Paying the most will lead to a constant pipeline of candidates wanting to work for your company, but once they are employed, the good salary is just one part of what will keep them motivated. 

The truth is that sometimes there isn’t enough you can pay someone to make them stay if the corporate culture is toxic or if their work feels futile. 

You may think you will keep employees engaged and motivated by offering “if, then” rewards, meaning if they achieve this, then they will get that reward. According to New York Times bestselling author Dan Pink, 60 years of research shows that this type of system can work well for short time horizons, but it doesn’t work well for complex tasks with long time horizons. Most white-collar work is the latter. 

So, what is a better way to motivate your employees doing complex tasks over long periods of time? Pink says you need to offer them autonomy, mastery, and purpose to keep them fully engaged. 

Autonomy

Autonomy means you have some control over your work – how you do it, what you are doing, when you are doing it, etc. Yes, deadlines need to be met, but it’s important that employees feel like they have some control and input into the way the job gets done.

Nobody likes to be micromanaged. Employees want to be treated like competent professionals. Yes, they will need to be trained and onboarded, but once that is complete and the employee has demonstrated their ability to do the job, they should be given some autonomy. 

Mastery

Mastery means you are getting better at doing something. Most people want roles where they can learn and grow. They want to be challenged. They want to see that there is a path for growth.

Humans find making progress toward a goal very satisfying, generally more satisfying than actually achieving the goal, which often feels like a letdown. 

Feeling like you are making progress is a key component of happiness. 

Purpose

Purpose is an understanding of why you are doing what you are doing, and how you are making a contribution and having an impact. It doesn’t have to be a big thing, just knowing that your work makes a difference is enough. Nobody likes to feel that their effort is being wasted. 

Any of these three pillars being off will create frustrated and unhappy employees. If your employees are able to experience autonomy, mastery, and purpose, they will do their best work for you.  

Photo by Marcel Petzold on Unsplash