I get motivated to work in a exciting and challenging work, that always creates a difference which gives good recognition and respect, that indirectly develops your career growth. These are interrelated things. None is separated. So when you take a challenging thing that motivates you and gives you a good shape. I am not that surprised about the result because the challenging work will always creates difference. So its good that people are taking challenging jobs. Its really a good sign of development. Results are under my expectation. I feel that than working with great people, work hard to become a great person is a better option. Good recognition and respect will be given to you if you achieve a challenging and exciting task. Money doesn't matters to me. Only the satisfaction is something that is the necessary one for me. So I am always motivated my the challenges.

I expected fair pay and benefits should slightly be higher. I am surprised by number that only 32% and 22% people’s motivation fair pay and benefits. In my opinion, if the fair pay and benefits are not satisfying to the employees, then it would have negative impact on their work performance. My motivation is to work in challenging area or company because it helps build my skill, inspires courageous acts, and tests my limits. After finishing those challenges successfully, it feels very rewarding and helps me grow with experience. Whether those endeavors succeed or fail, I am motivated by either the achievement, or the failure which asks me to do even more.

No, I’m not so surprised by these results and kind of expected it. As Confucius put it, “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”. For someone to enjoy working for another person, the work should allow them to grow and challenge them. It is like watching a movie. People will go watch a movie that they like and will enjoy their one hour and a half instead of spending the time to watch a boring movie that they dislike. I think doing something that is challenging plays a big role on how you look forward to working. If I was given this survey, I would have chosen exciting and challenging work. I am a person who likes to learn something new and not just do the same type of job every day. When I am introduced to some new or a challenge in a project, I get excited because I will have to literally come up with an idea to fix the problem. I enjoy doing that. Working with great people and career growth development is just a cherry on top that comes along with exciting and challenging work.
One aspect that is not so surprising is that only 17% work because they are making a difference or their job is meaningful work. The reason is when I shadowed surgeons at the St. Barnabas hospital, almost all the residents and attending physician told me not to go into medicine because of the hours, risk and it is not a great return on invest. On the other hand, medical students told me that medicine is great because you are making a difference every day. I feel like as you grow older priority change and making a difference in the world becomes the least of your worries. As a student (I do not know about you guys), I have that attitude and fortitude of changing world by doing something big primarily because we do not have as many worries as a couple with a child.

Personally, I find these results pretty generic. I choose to work to survive. I need money to buy supplies and pay for rent and all the other stuff necessary to live. To stay at a place, it is important to have a productive and welcoming environment which also conducive for learning. It is important to have a job that also makes me feel that I am accomplishing something, and as said before, something that makes me feel like I have a positive impact to science and society as a whole. If someone has these and is passionate about the field that he/she is in, it would feel less like work and more like time for him/her to contribute to the overall growth of society. What motivates me to work is my urge to create something that could potentially alter the ways things are done. I want to learn and grow so that I can apply m knowledge to the innovation and development of products that currently in use. I also want to spread my gift by participating in humanitarian missions in the future to help those who are in need.

This was a nice and revealing question. I enjoyed reading everyone's posts. I would stay and work for a company if the work interested me. I want a fulfilling career and life, I do not want to be stuck working for money. Surviving also means doing something that does not drain your life. An interesting job would be one where I can learn something new and network with intelligent and interesting people. A job that does not fall into a regular, humdrum routine instead offers something new and exciting. If you try to work for money you will never make enough, instead try making the money work for you. That is, establish a lifestyle for the amount you make and focus on the joys of biomedical engineering. I hope this mindset remains with me when I actually do enter the workforce, industry. I hope I do not sell-out/buy-in to the glamour and freedom of money. If I stay true to my passion for science I should not fall into this pit.

I’m not too surprised by these results, but I thought fair pay would be higher than just 32%. Some people of talked to wanted as much pay as possible, but I guess it varies from person to person. For me, what I want the most is exciting and challenging work and being recognized/valued & respected. Exciting work will motivate me to actually want to come into work every day and do the best that I can. Meaningless and boring work will just cause me to do the bare minimum and not challenge myself in order to be a better engineer. Being valued & respected also comes largely into play for me. When I complete a project I want to be told that I did a good job. This will ease my mind and motivate to do just as well or better on the next project. Being valued and shown that, can go a long way for an employee and motivate them to make sure that they don’t disappoint in the next project.

