More Than Just “Stuff” – Why Rewards Are So Important

Why are objects and success symbols so important? For the same reason that an object can be meaningless to one person, but priceless to another—we attach personal significance to objects. Objects are clues and links to our thoughts, memories and emotions. For this reason, they make better motivators than cash when used in employee incentive programs. Companies like Atlanta-based Incentive Solutions utilize personal significance as the foundation of their non-cash rewards programs, tapping into the positive emotional associations that make objects so appealing.

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Object Attachment

In her collection of essays about the personal significance objects hold, Evocative Objects, Sherry Turkle writes, “we think with the objects we love; we love the objects we think with.” We all have complicated inner lives, but objects play a large role in how we interact with and display ourselves to the world. Objects are containers of memory—photographs, souvenirs—and tangible links to complicated, abstract ideas. As Turkle explains, “an object serves as a marker of relationship and emotional connection” (Turkle, S., 2007).

The very nature of objects and how people use them as emotional markers plays a role in their value. When discussing objects versus cash in an incentive rewards capacity, it is clear why non-cash rewards have the advantage. Cash rewards tend to have very short lifespans. Responsibilities like gas, groceries, and bills can pile up and eat into funds that were designed to be rewards. Non-cash rewards, tangible items and experiences have all the emotional power that comes along with object attachment.