Facebook people leaders and Wharton professor and author Adam Grant recently collaborated on analysis of surveys of Facebook employees and their thoughts on what really matters to them – at work and in life. Presented in this HBR article, the findings illustrated how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs isn’t so much a rigid hierarchy but a very fluid dynamic of how we perceive and process what we need to realize our full humanity, in and outside work.
In Facebook, that translates to “three big buckets of motivators: career, community, and cause,” which translates to (quoting HBR):
Career is about work: having a job that provides autonomy, allows you to use your strengths, and promotes your learning and development. It’s at the heart of intrinsic motivation.
Community is about people: feeling respected, cared about, and recognized by others. It drives our sense of connection and belongingness.
Cause is about purpose: feeling that you make a meaningful impact, identifying with the organization’s mission, and believing that it does some good in the world. It’s a source of pride.
Interestingly, there was no significantly measurable difference in the importance of these three factors by age/generation, global location, or job function.
This mirrors findings of 23,000 employees from more than 15 industries and 45 countries around the world in research conducted by the IBM Smarter Workforce Institute and the Globoforce WorkHuman Research Institute. A positive experience at work is reliant on three factors:
- The Environment – combining a strong sense of organizational trust and enabling supportive co-worker relationships
- The Work – emphasizing the meaningfulness of the work and providing continuous feedback, recognition, and growth
- The Person – acknowledging the importance of empowerment and voice, as well as opportunities to disconnect and recharge from work
Within that are the specific drivers of meaningful work (the top driver of a positive experience regardless of global location); co-worker relationships (critical for building belonging, which is itself a defining factor of a positive experience at work); and recognition, feedback and growth (acknowledgement that we need to know when we do well, where we can improve, and a path forward in our careers).
This research, too, found little difference in the importance of these factors based on age/generation, global location or job function. Humans – all humans – need to know the deeper impact and purpose of our work in community and collaboration with others.
More and more research, within individual companies such as Facebook as well as across organizations and industries, is showing where the emphasis needs to be – on helping our employees understand that deeper meaning while strengthening the relationships they have with each other, not on what generation or job function people belong to.
It’s time we put the emphasis and our energy where it belongs. That’s how we help fulfil the psychological contract with our employees. And never forget, the psychological contract is very different from (if as important as) the employment contract – payment for services rendered in line with the job description. The base level of Maslow’s Hierarchy still needs to be fulfilled, as it is through the employment contract and compensation. As compensation and total rewards professionals, it is imperative we focus as strongly on the psychological contract, too.
How does your organization address the psychological needs of employees?
As Globoforce’s Vice President of Client Strategy and Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. He is a leader in the WorkHuman movement and the co-author of "The Power of Thanks" and his articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @DerekIrvine.
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