What motivates me to work is being in a company that will allow me to work in a field I enjoy and in a company that will allow me to grow and expand my knowledge. These are usually correlated with a good work environment where my fellow employees are very helpful, sociable, and understanding to the work I interested in and how it can be beneficial to the company. Other important factors besides good work environment are pay and location. A lot of people are open to moving far away for a position, but I do not want to move across country for an allotted period of time that I do not know how long will last. Unless it is short term such as under a year, I would prefer being close to home. Pay is important as well as hard work should be repaid as such, and more pay would be a bigger motivator for me to work harder seeing as ceiling for pay if higher.

Studies says that factor that help retention are Meaningful work, Compensation and pride in the organization. When does it mean by these factor. By having a meaningful work : people stay when their daily work matches their talents and interests, and when they are given opportunities to grow. people are more productive when they are satisfied by their work. People want to feel valued through market-competitive wages and benefits. people wants to work for well-managed companies headed by skilled, resourceful leaders who have a clear vision of the firm's future.

I agree with you, working with great people makes your job more enjoyable. I say this with experience, in my opinion if you have a great team environment and everyone gets along then you will enjoy going to work the next morning, and be more motivated. Having good team chemistry can go a long way. Some cases, coworkers who don’t get along, or don’t like how management handles the culture of the team, will have no stability.This always leads to team conflict and no stability with the team. Having a good team will make work better. As a team you are there to motivate each other and enjoy the company with each other. You will always have someone who will help you if you are struggling.

Most people want to work because they want some sort of challenge but of course, they do it for the money also. But what drives people to go to work every morning is the environment they are in. The co workers and the managers make it a fun place to work. When you have no one to talk to and be motivated, you don't want to work there anymore and do not feel like you want to the work.

I can't say I'm surprised, because I never really considered those aspects before, but I think it makes a lot of sense. When looking for a job, or any work, I've always looked most for exciting and challenging work. I love the expression "love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life".
The work that I want to be apart of is meaningful and hopefully will make a difference, so maybe I'm a little surprised thats not higher. And like any college/grad student, I've been re-watching The Office; I can say that I really want a supportive manager/boss and to work with great people. It would just make the "daily toll" on a person just a little bit lighter and more entertaining.

When reading the results of the study, I am slightly surprised, but not entirely. I thought fair pay and meaningful work would be higher up on the spectrum. Although exciting and challenging work being at the top is not surprising at work. Personally, I am extremely motivated when the work that I am doing is exciting and challenging. When I’m working on an assignment and I encounter a complicated issue; it feels extremely rewarding when I finally figure it out. Although, what really motivates me is meaningful work and making a difference. I chose biomedical engineering because I wanted to make a difference within the medical field without being a doctor. I enjoy learning about innovative medical devices and learning skills that will one day help me in industry. It makes all the stress of undergrad worth it in the end. In addition, working with great people has also motivated me in the past. Throughout college, I worked part time as a server. There were times that the job would stress me out more than school did because I had to deal with irrational and close-minded people; but I was lucky to work with a staff that made every day worthwhile. Finally, being recognized and valued have been great motivators for me, especially in my last year of college. I am currently coming to the end of my senior Capstone project. I have dedicated most of my time to this group project because within group assignments, I want my team members to know that I pull my weight as much as I can and I’m always the reliable team member.

many of my colleagues have expressed to me that they love their job mainly because of the people they work with and because of how exciting their work is. I will also stay at my company because of the supportive staff. In fact, I am surprised that "working with great people" is not number one as no matter what the topic of the work, your coworkers will impact it. ultimately making or breaking a project and how each person feels about their environment, even extending to your mood after work.

I believe that I fall into that category because challenges throughout the work day keep things interesting. A repetitive job that does not push its workers is boring and will cause the workers to lose motivation and quit. What motivates me to work is my need to help others. I truly believe that I and anyone can achieve that by putting in extra work. This also goes for life outside of work such as in hobbies or secondary sources of income. However, it really depends on the individual and their own motives and aspirations.

I am slightly surprised by the results, I would have thought that pay and making a difference would have had a higher percentage. Working with great people had a higher percentage than I thought it would. A lot of people say that they don't want to mix business with pleasure and keep their relationships with people at work very minimal. The fact that working with great people has 42% is surprising however, that would be something that would motivate me. If I am going to be somewhere for 8+ hours everyday I want to be surrounded by great people. Making a difference and pay would also be higher up on my list. I do value all of the options. I don't think I could stay very long in a job where I felt disrespected or somewhere where I felt that I have no future or room to grow.