One of the biggest factors for many people in finding and sticking with a job is compensation. I know this is certainly true for me. When I decided to leave the job I was at previously, I looked into an opportunity to become a full-time staff member at OSU. While the pay per hour was fairly average for a starting cook position in Corvallis, one of the benefits of this job was a 70% discount on tuition. I did not know about this benefit until I was offered the job and was discussing whether or not I would accept with the person interviewing me. After finding this out, I immediately accepted and began work shortly after that. Along with accepting the job because of the tuition discount, I also stay motivated at my job because of it. Whenever I think about issues I am frustrated with at work or consider how I could change jobs, the fact that I have a tuition discount comes back into my mind, and I increase my effort and continue working.
How Compensation Influences Behavior
Compensation motivated my choices to take the job at OSU and continue in it because as a full-time student, tuition is extremely expensive. This is especially true during the pandemic as many classes have moved online, and E-Campus tuition is so much higher than in-state tuition. The monetary compensation of the tuition discount increased the perceived company output as compared to my input (Swift, 2021). Not only do I get paid my wages, I also get to avoid a massive payment for tuition. Even when there are challenges at work, this compensation is worth more to me than whatever the inconvenience may be. In a sense, the compensation is a form of fulfilling the safety need for security in the hierarchy of needs, which is a more base need than the esteem need for respect and recognition (McLeod, 2020).
References
McLeod, S. A. (2020, March 20). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Swift, M. (2021). What is Compensation? Week 6 Learning Materials. Corvallis; Oregon State University.