Staff Incentives: Why the Same Reward Doesn’t Work for Everyone

There’s an old story about a woman who couldn’t stand the local kids playing noisily outside her house. One day she tried something odd. She went out and paid them each 50 cents to keep playing. They were thrilled. The next day she gave them 25 cents. The day after, 10 cents. Then she said, sorry, I’ve run out of money, could you play for free? The kids were disgusted. They left and didn’t come back. They’d been happily playing there for nothing, right up until she started paying them.

That story is really about how strange a motivator money is. Lean on it too hard and you can quietly turn something people did for their own reasons into something they’ll only do for cash. Psychologists call it the overjustification effect, and it’s worth keeping in mind before you build your whole staff incentives plan around a bonus.

A lot of staff incentives go wrong in a simpler way, though. The business picks a reward based on what the owner or manager would want, or defaults to cash for everyone, and then wonders why it only seems to light a fire under a couple of people. The fix usually isn’t a bigger budget. It’s a better fit.

Money isn’t the enemy, and it isn’t the whole answer

Let me be clear. Money matters. It’s why people show up, and they wouldn’t be there without it. For some of your team, cash genuinely is the best reward you can give. Someone saving hard for a house wants the money, not a voucher.

And money has limits as a culture tool. A cash bonus can come to feel expected over time, and it can read as transactional, like the whole relationship is just a transaction. The interesting part is what happens when you give people something that actually fits them instead.

Different people value completely different things

Ask around a team and you’ll find the same bonus means very different things to different people.

A parent might value a Friday or a Monday off far more than the cash equivalent. Someone saving hard wants the cash. Someone flat out and frazzled might treasure a massage, a long lunch, or simply being sent home early on a quiet day. Same cost to you. Wildly different value to them.

There’s recent research pointing the same way. Across three studies with more than 2,200 people, Lee-Yoon and DeVoe (2025) found that a reward of time off left people feeling more valued as a whole person, not just an output, than an equivalent cash reward, partly because it created more separation between work and the rest of life. (UCLA) That doesn’t mean everyone wants time off over money. The researchers were clear that people who are financially stretched may still prefer and need the cash. It depends on the person, which is the whole point.

A simple way to get staff incentives right: let people choose

You don’t have to guess, and you don’t have to run a different scheme for every individual. One of the easiest moves is to put a few options on the table, each costing you about the same, and let people pick.

“The bonus this month is your choice of X, Y or Z. What would you actually like?”

Now the reward fits the person, the cost to you stays controlled, and the simple act of being asked tells your team you see them as individuals. That last part often matters more than the reward itself.

There’s even some evidence this helps performance, not just morale. A 2025 experimental study found that giving people a choice of reward improved how they performed on mentally demanding tasks, especially when there were enough options for the reward to genuinely match what someone valued. (European Accounting Review)

Please don’t reach for a personality test

When businesses decide to get serious about understanding their people, a lot of them reach for a personality test. I’d gently push back on that.

These tools feel scientific and official, and they don’t actually tell you the thing you need to know: what this person values as a reward right now. A label like “introvert” or “type A” won’t tell you whether they’d rather have the cash or the Friday off. On top of that, you fill them in yourself. I’ll be honest, when I was last job-hunting I had an AI answer one of these for me to get through a screening round, and it sailed through. Self-report tests like these are easy to answer strategically, so really you’re just marking your own homework. A horoscope would tell you more. Take from that what you will.

There’s a much simpler tool, and it’s free.

Just talk to your people (and go for a walk)

The best way to find out what someone values is to actually know them. Not through a survey. Not in a formal review, where they’re sitting across the desk from you, a little nervous, and the safe answer to “what would motivate you?” is always going to be “more money.”

You find it in the quiet moments. Encourage a bit of chat around the place when things are slow. Pick the person you know the least about, and go talk to them like a human. If you want a structured version of the same idea, it’s the same muscle as building feedback that actually flows both ways.

Here’s the one that changed how I think about it. Grab someone when it’s quiet and say, “come on, let’s take a walk around the block.” I had a team leader years ago who did this, and it stuck with me. Walking next to someone is completely different to sitting across from them. Face to face, people get guarded. Side by side, looking ahead, they open right up. It’s basic human psychology, and it works. There’s a bit of research behind it too: walk-and-talk conversations tend to feel less formal and less confrontational, which helps people open up. (Counselling and Psychotherapy Research)

One thing to watch. If the only time you ever pull someone aside for a walk is when something’s wrong, they’ll learn to dread it. So do it when nothing’s wrong too. Go for a walk, have a genuine chat, and let it go nowhere in particular. You’ll have built more trust in fifteen minutes than any bonus could buy. Just read the moment and pick your timing.

Incentives sit on top of your culture, not instead of it

One honest caveat, because incentives aren’t magic. If the real conditions are a mess, unclear roles, no support, a manager nobody trusts, no incentive is going to fix that. People see straight through a shiny reward bolted onto a workplace that isn’t working. It’s the same reason wellbeing programs fall short when they sit on top of the real problems. Get the conditions right first, and good incentives become the cherry on top rather than a bribe to keep people from leaving.

Good staff incentives aren’t about spending more. They’re about paying attention. Find out what your people actually value, give them a say in it, and remember that the most powerful thing you can offer often isn’t on the reward menu at all. It’s a walk, a real conversation, and the sense that someone noticed them.

Frequently asked questions

What are good staff incentives?

The best staff incentives fit the individual. Cash suits some people, like anyone saving hard, while others value time off, flexibility or a small perk far more for the same cost. Research even finds time off can make people feel more valued than an equivalent bonus. The simplest approach is to offer a few options of similar cost and let people choose.

Are staff incentives just about money?

No. Money is why people come to work and it matters, and on its own it’s a blunt, short-lived motivator. People adapt to bonuses quickly, so leaning only on cash means paying more over time for the same effect. Non-cash rewards matched to the person, and the feeling of being genuinely valued, often do more.

How do I find out what motivates my staff?

Talk to them casually, in quiet moments, rather than in a formal review where the safe answer is always “more money.” Build trust first. A relaxed chat, even a walk around the block side by side, gets far more honest answers than a survey or a personality test.

Not sure what your team actually values?

That’s exactly the kind of thing our Team Culture Diagnostic is built to surface: the conditions and the quiet signals driving how your people feel about their work. If you’d rather talk it through, get in touch.

Culture that drives performance.