Compensation Related To Motivation, In My Experience
Compensation is often used to sway a perspective employee’s decision regarding their career. It can be used to try to get an employee to accept a job, increase their effort, convince them to take a new role or move locations, just to name a few. We can hope that someone enjoys their job but in the end cash and benefits are king and they have a large effect on the employee. The best way to for a company to get an employee to make the decision they want is to offer them more money / better benefits.
In my short career so far I have seen this first hand and it has defiantly effected my decision making. The best example was from last spring when I was mulling over what summer internship offer I should take. I had one offer that was to move to a different city where they would pay my rent for the summer (I would still have to pay rent at my current house). Another offer where I could live in my current house, commute to work and they would still pay my rent for the summer. For both companies I thought where actually working environment was pretty much the same so it truly came down to the other aspects of work I held important. As ease of life, financial situation and location (being close to friends) were major factors for me I choose to go with the second offer.
Comparing my thought process to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is interesting me. In this theory, physical needs are at the bottom and love / belonging is in the middle. I feel like in this situation I was acting with those two ideas at the top of my needs and the reasons I made this decision.
Sources:
- McLeod, Saul. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Simply Psychology, 6 Feb. 2026, www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.
