What an 80-year-old theory can teach managers about motivation

Employers today face a range of challenges that can affect employee motivation and engagement, from stress and burnout to an uncertain economy. However, an 80-year-old theory still has much to teach us about what drives employee loyalty, engagement, and job-hopping. Explore how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs can be applied to the workplace in 2023.

Challenges facing workers

Employers should pay attention to several issues that currently impact their employees’ motivation and engagement. One of the biggest challenges is the stress and burnout that many workers are experiencing due to heavy workloads and long working hours.

Data shows that 44% of global workers felt stressed in 2021, compared to 50% in the US and Canada, while burnout is now a major concern for 49% of employees. This signals a worrying trend that could contribute to demotivation and disengagement becoming the norm.

Another main challenge is the uncertain economy and the impact of inflation, which can cause financial stress and anxiety for workers. This can affect their ability to meet basic needs and can make it difficult to plan for the future. Adecco experts believe this is detrimental to employee retention and could be a driving force behind young employees quitting.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the workplace

Developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is one of the main motivation theories suggesting that human needs are arranged in a hierarchical order.

At the base of the hierarchy are physiological needs, such as food, water, and shelter. Once these needs are satisfied, people move up to the next level, which is safety and security. After that, they have a need for love, affection, and a sense of belonging.

Once these needs are met, people begin to seek self-esteem and recognition from others. Finally, the highest level of the hierarchy is self-actualization, which is the realization of one's full potential and the desire to achieve personal growth and fulfillment. Maslow believed that people only progress up the hierarchy as lower needs are met.

While it might not be obvious how this theory applies to the workplace in 2023, employers can learn a lot from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in order to better understand what drives factors like employee loyalty, engagement, and job-hopping. Here’s a quick breakdown of how needs can be met in the workplace:

Physiological

Needs in this step of the hierarchy are met with fair pay and benefits, safe working conditions, and access to necessities like restrooms and lunch breaks.

Safety

Workers see safety needs as job security, health and safety regulations, and a stable working environment.

Love and belonging

These needs are met through social aspects of a job, such as teamwork, open communication, opportunities for socialization, and friendships.

Esteem and recognition

In a work environment, these needs can be seen as career advancement opportunities, recognition of accomplishments, and meaningful work.

Self-actualization

The needs in the last step of the hierarchy are met through learning opportunities, use of creativity, and using one’s skills and knowledge to their full potential.

Knowing the impact of wages can help meet employee needs

One way to support workers according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is looking at your pay rates. By earning that covers their cost of living, workers can more easily satisfy their basic physiological and safety needs, such as access to adequate food, shelter, and healthcare.

This can reduce financial stress and anxiety, freeing up mental and emotional resources to focus on higher-level needs, such as social connections and self-esteem. In turn, employees have more mental bandwidth to focus on excelling at their job.

At the top end of the hierarchy where self-actualization is important, the right wage helps workers to pursue education and training opportunities. This results in your employees seeing increased personal growth and fulfillment.

A Canadian study shows that a 1% increase in employee minimum wage resulted in a 0.5% increase in retail sales. This further confirms that fair wages are strongly linked to worker performance.

Adecco has the data to help you meet employee needs

Finding the right pay rates can help employers attract and retain talent while boosting employee motivation and engagement. But how can you make sure you’re paying your workers in a way that meets their needs?

Luckily, we’ve done the legwork for you and created a Cost of Living Calculator. This tool gives you an estimate on the cost of living in every region of the country. Inflation, gas prices, and impact your employees in different ways depending on where they work and what their household or family situation looks like.

Taking these factors into account will help you pay fairer wages and retain key talent in a job market that just keeps getting tighter.

If you need more guidance on how to set wages, retain talent, and attract skilled employees, Adecco can help. Our experienced team of workforce experts has transformed thousands of businesses just like yours. Contact us today to learn more about how your company can benefit from the Adecco approach!