Money is important, but I do not work for money alone

[The views expressed are my personal and does not in any way represent those of the Organization to which I work for]

If some of us have heard this as a murmur in some corners, my hunch is that this is going to turn into a voice which is loud and clear pretty soon. This is not specific to any particular country or region and this is a phenomena which is likely to impact the very ethos on which we hire, develop, retain and motivate talent in a significant way. It is almost clichéd to say that the world has changed in a never-before pace over the last 15 years or so and may I add that so has the entire approach towards work. Money does not feature in the top 5 reasons why employees switch jobs nor does it fall in that bracket when employees decide to stay on in a particular job. It certainly does not fall in that category when people are choosing their first job. While it is true that there have always been individuals who have not been driven by money alone, however there had been a vast majority of employees who used to have money as one of the primary drivers. So much so that most organizations have based their written as well as psychological contracts which rely on money far more than any other aspect of the job. That needs to change and change quite soon and in a fairly significant way if we want to hire, retain and develop the best-in-class talent.

In my view, there are a few drivers for this change to occur in India.

First, from the 1950’s till the 1980’s, the economy grew at the proverbial Hindu rate of growth of just about 3.5% per annum. The prevalent view was austerity and frugality and saving for the rainy day. That meant that, for one, people wanted to save as much as they could and second, in order to maximize saving, they had to first earn as much as their qualifications and competence permitted them to. Therefore, as some economists would call it, “work” was viewed as a “necessary evil” – not something one really wanted to do, but something without which life was not possible. India had been a land of scarcity and hence there was a huge premium on earning as much as one could- one had to wait for years to get a telephone connection; similar was the wait to purchase a two-wheeler scooter and the list goes on and this was not too far back in history. Coupled with that was the fact that the opportunity to earn was limited- there were only a handful of professions where one could earn money and there were even fewer organizations which offered a life style which one aspired for and hence the need to stick on to those organizations once the lucky few could make it to them was very high. Added to that was that there were only few people who could actually make it and hence children in those decades were taught to fiercely compete with each other to make it “big” in their lives. Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest” existed in every classroom in every school from Nursery school onwards and went right into the corporate world as people moved in there. This led to a fiercely competitive world in the corporate arena. Everybody aspired for a life which offered the kind of lifestyle which was rare and hence the premium on money was very high. People who were brought up in an era of austerity with high emphasis on savings had an immense urge to consume whenever they got the opportunity and the route to consumption was, as has always been in history, through money. Therefore, the significance of money in the course of employment. That has undergone a dramatic change in the last two decades. The hunger & poverty at worst or even the austerity and frugality at best, are no very well known to the generation brought up in the last couple of decades. The generation which grew up in the ‘90s and the first decade of the 21st century has been used to “plenty” right from early years- this is true across large sections of Indian society (barring may be the bottom 25% of economic strata and even there the scarcity has come down significantly- one example is the extent to which mobile telephones and televisions have penetrated across all sections of Indian society). The per capita income across most sections of the society in India has grown several folds in the last couple of decades with average increase in salaries been to the tune of 9% - 10% over the last two decades with inflation hovering well in the single digit number for most of this period and thus leading to a substantial increase in real income.

Second, and this is probably true not just in India but elsewhere as well, there were few other causes that one could realistically related to in those decades. Global warming, de-forestation, increasing carbon footprint, and such other issues were topics on which at best people wrote classroom essays on or they existed in the realms of science fiction. These were not matters on which anybody ever lost his or her sleep on. They were good topics for arm chair discussions but not really something which would ever attract more serious discussion than that. That has changed significantly over the last couple of decades or so. The issues have become very real and stare straight at our faces and started impacting us in a manner which was unthinkable may be just a couple of decades ago. That has led to a significant change in the thinking and orientation of people. It is not just the awareness, but there has been a significant internalization of these issues amongst the generations which grew up in the last 20 years or so – they no longer want to be passive recipients of the various environmental degradations that they are subjected to, but they actually want to make a positive difference to change the same.

