For years the performance improvement (incentive) industry has talked about "family involvement" as a key driver of performance for those participating in incentive programs. In the "old" days a catalog was sent to the home address to get the "wife and kids" involved. As progressive as we are as an industry we've updated that spiel to now read "spouse or significant other."
There is no arguing the fact that the more people who know that a person is in an incentive program helps influence the participant to work harder. No one wants to fail in front of friends and family. However, the times they are a-changing.
Many articles in today's press reference the United States hitting 300 million people. That made me think about the make up of that 300 million. I've long held that the assumptions we use in this industry have changed and we need to adapt our approaches to take advantage of these new realities. Two statistics that really drive this home are:
- Of the 111 million "households" in America, 55.8 million American, or 50.2% are not headed by "married" folks - widowed, divorces, separated or alternative arrangements
- 30% of children live in single head of household families (this does not take into account step-parent relationships)
Now - let me ask - does the old way of doing things make sense? What are the implications for the "family involvement" story? How do we change the way we communicate and promote within this very complicated environment?
A
Marketing and Incentive Design Consultancy