My parents own a construction company, and I have been a big part of this company since I was young. I have known every person who walked through those doors, and everyone who walked out. We have had very few hires who were “bad”. Most left due to moving out of state, a change in career path, or just retiring. We also very rarely have to fire people. About 2 years ago, we gained a new employee, he has a girlfriend, 2 kids and they were trying to buy a house. Being from a small town, our company is very “Mom and Pop” style, so my dad pulled this employee about 6 months into his work and said he needed him to travel for work for 1 week. While traveling, he would get paid more for a bunch of things such as travel pay, normal pay, per diem, etc. This turns out to be a lot more than a normal paycheck, sometimes doubling the pay just for one week. This employee’s girlfriend did not want him to go, as she likes him at home at night. The issue is that was the only work we had as we have a small business. If he stayed home, he would have no hours as we weren’t working in our shop that week. He not only would lose normal pay, but he also could make almost double for going just the week. Once he explained this to her, she was much more okay with the idea.
Compensation is important when you’re in a place in life where you have to support not just yourself, but others. After this, he wanted to go on all possible travel opportunities as it helped them save, and buy a house. It is a huge motivating factor. In this case, looking at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it is right in the physiological section. If they don’t have money to pay the bills, there cannot be a roof over their heads.