Third, again something true globally, is the awareness regarding the responsibility to give back to society at least equal to what we are getting from it. Adam Smith’s theory of individual firm’s maximization of profit regardless of the impact it had on others, is slowing but surely giving way to focusing on how every individual and therefore the corporations for which they work can as well give back to society what they are gaining from it. While Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR for short) used to be in the realms of “good to do things”, it has become more like “must do” in the last few years. What used to be patriotism or nationalism in earlier years is taking on a new dimension of duty towards the society one lives in and that is becoming very prominent in the generation which is just entering the workforce. This generation wants to be sure that the organization they work for is actually giving back to society what it is taking from there and they themselves want to play an active role in the same. It is no longer considered the job of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) or any other voluntary non-for – profit organization to take that responsibility but squarely something which each organization whose business is business to contribute. It does not just end there, people who are now entering the workforce also want to be sure that the causes that matter to them most are the causes to which the organization they work for is also contributing towards.

Fourth, the generation that grew up in the last 20 years is perhaps the first generation in India which felt the absence of both parents in a significant way as dual income and nuclear families became more a norm than an exception during these years. So while they did not get the attention and perhaps the care that they aspired for during their childhood days, they want to ensure that they do not do the same to their children. Hence the importance and the criticality assigned to work- life balance issues and the willingness and the desire to spend time with family and children has gone up significantly even if it means a few less dollars than earning a little more but sacrificing on the time spent with family. This was also the first generation in India which saw a significant number of divorces amongst their parents, many of which were related to excessive focus on work by either or both parents. Therefore, it has made this generation give far more emphasis on the family than what they experienced their parents do.

Finally, the generation which has been brought up in the last 20 years or so, has experienced far greater autonomy and independence as well as choices available to them than the generation before, let alone their grand- parents. Right from early childhood years at home to the new methods of education being practiced in several schools and even if the system of education has remained the same in terms of the overall process, the manner in which the education has been imparted in the schools in the last two decades has been very different from the ones that got imparted in the decades earlier. Consequently, this generation does not wish to lose that independence/ autonomy/ choice as they enter the workforce. They no longer want to be dictated in every manner that the people who supervise them today were have been subjected to in their earlier years. They want to make their presence known with the contribution (or outcome) that they make and not just by their physical presence. They want to be measured and evaluated for the outcome that they bring in their field and not how many hours they have clocked or how late they are staying in office. They feel that they know how to learn new skills and do not wish to be spoon fed through classroom training- remember , most of them have learnt a lot of things from the internet through Google , Wikipedia, You tube and not really from being taught in the classroom alone. They feel that they are responsible enough to take care of their own careers and do not want “paternalistic” guidance from their employers because their own parent did not do this when they were growing up. They have learnt more from each other through various social media than they have learnt from their parents or teachers in school and they want to continue the same at workplace. They have learnt to collaborate from early on in their lives and hence would like to continue the same way as they enter the world of business and if they do not get the support, they are likely to reject that system.

Therefore, what is it that the generation that is looking for, if it not money? It is:

1. Autonomy in what they do
2. Freedom to work in a manner that suits their personal needs
3. Being associated with organizations which believe in similar social causes that they do
4. Wanting to share and collaborate with others in order to continually learn
5. Be able to work with and socialize with like – minded people for work
6. Having the ability to choose a “career path” of their individual choice rather than being forced to follow a well laid down “career ladder”.

There are many who think my hypothesis is exaggerated and the change is not as significant as I am making out to be. The answer is “yes” and “no”. It is exaggerated to the extent that we have not yet witnessed the changes in a perceptible way. It is “no” because it is not going to be too far in the future when this will begin impacting us in a very significant way. The organizations which are able to adapt to this sooner will stand to gain in terms of their ability to attract, retain, motivate and develop talent; the others may have a lot of catch –up to do.

For all those nay-sayers who would not believe that these changes would actually impact sooner than later, let me try and quote an exercise (which anyone can try at least up to a point!) of how change can suddenly swell into a Tsunami and can hit us while we still think it is too small to have a real impact.

On a chess board, if we put $1 on the first square and keep doubling the number of dollars we place on subsequent squares (i.e. $2 on the 2nd Square, $ 4 on the 3rd Square, $8 on the 4th Square, and so on and so forth) what do you think would happen up to the 10th  Square? Not much actually – it would only be $1,024 on the 10th Square. However, by the time you reach the 20th Square, it becomes a Million Dollars! And on the 30th Square it crosses a Billion Dollars! The point is that change galvanizes in a non-linear fashion- what may seem imperceptible up to a certain point, can suddenly change into a massive force without much warning. Hence the importance of seeing round the corner of what could well turn into an avalanche and make ourselves adequately prepared for the change before that change completely engulfs us.

And in the manner in which most organizations approach management of talent, I do feel there is a significant road to traverse and do that pretty soon before we are swept off our feet caught completely unawares.