Keep spending under control.
Let’s talk dollars and cents for a moment, because recognition can save you a lot of them.
There is a benefit to gifts in kind (non-cash rewards) that many supervisors overlook. That is, they are non-negotiable. While cash awards, which employees may want to see consolidated into their pay raises, can cause wage bills to creep up without any corresponding rise in productivity, non-cash benefits hold no such dangers.
When you think about it that way, non-cash awards just makes cents.