In a recent study, 89 percent of employers assume that their employees leave for more money elsewhere. But in reality, studies from Gallup and the Incentive Research Foundation reveal, only 12 percent of employees actually earn more from their next company.
In my experience, people become demotivated first. The decision to leave for another job, whether it pays more or not, is an outcome of the lack of motivation and engagement. It’s not the cause.
So what does actually motivate people?
Maslow’s widely known and accepted hierarchy of needs gives us some clues. Once people get past food and shelter, which in today’s world is accomplished via money, humans want belonging, self-esteem, and ultimately, self-actualization.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re at work, home, or someone in between the needs stay the same. And despite our belief that we are more sophisticated and evolved than previous generations, the 1961 book, “The Achieving Society pretty much nailed employee motivation. Pre-Internet, pre-cell phone, pre-millennials, pre-the birth of this writer, author David McClelland identified the three motivators that can keep you in a job or drive you away from one. McClelland’s theory is that most of us are driven by one of these three things: