Traditional wisdom is wrong.
Here is a mistake that most organisations make. They assume that money is the biggest motivator for the employees, but it is not money is not THE BIGGEST MOTIVATOR. It is even not a motivator. Money is just a stabilizer.
Besides food and shelter, human beings have two main needs: Connection and Purpose.
This transcends age, culture, profession, country, time etc etc etc.
People want to make close personal, one-to-one connections with each other and find JOY IN SIMPLE THINGS OF LIFE. This joy in simple things of life emanates from small small things like saying 'hi' to a fellow colleague, or getting a train ticket confirmed for your little sister.
Purpose means that we want to have a purpose, a higher purpose, to make contributions that outlast our stay on this planet Earth. It is ....it is...it is in a way a SEARCH FOR IMMORTALITY. Ex-CEO of DMRC Shri E Shreedharan has become immortal now. Delhi will never forget him.
Money offers a temporary satisfaction at best. Employees may work together, but they won't increase their loyalty and engagement.
I have here with me , some data from the survey(2011) of a very famous business Magzine 'Fortune'. I'm sure that most of you must have heard of 'Fortune 500' companies.
Now as per this data, the best companies to work for in terms of annual pay package. The top five companies are:
1. Salesforce.com
2. Bbingham McCutchen
3. Alston and Bird
4. Perkins Coie
5. Devon energy.
Now when I saw their rankings in terms of employee satisfaction, I found something, which really amazed me. It did shocked me. And then I decided to write this article.
In fact in terms of employee satisfaction rankings these companies perform poorly.
Salesforce.com ranks 52, yes my friends you heard it right, it does ranks 52. Bingham McCutchen ranks 28. Alston and Bbird ranks 13, Perkins And Coie ranks 55 and Devon Energy ranks 41.
Does this data suggest something to you?
Does it rings bells in your ears?
The top ranked companies in terms of employee satisfaction are:
1. SAS
2. BCG
3. Wegmens food Market.
4. Google
5. NET APP.
One of the Managers from top ranked SAS quotes ' People stay at SAS in large part because they are happy, but to dig a little deeper, I would argue that people don't leave SAS because they feel regarded- seen, attended to and cared for. I have stayed for that reason, and love what I do for that reason.'
Of course you need to pay people fairly for their contributions, but when you over-emphasize the money it become the only thing that is important. People actually wind up being less happy, less competent and less engaged. If you want people to get motivated, passionate and engaged, you need to give them something besides money, that something is a sense of purpose, which will give them joy in simple things of life and which will guide them in their journey towards the search for immortality.
Now have yo ever heard of or used the social networking site ORKUT.
Well Google uses this technique called 'Innovation Time-off' to motivate its employees. Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time on any personal projects of their choice. The time spent during this duration cannot be tracked. Gmail, Google NeWS, Orkut and Adsense are some of the result of such independent endeavor.
Now you know why Google ranks so high in terms of Employees satisfaction.
This s the opportunity to ignite true passions in employees, which you cannot afford to miss, you need to grab it with both hands. If you let them know, their work matters. You will be amazed to know at what they can accomplish.
I would conclude it by repeating on quote from Richard Friedman: 'Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail'
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