Recruitment firm IntaPeople decided to retain the annual team reward for its sales force to get them to go the extra mile in challenging times for the recruitment industry.

By closely aligning the reward - a sales conference and snowboarding holiday in France - with the strength of performance shown by the 10 people who earned a place on the trip, IntaPeople was able to justify the cost.

To win a place on the trip, which took place in January, staff had to achieve 20% more sales than the lowest-performing member of the sales team.

Stephen Riley, sales director at IntaPeople, says: “If you look at the negative, we can save £5,000 or £10,000 by not going on the sales conference. But to get on the sales conference in a sales-based organisation like this, you have to work exceptionally hard. To me, it is a carrot: ‘Let’s all work harder and bring more money into the company and pay out all this on benefits’.”

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