The Leisure Society

I remember reading something a few years back about people hiring all kinds of services (lawn care, food preparation, dry cleaning, etc.) and thinking that the things we used to consider "life maintenance" are disappearing.  This article from Business Week highlights some of the more interesting ways people are outsourcing parts of their lives.

The question they ask is an important one.  As I outsource life maintenance and even quality of life elements do we really have a life?  If you have 100% leisure do you really have anything but time?

How this relates to motivation, incentives and recognition is that one of the rewards and recognition tenants of motivational theory is that people follow Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  As our ability to satisfy the lower levels of the pyramid we strive for the next level.  Programs are designed to provide "merchandise" to ostensibly handle the lower levels of the pyramid and travel and recognition to satisfy those at the higher levels. 

My question is this… if we are outsourcing life maintenance, and some of the higher level things in our lives – does Maslow still apply?  Is the entire $29 billion incentive industry supported by a false premise?