The world of work is changing and at a rapid rate and keeping up with it is getting increasingly tricky. We’ve been looking into how work, as we know it, has shifted and what motivates people to work, to see if this helps us understand why people do or don’t apply for jobs. Having this insight is invaluable amid the ‘Great Resignation’ where the recruitment industry is facing the daily challenges of the candidate shortage. According to Bain & Company data 58% of workers feel the pandemic has forced them to rethink the balance of work and life. Which poses the question of whether people’s motivations to find and apply for jobs has changed off the back of the COVID crisis.
Motivations for work have shifted
In order to see how far the notion of work has progressed, we need to rewind to the Industrial Revolution. Working hours were as long as physically bearable and survival was the primary motive for work for most people, apart from a very fortunate few. That being said, industrialisation brought on huge advances in living standards for people.
Since then, the advances in technology have allowed gains in living standards and transformed the world of work but not without concern. Over the last century, the rise of automation in the workplace has relinquished space for fears of mass joblessness that have come and gone in waves. The huge labour shortages experienced during World War II resulted in significant advances in production automation which were then implemented post-war, much to the concern of workers. In the 1980s, it was the emergence of AI and the personal computer that led to a second wave of fears around machines taking our jobs. We can often gauge the mood of the times through the entertainment industry and here it was heavily reflected in the blockbuster sci-fi movies like The Terminator and Star Wars.
These machines, however, have opened up new job markets and have raised the standards our lifestyles which has shifted our mindset towards work. Gains in living standards allow us to spend less time working but raises expectations about what a job should provide. As the world becomes richer, workers’ focus has shifted from survival to meaning and finding a sense of purpose has now become the linchpin for an individual’s career choices. Similarly, community institutions like religious groups, volunteer associations and sports clubs have declined in prominence, so much so that people are now looking to their work as a source of social connection and belonging. In a secular society, more and more workers are turning to their careers to provide a higher sense of purpose. These purposes can be found in many different things; mastering a skill, helping others, a sense of achievement or even just the chance to be fully present in one’s family life.
Expectations on what a job should provide have changed
In a study that asked people what they perceive the most important attribute of a job was, compensation ranked higher than all other attributes. Some of the other attributes included things like ‘interesting work’ or ‘inspiring company’. However, only 22% of people reported that compensation was most important to them. It’s evident that a simplistic perspective of work, where employment is viewed as a purely financial transaction, underestimates the deeper human motivations for work. Interestingly, workers that were labelled ‘dissatisfied’ ranked compensation higher than ‘satisfied’ workers, suggesting that money increases in importance when workers feel underpaid as opposed to actually inspiring them.
We might be facing a candidate shortage in the recruitment industry right now but what we’re really looking at are recruitment processes and a working landscape that aren’t quite fitting the needs of the people they’re serving. Keeping this in mind, we have pivoted our strategy when it comes to advertising our opportunities. By focusing on the workplace culture, the elements of a role that may provide a sense of purpose and making sure to highlight hybrid work and flexibility where applicable, it presents a role as something that adds to a life rather than takes away. We think this might just be what makes the difference between someone applying or not.
