The HIERARCHY of MOTIVATIONS for EMPLOYMENT.
Why do individuals seek employment?
In one of my more contemplative moments, I wondered why people seek employment. I cast the net of possibilities as wide as I could, putting myself in the shoes of the entire spectrum of a typical workforce. And I attempted to imagine why they would want to wake up early on a Monday morning, finish their morning chores and dress up in shirts and shorts; preparing for yet another day of work in a post pandemic virtual world. What kept them going? Day after day, week after week. And I came up with a multitude of reasons which I then bucketed into 4 broad categories. Fashioned on the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, this is my model of Hierarchy of Motivations for Employment.
NECESSITY: When one seeks employment to make ends meet.
Employee Expectations: Generally, purely monetary in nature. A sense of gratitude overwhelms factors such as work life balance, rewards and recognition and engagement.
Usual candidates: Unskilled and semi-skilled labour with little or no experience, recent migrates to a new place with unproven professional credentials and those who are desperate to keep the wolf at bay.
Challenges: Ensure compliance with local and central regulations while hiring and managing workforce.
Retention Strategy: They are the backbone of the society and organizations must ensure that they are not exploited and help them achieve financial security. Provide basic facilities and amenities to meet their day to day needs. Once they settle nearby with their families and form a community, they are very unlikely to leave.
GRATIFICATION: When one seeks employment to gain exposure, build functional and technical skills and achieve immediate goals. This is the stage where one does not have to worry about the next meal, but focusses on achievement and building a secured future.
Employee Expectations: Primarily centered around compensation, exposure and career growth opportunities. This cohort has limited exposure to the corporate culture and is at an impressionable phase in their career.
Usual candidates: Entry level employees with strong academic foundations, skilled professionals from institutions of pedigree, and those from privileged backgrounds at the nascent stage of their career.
Challenges: Significant investment in capability development. Imperative to strike a balance between handholding and learning on the job. Hyper connected digital ecosystem makes them influential stakeholders in organization’s brand management.
Retention Strategy: They are the future of the country and organizations must ensure the right career tracks, learning tools and mentoring to help them achieve financial independence. Formulate employee friendly policies, structured career development plan, transparent and fair performance evaluation mechanism, established engagement initiatives and robust recognition practices.
ASPIRATION: When one seeks employment to build leadership experience and achieve aspirational goals. This is the stage where one does not have to worry about employment opportunities. The focus is on selecting the right environment to lead and grow personal brand.
Employee Expectations: Mainly focused on selecting the right environment to design strategies, lead teams, and boost their personal brand. This cohort is updated with latest developments and expects adoption of best practices.
Usual candidates: Top talent in mid senior management, skilled professionals and domain experts with rich industry experience, and those with diverse global exposure.
Challenges: Difficult to retain with monetary incentives alone. Important to manage their ambitions. Poaching is common as top talent is spoilt for choice and it becomes imperative to have well planned performance management processes. Wide peer networks make them critical to the organization’s image.
Retention Strategy: They are the architects of the country’s future and organizations must help them grow into influential leaders. Provide opportunities for them to ideate and implement strategies, lead high performing teams and become thought leaders. Access to top leaders will further enhance their impact and decision-making prowess.
FULFILMENT: When one seeks employment to create meaningful impact and build an ensuing legacy.
Employee Expectations: Usually around resources and operational support. They require the trust and risk appetite of key stakeholders to accept change.
Usual candidates: Senior management, accomplished professionals and top leaders. These are proven performers who wish to become industry stalwarts.
Challenges: Their experience with the organization has a direct impact on the market perception due to high visibility and strong industry connect. Wrong role-person and person-organization fit can have severe and often long-term implications.
Retention Strategy: They are the brand ambassadors of the country and organizations must ensure freedom and support to help them build agile organizational structures, robust talent strategy and strong foundations of culture to help them envision an ambitious future. Their experiences must be leveraged by coaching young talent into leaders of tomorrow and thereby securing the future of the organization.
Understanding the motivation for employment for an individual, would help the organization design effective People and Talent strategy.
Understand the WHY, before planning the WHAT and HOW.
