter in the world of engagement, incentives, rewards, and recognition. Knowing these terms will help you understand the industry and make the most the resources listed above.

Behavioral economics — A combination of economics and psychology used to understand how and why people behave the way they do in the real world.

Benefits — Any perquisites (perks) offered to employees in addition to cash compensation, including health insurance, employee assistance programs, training, discounts on products and services, and many more options.

Breakage — Unused points in incentive and promotion programs.

Closed-ended program — An incentive or promotion program where only a set percentage or number of people can win, as opposed to an open-ended structure.

Employee discount programs — Discounts on products and services arranged by a company for its employees, customers, or other stakeholders.

Engagement agency — Incentive and marketing firms that provide an integrated combination of engagement solutions to help clients achieve their goals.

Enterprise Engagement — A sub-discipline of marketing and management that aims to achieve long-term financial results by fostering the alignment of customers, distribution partners, salespeople, and all Human Capital outside and inside an organization.

Enterprise Engagement technology — Applications that enable companies to engage multiple groups of stakeholders on a single platform in a way that integrates key engagement levers such as communications, assessment, feedback, communications, learning, referrals, social recognition, innovation, incentive programs, loyalty programs, rewards and recognition, and reporting. For more information, see this market report from India, this report in the Enterprise Engagement Alliance ESM media platform, and this  Enterprise Engagement Technology Alliance YouTube video that includes CarltonOne founder Rob Purdy. 

Gift cards or e-gift cards — Physical or electronic gift cards, redeemable online or at brick-and-mortar retail sites.

Human Capital reporting and disclosures — Reports that are part of Corporate Sustainability Reporting and aim to disclose practices and metrics regarding how companies manage their employees and other stakeholders. These reports include information and metrics on employee engagement practices and outcomes, as well as safety and DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion).

Incentives, Rewards, and Recognition (IRR) industry — The field of encouraging and recognizing employee performance through rewards, including loyalty and gifting. 

Incentive companies — Organizations that provide incentives for use in incentive, recognition, loyalty and gifting programs. There are about 200 of these companies in the world, mostly in the US, Great Britain, the EU, Australasia, and South and Central America. 

Incentives — Non-cash incentives used to engage customers, employees, supply chain and distribution partners, and communities. 

Incentive programs — Any campaign that offers rewards for achievement. These campaigns can include program design and rule structure, return-on-investment or other performance metrics, communications, or whatever else participants need to have all the information, tools, and incentives to achieve their goals.

Incentive representatives — Entities that represent brands in the corporate use of their product in incentive, recognition, loyalty, and related programs. There are no more than several dozen such companies.

Incentive travel — Programs that offer either group travel or individual travel for performance or as an expression of appreciation.

Intangible rewards — A reward of no financial value, such as a pat on the back or a thank you card, as opposed to a tangible reward, such as cash, merchandise, a gift card, or travel.

ISO standards — Standards for Human Capital management set by the International Organization for Standardization, whose ISO 9001 standards helped transform quality in manufacturing, including ISO 10018 for People Engagement and ISO 30414 for Human Capital Reporting.

Loyalty — Marketing programs that recognize ongoing loyalty through points, rewards, preferential pricing, and experiences. In the IRR industry, the emphasis is on tangible rewards, because that’s how most suppliers make money. However, many loyalty programs offer cash.

Master fulfillment companies — Companies that warehouse, fulfill, and sometimes customize and personalize brands for use in any type of incentive, recognition, loyalty, or gifting program. These companies are most active in the US, Canada, UK, the EU, Australasia, and to a lesser extent in Central and South America.

Open-ended program — An incentive or loyalty program in which participants can earn points or recognition for any form of performance improvement, as opposed to a closed-ended program in which only the top performers win.

Plateau programs — An incentive program where people earn rewards based on achievement-specific levels of performance or purchases, as opposed to points programs, which reward people incrementally.

Points programs — An incentive program that allows people to accumulate points or some other artificial currency they cab redeem on a specified website or for specialized benefits.

Promotion — A marketing communications effort that may or may not use tangible or intangible rewards.

Promotional products — Non-retail merchandise imprinted with an organization’s name for use at trade shows and at other face-to-face events. There's an increasing shift toward using more brand-name retail products for these events because of their higher perceived value.

Promotional products distributors — Companies and individuals that resell promotional products to other companies and organizations. They operate throughout the world and are an excellent distribution partner for technologies and other solutions. 

Premiums — Brand-name products consumers can earn for making purchases, often as part of “continuity” programs used by grocery stores that reward people for making repeat purchases. If you hear the term dealer loader, it refers to gifts provided with shipments to retailers based on the size of their order, often in a “plateau” program.

Recognition — Any organizational system that expresses gratitude for length of service, anniversaries, key desired organizational behaviors, or related actions. They may or may not offer tangible rewards.

Recognition companies — Companies that focus specifically on providing employee recognition practices and technologies, along with thousands of companies that sell plaques, pins, trophies, and more. There are no more than several dozen of these companies worldwide.

Referral programs — Promotions aimed at employees, customers, or anyone who provides a referral. 

Rewards — In the IRR industry, this term refers almost always to non-cash awards.

Safety incentives — Campaigns meant to prevent accidents using non-cash rewards. In the US, OSHA safety regulations do not permit the use of incentives to discourage reporting accidents.

Service value chain — The inter-relationships between the various types of employees who collaborate to provide a service to the end customer.

Stakeholders — This refers to the key audiences/constituencies of an organization, such as customers, employees, supply chain and distribution partners, communities, volunteers, donors, constituents, and shareholders.

Stakeholder Capitalism — The name given for the Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) movement, defined as creating returns for investors by creating value for employees, customers, supply chain and distribution partners, communities, and others. For more info, see the primer provided by ESM. 

Stakeholder management — A field of strategic management that focuses on the need to address the interests of all stakeholders. It is the underlying founding of Enterprise Engagement.

Surprise and delight — Gifts given to people spontaneously, without any expectation provided in advance.

Tangible rewards — Rewards that can be held in hand, such as merchandise. Gift cards are not considered tangible rewards under US tax code.

Wellness incentives — Campaigns to help promote the individual health of employees or other stakeholders.