Are People Motivated to Work Harder in the Bad Economy? Is Money Really the Best Motivator?
Yes, we all need money—it buys us things; it offers some security in a dangerous world; it makes us feel successful—it does all those things and more. However, let me explain something that we often fail to grasp: money is not the motivator it is cracked up to be—never has been, never will be—and that goes for those in sales as well as those not peddling the company’s wares and services. In today’s economy, the money as motivation model would suggest that people will be more motivated than ever because they will value their jobs more. Not so. In fact, job satisfaction is the lowest it has been for a very long time and more people say they want to look for a new job than in any poll in recent memory. If we think about motivation, we realize a lot of it comes from within ourselves. Sure, external factors can play into the equation because our work environment, our training or lack of it, our autonomy, our opportunities to do meaningful work, etc. can all set the stage (or not set the sta
