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76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

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Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#21

What a weird setup for a false dichotomy. > My latest data shows that 76% of HPEs are not primarily motivated by money. But why? When you come across a peculiar result, "But why?" shouldn't be the first question you ask. Maybe more like "What have I missed? What am I not accounting for? What am I conflating or grouping together? What assumptions did I make, and did I allow my respondents to make any implicit assumpti…

Also people lie. I imagine that lots of people who say they aren't motivated by money would also leave their company for more money.(some for a little more money, and some for a lot more money)

Leaving for more money is not the same as not being motivated by money. If they can make more money for doing the same/similar work it's a matter of weighing any tradeoffs (relocating, potential job stability, etc.) In fact, those variables will be the ones affecting whether that's "a little more money" or "a lot more money".

Assuming there aren't other issues - "make more money for doing something you're already doing" is a no-brainer option to take without having any ties to the motivation of their work.

I enjoy what I do and spend time improving myself not out of motivations for a raise (though that'd still be nice) but because I want to improve myself and enjoy it. But if I was offered double my current salary it'd be tough to refuse. If offered triple my current salary - my bags would already be packed.

Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#22
post #14

Money isn't everything, but it sucks being poor. The older I get, I'm finding money is more important. Between the costs of college savings, retirement savings, medical savings, you'd better be paying your high performance employees well. They may like their work (like me), but money still talks. Regarding the medical savings it's a race to the bottom for employer provided benefits. I no longer have dental insurance…

I can appreciate what you are saying, esp with health care.

However as I grow older I find money matters less to me (and not because I have a lot of it), I would just much rather ENJOY my craft. Crazy deadlines, horrible tech debt, bad management, are all things I have been thru and do not wish to repeat.

"Life's too short to be in a hurry" - batFastard

Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#23
"My latest survey data shows that 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery is more important than money when considering career decisions."

"My latest data shows that 76% of HPEs are not primarily motivated by money."

It seems unwise to just assume, without even saying so, that what people say motivates them is what really motivates them. People are not actually very good at understanding their own thinking, and there are countless examples of people (sincerely!) stating that their motivations are X while their actions reveal it's really Y.

Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#24
Trade mastery also equates to future money on a scale which may render quibbling over an extra ten grand of current compensation meaningless. Failing that, it at least helps secure future employment, which still translates to money.

Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#25

In a simplistic sense, the "esteem" and "self-actualization" levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

Or in the even more simplistic Herzberg's dual-factor theory: Money is just a hygiene factor.

If you have not enough, it will negatively impact job satisfaction and motivation.

OTOH if you have enough, it doesn't raise job satisfaction or motivation.

Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#27

What a weird setup for a false dichotomy. > My latest data shows that 76% of HPEs are not primarily motivated by money. But why? When you come across a peculiar result, "But why?" shouldn't be the first question you ask. Maybe more like "What have I missed? What am I not accounting for? What am I conflating or grouping together? What assumptions did I make, and did I allow my respondents to make any implicit assumpti…

And when you ask this sort of question people will lie about how important the say money is.

My understanding is there is actual behavioral research on some of these kind of claims. An entertaining video (which does note that money is not completely irrelevant. After certain point it is just not that important motivating factor)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#28
The headline can be true, if you have financial guarantees to maintain a healthy lifestyle and also connections that ensure your trade mastery is actually employed.

If not, your psychological condition may deteriorate for the first case and your trade mastery may not have the perceived value in the second.

As always, it's a little bit more complicated.

Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#29
ha yeah none of them are to do the same job in Poland for 1/5th the wages. its like the question itself means something else to most people, in order for them to say "no" to it, but every onlooker could see a clear relationship to money.

Re: 76% of high-performance employees say trade mastery, not money, most important

#30

What a weird setup for a false dichotomy. > My latest data shows that 76% of HPEs are not primarily motivated by money. But why? When you come across a peculiar result, "But why?" shouldn't be the first question you ask. Maybe more like "What have I missed? What am I not accounting for? What am I conflating or grouping together? What assumptions did I make, and did I allow my respondents to make any implicit assumpti…

Alternative headline: "76% of HPEs are paid well enough to not be motivated by money"

I think what this idea really misses is that there's a difference between being intrinsically motivated by money and being motivated by as a result of one's current financial situation.

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