One of the things that will eventually come out about me, I'm sure, is that I am a complete office supply addict. Alan will not even let me go in to Staples unless I have both a list and an estimate of time, because he knows if he doesn't have these two stipulations, I will wander aimlessly, picking up new pens, paper clips and post it notes just because they look "neat." He's a very smart man, really, because without a list, I will often inch very close to that $100 mark on supplies I "have to have" that I don't really have to have.
When I started my job with Career Strategies, they put us through the usual HR demonstrations and the meet and greet and then they took my partner and I back to our desks on the floor for the duration of training. They were very nice and had given us a thermal mug, and the usual t-shirt and some other company branded items, but I was by far MUCH more excited by the large zip lock back full of new office supplies. It was seriously like Corporate Christmas morning for me.
In that bag, there was kind of bottom end calculator that I didn't really understand the purpose of. For the first three weeks in LA, it did nothing but sit there on my desk in a place where I could have really used a tape holder. (They gave me a roll of tape, but no tape holder... go figure) When I got everything back to Seattle, though, old Calc-ie and I got really well acquainted. I use this tiny two or three dollar calculator at least 20 times a day to add up pricing, percentages, hours, ...everything. It's my right hand, since lord knows I can't do math.
I lost it earlier this afternoon and thought my world was going to end. I tore my desk apart trying to find the thing and finally it was right there, sitting amidst a pile of neutral colored papers, blending in to the white on the papers and my frantic eyes. I made darned sure that would never happen again. 
Sure, I could have just cleaned my desk. This was a better outlet for my frustrations though.
Why bring up the calculator debacle? Well it is simple. When they hired me, my company didn't know I was an office supply addict. They had no idea how possessive of my highlighters I get. When I got the calculator, I thought it was kind of boring and wasn't going to be terribly useful.
Sometimes we don't realize we've gotten a gift until long after it comes our way, and sometimes we don't realize just how much a small gift we've given to someone else really matters.
You don't have to give away the apartment to get people to rent it, and you don't have to fly people to Tahiti to get them to produce at work.
What are some of the smallest, but best incentives you've offered either to motivate people to rent or to motivate people to produce?