Until the middle of the 20th century, money was the primary motivator for a substantial majority of employees, worldwide. Employers did not demonstrate that they really wanted anything more than do-what-you-are-told-labor in return for money paid in wages and salaries. And workers were satisfied to do the work and then periodically demand more money.
Gradually, employers and employees in the Western world moved from money to money and benefits. In that era, which lasted from the 1950s to the present, employees were lured, placated, and retained with money . . . plus health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, child care, pet care, and even concierge services.
But interestingly, the movement today is not toward higher monetary compensation or more fringe benefits. Now, employees are seeking greater control of their time and the life-work balance. And, most of all, they want to derive greater personal satisfaction from their work.
To grasp what this will mean, just consider what’s going on at Google’s lavish and playful corporate headquarters. The beanbag chairs and lava lamps set the tone, while free lunch, created by chefs who used to serve the Grateful Dead, and an on-site gym with saunas and a masseuse send a clear message: “Google wants its workers to be as happy as possible.”
A policy of flex time ensures that employees also have the freedom to customize their schedules to spend more time with their families. More importantly, most of the employees feel an inspiring sense of purpose because they are part of Google’s larger mission to “organize all of the world’s information.”
Google represents the leading edge of a movement away from attracting and retaining knowledge workers primarily through money and conventional benefits. According to The Herman Trend Alert,1 this movement is a response to the fact that employees increasingly want control over the way they spend their time. They still want to do good work, and they want to be paid well, but they also want a rich personal life and to feel like their work brings value to the world.
Work-life balance has been a major issue for a decade or so. A 2005 Yankelovich Monitor survey2 showed that half of all workers felt they were working too hard, and surprisingly, almost a third said...
