There are no lofty righteous reasons behind seeking employment. It is purely for personal gain. If along the way, other objectives with nobler meaning are also met, that is icing on the cake.
There are 3 motives for being employed: to earn, learn and grow; in that specific order.
Some may want to put growth before learning because it indicates higher earning. But that is futile. To grow you need to first learn and develop skills that are commensurate for growth. A few may want to put learn before earn. Those are the ones on a full stomach. For most, there is a pressing need to earn a livelihood and the initial salary is a good place to begin. Once achieved, learning is the next logical step. Those that commit to learning will, in time, grow.
Earn, learn and grow are commonplace colloquial terms. In business they would corresponding be known as reward, up-skill and evaluate.
A survey identifies the top 3 drivers for employee retention as salary, career advancement opportunities and trust in leadership. The top 2 drivers correspond to our 3 motives; salary with earn and career advancement with learn and grow.
Companies that desire to have an engaged workforce need to pay particular attention towards continuously fulfilling these 3 motives for employment. Upto 80% of engaged employees are likely to perform optimally and stay with the company for longer periods. It improves productivity and reduces the costs attributed to employee attrition and recruitment. The onus of an employee’s retention rests with the manager and his ability to provide sustenance for these motives.
Earn
Salary, increments, bonuses and special allowances are monetary forms of rewards. There are also non-monetary rewards, such as appreciation letters, performance accolades, special projects, public recognition and so on. While monetary rewards improve a person’s financial standing, non-monetary rewards are ego and confidence boosters, earning them a place amongst peers and sometimes beyond. This however, comes with a caveat. If monetary rewards are insufficient, the lure of non-monetary rewards rarely gets desired results.
Learn
Employees look to the company for enhancing their skills. If they are to move to the next level they need to be more competent. This requires a competent manger to identify employee capabilities and put together a development plan to facilitate learning. The time and resources spent in up-skilling the employee gives dual returns. Enhanced capabilities improves productivity manifold. It also strengthens the employee’s engagement and retention.
Grow
Growth is a crucial factor, dependent on performance evaluation and looping back into earnings of the employee. This does not need to translate only into vertical growth. More responsibility, new responsibilities and opportunity to mentor peers can also be seen as growth. Employees, that amply demonstrate their capabilities, anticipate growth. Stagnation can quickly escalates into a dis-engaged employee and lead to attrition. High performing employees must have a career growth path charted out for them, which comes with commensurate increase in salary and benefits, satisfying the basic motives for employment. This completes the circle; from earn to learn to growth and back to earn. For mediocre performers, there is always the opportunity to be mentored back into learning and further developing their skills.
Responsibility
The organization is accountable to provide for the employee’s wellbeing. It is the responsibility of the manager to develop, mentor and evaluate fairly.
It is even more important for an employee; that earns, learns and grows with an organization; to responsibly contribute a sustained performance and exploit their potential to improve consistently.
Ref: http://blog.accessdevelopment.com/index.php/2014/08/employee-engagement-loyalty-statistics-the-ultimate-collection
