30 Best Companies of the Year 2024
Business Fortune
Employee recognition has always been a fundamental aspect of effective management. Today, it’s more important than ever for organizations to show their appreciation for employees in a competitive talent landscape.
Introducing a rewards and recognition program can significantly enhance employee engagement, leading to numerous advantages for the company, such as improved productivity and employee retention rates. A survey found that employees believe personal recognition is the most effective way for managers or companies to motivate them to perform well.
Virgin Incentives is a trusted provider of budget friendly and exciting experience days across the USA. The company specializes in corporate rewards and employee engagement, with a team that takes pride in delivering innovative, high-quality solutions to the challenges encountered by HR, Rewards, and Marketing professionals seeking to inspire, incentivize, and delight employees and customers.
The following excerpts are taken from a conversation with Danni Rush, Chief Operating Officer for Virgin Incentives, Virgin Experience Days and Virgin Experience Gifts
Q. What’s the background to Virgin Incentives? Why was the business established?
Virgin Incentives is the B2B arm of Virgin Experience Gifts, a leading provider of experience gifts in the USA. We specialize in serving corporate firms by providing reward and recognition programs, as well as employee and customer gifts. There are over 5,000 experiences to choose from for special gifts and rewards, such as birthdays, thank-yous, or incentives. From supercar driving experiences to golf lessons or wine tasting tours, we cover all the gifting bases.
Our business was established because we believe that life’s about creating incredible, memorable moments and stories, not more stuff. We aim to spread the idea of experience gifting across the USA, including big moments like skydives and supercars to wine tastings, spa days, and food tours. At Virgin Incentives, we have thousands of adventures to choose from, so we truly have a unique gift for everyone!
In 2021, we bought Cloud 9 Living, a family-owned business that has been inspiring gift-givers for 15 years with exciting, hand-picked experiences that are guaranteed to please everyone.After our successful acquisition, we rebranded the business to Virgin Experience Gifts to join other Virgin U.S. operations, such as Virgin Hotels, Virgin Holidays, and Virgin Voyages.
Q. In what ways can employers give employees rewards and recognition through the Virgin Incentives service?
We focus on corporate reward solutions with a wide range of experiential rewards, suitable for companies of all sizes.
Whether it’s culinary tours or once-in-a-lifetime fighter jet flights, thrilling adventure activities or luxurious spa pampering, breathtaking scenic cruises, or unforgettable driving experiences, we specialize in helping companies reward their USA-based employees and customers with incredible new incentives. We offer more than 5,000 experiences in the USA that never expire. Recipients can choose from various reward options and use them whenever they want. We offer personalized digital vouchers that can be emailed directly to employers or their employees. And the best bit is that they never expire! Meaning people can book an exciting new experience whenever it suits them!
In addition, we also offer a Virgin Experience Gifts eGift Card. It’s the perfect reward, and employees can take care of how to spoil themselves. It’s a gift card that never expires. The recipient can choose an experience and book a convenient date and time. Businesses can load gift cards with amounts ranging from $5 to $5,000 and send them directly to the recipient’s inbox. This allows the recipient to have something to look forward to and to redeem the gift at their own convenience.
We also have a variety of collection vouchers to choose from, allowing people to select their own reward. Choose a theme or price range and get a voucher with multiple options. Each voucher offers a variety of experiences for one or two people. For example, our Afternoon Explorer collection voucher costs $50.00 and includes 214 experiences to choose from. This collection offers a variety of fun experiences, from art classes to spooky ghost tours, which are great for an afternoon of fun and perfect for employee gifts.
Q. Would you please elaborate on the different forms of corporate rewards and employee engagement that the company offers?
We prioritize employee engagement, reward, recognition, and wellbeing. We offer corporate rewards, flexible work options, learning opportunities, fun experiences, multi-choice options for birthdays, and long service awards. We also provide festive holidays, ad-hoc rewards, and team incentives. Annually, we give our people $150 worth of experiences to enjoy something fun and exciting. We also bring people together for ad-hoc social get-togethers.
On top of this, we have an employee awards program called “The Alfreds.” The Alfreds is our annual awards ceremony where our team can nominate their hardworking colleagues who go above and beyond in their daily work.
Q. What is the reason behind your success?
We are innovative and have clear goals for all areas of the business, short term and longer term. Our people are the heart of our company, and their expertise and love for our products and brand are what make the difference. The reward and recognition market is big and getting more important. This is especially true because many teams now work in a hybrid model, and companies are looking for interesting ways to engage their employees. Our products make incentives and rewards fun and memorable, so we feel this is where we’re different. We’re constantly innovating and growing our experience. We expand our brand by launching new products and forming partnerships with popular retailers. This includes being featured in on-pack promotions and having competitive pricing to work with both small and large companies. We also focus our growth within specific industries and partner with HR, reward, and people teams.
Q. Do you want us to highlight something important happening in your business that we might have missed?
Yes, we very recently launched three new collection vouchers, available in values of $50, $75, and $500. Each collection voucher is a ticket to a world of fun treats, experiences, and exciting days out. Businesses simply pick a theme or price point and gift these to employees or customers. The All Fun & Games collection offers various activities such as escape rooms, whale watching cruises, and a virtual masterclass to bake with a legend at home. No matter what the recipients are into, there’s something fun for everyone.
Q. Has Virgin Incentives launched any new exciting products or services?
We now offer new experiences such as racing a Ferrari 296 GTB with Xtreme Xperience in San Francisco, enjoying a Long Island Wine Tour with Lunch in New York, and experiencing Sushi by Bou Omakase for Two with Unlimited Sake in Times Square, New York, and a Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart VIP Admission in Las Vegas.
In addition to individual new experiences, we have launched a range of new multi-choice collection vouchers. We understand that it can be difficult to choose rewards for your co-workers or customers. That’s why we offer a new collection of vouchers that allows them to pick their own perfect gift. Each voucher allows you to enjoy a variety of fun activities and outings at the same price. The person receiving the voucher can select from a range of different experiences. As an added benefit, the cost is not listed on the voucher.
Meet the Chief Operating Officer
Danni Rush is the Chief Operating Officer for Virgin Incentives, Virgin Experience Days, and Virgin Experience Gifts. Danni’s career has spanned several industries, including travel, retail, and outdoor education. She is passionate about team engagement because she has seen the positive impact of a highly engaged and motivated team on business performance.
Danni excelled in various areas, including customer experience, product development, partnerships, and people strategy. She successfully guided the business through the pandemic, boosting employee engagement and achieving a gold award at the 2021 UK Employee Experience Awards.
