Here's a question that doesn't get asked often enough: does it matter whether employees choose their own rewards?
The instinct for many organizations is to standardize. Pick a gift card. Send a branded T-shirt. Default to a fixed bonus. It's simpler to administer and easier to budget. But a growing body of research in behavioral psychology suggests that the act of choosing a reward may be just as important as the reward itself.
Understanding why can change how you think....