The results of this study do not surprise me at all. However, it would be clearer to understand these results if they were broken up in categories of experience level. I feel that as an entry level engineer, I am more concerned with career growth and development, supportive managers, and a great environment working with people. Later on in my career, I would be less focused on career development, and more concerned with challenging work, fair pay, benefits, and a great environment.
The two main motivators for me working at a specific company are competitive pay and challenging work. During my undergrad when I was working to pay bills rather than to advance my career I worked at one of the higher paying work-study jobs that had the added benefit of being filled with people that I enjoyed working with. The work was not often challenging but the fact that I liked my coworkers made up for that. So the motivators for me working at that place were different because of my situation at the time. The reason behind why I take a specific job changes depending on what stage of my life I am in and at the moment the most important are pay and challenging work.
I thought “fair pay” and “benefits” would rank higher up since we largely depend on our work financial compensation to survive ( nutrition, shelter, and much more). I don't know who was survey for this experiment, but i think the result will be slightly different depending on the social-economical class. For people from lower economical stratum, "benefits", will probably be more significant than those in upper class. I also think different age group will have different percentage as well. I think as people age money becomes a priority as adulthood brings up problem of family ( taking care of loved ones, saving for college for the kids, preparing retirement..) they need to think about their family as well so the motivation for work changes a bit there. So I would like to have the criteria of the people surveyed to have a more justified opinion on this. However, as it pertains to my own motivation, challenges and positive working environment are my most important drives.
Everyone has a motivation to work and I'm not at all surprised by these results,We work to earn what we need from work to get something that increases the quality of our lives, and this is what a person wants to get is the motivation for work.
For me without adequate support, your will not be able to work at the same level of enthusiasm, Support can be provided to employees through several means, including short-term and long-term, where the team can be supported by providing training courses that can improve their scientific and practical level, providing assistance for a permanent form and providing tools to complete the work easily and conveniently.
I have many motivators in my life such as my family, friends and the idea of making a difference in the lives of individuals who actually need it. These will forever motivate me to work especially when I have the opportunity to change someone's reality However, I was shocked when I saw these numbers because I do not understand how some people can continue to work even through they feel as though they are not making a difference or change within their careers. On the other hand, I recognize that some people do not have a choice with their jobs because money plays a huge role in the job industry. In my personal experience, I would expect that people would continue to work if they felt as though they were making a difference. Which leads me to believe that these numbers are not within my expectations as I feel the lower categories should have higher numbers.
I am not surprised, but where i came from " third world country" money is the main reason why people go to work and stay. This study would have different result if it stated people ages and level of experiences, as each generation have different thought about life and work. For me having the 3 main category is my motivation.
People have many different reasons for working and that too in combination of the ones that are listed. I am not surprised at all about the results. For me personally, I care about the exciting and challenging work, as well as the work culture/environment and the support of my manager/boss. Starting off in the industry is especially important to have a supportive manager who is willing to teach you what you need to learn and how best to do it and to push you forward. I have been lucky to have managers that are willing to push me to do better for my last two positions. Work culture is also important because if you’re not comfortable in the environment you’re working in with other people, going into work everyday for a few years can become exhausting and something you don’t look forward too. Challenging work is also important because finding challenges to push you forward and motivate you at work is how you expand your knowledge at work. If you’re doing the same thing everyday without challenges, it can get boring.
I am also not surprised by these results, since exciting and challenging work seems to hold the most importance for most people in general when asked about work. Also, in a previous forum, when asked what their motivation was, many wrote about challenging work. Although initially surprised that meaningful work or making a difference scored the lowest, since I think exciting work is often accompanied by meaningful work or making a difference, I realize now that most people do just go to work from 9-5 and not necessarily care for meaningfulness or making a difference.
I'd rank working with great people as the highest, since I believe the work environment and the people who I interact with most greatly shapes how motivated I am to work. Working with great people not only allows the work to be more fun and interactive, but also allows one to be held accountable for the tasks they are supposed to do. I believe everyone has a different set of skills and when working with others, you can use your skills that others may lack, to the benefit of the whole.
I'm about to graduate so nowadays I find myself thinking about jobs a lot as before I was a graduate researcher at school but now I have to go get a job. The main thing I am excited for is the money that comes from getting a job. What especially attracts me to biomedical engineering jobs is the ability to help people. Like I really want to have some relationship in my job with the people I'm helping. Otherwise I'll just forget that whole aspect of it and get wrapped up in the whole corporate life, the people, the career development. All that stuff is great but I don't think I really care about that, at least right now. I just want a job or a career where I can see I'm making a positive difference in the world, and then the money I make and time I'm spending wont matter.
Money is always a part,but making a change or being responsible for a positive change in the society is what motivates me to work .The above result doesn't surprise me and I do agree with it .When we start our carrier money might excite us but in the long run satisfaction plays a very important role and it becomes the reason to work .Happiness is everything in life ,if your doing something that make you happy than no other reason matters.
My motivation for work is to do something I love, considering I love testing and conducting research, my work in the research department in the WRIISC is optimal for me. Do something you love, you will never work a day in your life, right? I appreciate the challenges and troubleshooting needed for the job, working and collaborating with PI's and patients as well as working with a supportive team plus, getting paid to do something you enjoy isn't bad either! I hope to expand on this in the future as my career continues to develop.
After being at my current internship, I'm not surprised at this results. I think the thought "I'm going to make a difference in the work I do, and love what I do" occurs in the initial stage of working, and it later turns into "The work I do is interesting and I like the people I work with". Liking your coworkers is half the experience of working in any industry, because they make even boring work fun. I am surprised that people don't need to be recognized higher, but it seems like it's more of a personal milestone. During the course of one's career, then comes the need of benefits of fair pay and career growth.
I personally am motivated by getting paid well for my work, doing exciting and challenging work, and working with great people. I know that the work I do indirectly makes a difference in someone's life, so it's not a high motivator as being personally fulfilled by my career.
At this particular point in my career, working in a position that provides career growth and development is of utmost importance to me. I am just beginning my career and I am willing to sacrifice fair pay, benefits, and working under a supportive manager for experience that will excel my career. In order to truly last long term within a company, I believe it is necessary to blend a combination of the listed reasons within the study.
The reason that people work is to get the motivation to work upon the challenge met and getting excitement in terms of paycheck. Working gives more independence to control your own life. Learning new things, gaining knowledge and implementing it in the real world could give happiness in achieving something. Satisfied people work as they feel that they are in charge. This could achieve a level of mastery or expertise. Everyone should have a passion to work around to build their career path.
For the lecture this week, I was fascinated by the results of the study Dr. Simon referenced. The study asked employees why they stayed and worked at the company they are employed at. What motivates them kind of surprised me. I'll list the results here:
Exciting and Challenging Work: 48%
Career growth and development: 43%
Working with great people: 42%
Fair pay: 32%
Supportive Manager/Boss: 25%
Be Recognized/valued & respected: 23%
Benefits: 22%
Meaningful Work/Make a difference: 17%My personal motivation to work is to work with great people, make a difference, and have the work be exciting and challenging. Are you surprised by these results, or are they within your expectations? What motivates you to work?
With regard to this survey, I feel like its very skewed to a specific type of industry or job and is not representative of those that work in other professions like medicine, education, finance, etc. I want to go into medicine and become a physician one day and find that the main reason I would get up every day and go to work is to make a difference and do meaningful work for the world. With this in mind, in this industry, that specific factor would be much higher than other factors such as benefits or supportive manager/boss. Another thing I personally value is definitely exciting and challenging work and I feel like many doctors value being challenged and learning new things in their field.
