There is a global shortage of high-skill, high-will workers that is only going to get worse. Some estimates indicate the shortage of knowledge workers will exceed 40 million professionals by 2020.
A number of major forces are driving this scarcity. Select factors include emerging-market demand, an aging workforce, and rapid growth in knowledge-intensive industries. Because of this trend, organizations — especially those dominated by knowledge workers — are under increasing pressure to attract and retain critical talent. The single most important factor in retaining key talent is the ability to sustain employee engagement and corresponding motivation.
Organizations dominated by knowledge workers face a challenge in ensuring engagement and motivation. Oftentimes, the complexity of the work, varied perspectives and skills, as well as employment options exacerbate this difficulty. Knowledge workers tend to be focused on executing non-routine, complex tasks and deliverables. These professionals tend to have relatively lower attachment to employers, highly differentiated interests, and numerous alternatives.
High-performing knowledge workers tend to be self-motivated by intrinsic factors, adding to the difficulty of an employer to directly motivate them. Moreover, the complex nature of their work and output limits the ability to directly measure productivity. Simply keeping knowledge workers “satisfied” won’t suffice. In order to retain and sustain high levels of engagement, companies need an explicit strategy and cannot rely upon historical sources of motivation. Traditional sources of motivation like pay, work conditions, and benefits are simply not enough.
Most high-performing, knowledge-intensive organizations exhibit a consistent talent distribution. Typically, 20% of workers are characterized as critical high-skill, high-will performers. Firms striving to achieve and sustain high performance must not only focus on retaining the 20%, but also increasing the mix of high performers through engagement and motivation. To provide a robust foundation of engagement and motivation, companies must first address demotivation, which can severely impact overall organization performance.
Here are three elements that can reduce levels of demotivation among knowledge workers:
- Meaningful relationships: A collaborative culture characterized by strong relationships, communication, and cooperation through all levels of an organization.
- Flexibility: Adaptive administration, policies, and working conditions to support work-life elasticity.
- Incentives: Adequate compensation and benefits that attract high-skill, high-will employees versus getting the “wrong people to do the right thing.”
Addressing demotivation does not directly lead to an engaged and motivated workforce. Eliminating demotivation is the minimum required to produce a satisfied workforce. However, to be truly engaged and motivated, an employee must feel a sense of impact, relevance, and recognition. Key factors that can lead to sustained levels of engagement and motivation include:
- Challenging work: High performers achieve optimal productivity when they are involved in meaningful, relevant, value-added work.
- Recognition and accountability: High performers need to be regularly recognized for contribution and be held accountable to high standards of output and productivity.
- Performance measures: High performers need to be part of meritocracies that recognize contribution, which in turn is used as a basis for promotion and compensation.
Clearly, for most organizations, people are the most important asset. The current and worsening shortage of high-skill, high-will workers requires organizations to adapt and extend traditional talent approaches. Organizations striving to sustain high performance must have an explicit strategy that attracts talent as well as ensures retention, engagement, and motivation.
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