Come on - you can do it...
The theory goes that motivation comes in two flavours: from others and from ourselves. Or, extrinsic and intrinsic.
One extrinsic measure is money.
All around us we see the theory of the money-motivator put into practice. Sales people on their commission or bankers with a bonus.
We often read how ridiculous it is that the CEO is paid 100 times the lowest workers salary and yet is seen jetting around, on a golf course hanging out with his cronies.
There is in fact method to this madness - the theory goes that if lower paid workers see the higher paid CEO - they are motivated by what is called 'the lottery effect'. They see the easy life that the CEO has and aspire to be that person - driving them on to work harder and push through the ranks. A dubious sales company selling total tat used to have a brand new £250,000 car outside the door as people walked in. That's the lottery effect in action.
On a larger, macro level, nations have played with the disincentive of tax rates - and on a global level, tax rates have been largely brought down by anything from 10-50% between 1975 and today. In the UK, we have accepted that the 50% tax rate does nothing but take people who can afford it to other tax regimes.
However, while we often think of money as a good motivator, and give people pay rises when we want them to stay, or get promoted, the reality is that pay rises have a short term motivational effect. In truth, it matters more how much you get paid over and above your peers. We also know that there are several professions that traditionally don't get paid very well - often in the creative industries: artists, writers, architects etc. People don't often undertake these professions without a love of the job itself.
Initially, (corporate) motivation was said to be a progression through five levels, starting with the very basic level of hunger, thirst etc., moving to safety, then to social acceptance, next to status and respect and finally to ultimate self-fulfillment. Problem is, while this felt intuitive, none of the studies seemed to support it.
The latest theory is that there are two (corporate) levels:
Hygiene: these are the general office 'environment' - the bureaucracy, peer-to-peer and supervisor relationships.
Motivators: Things such as status, meaning and general enjoyment.
What is interesting, is that people tend to quit their jobs because of the 'hygiene' factors, and tend to love their jobs because of the 'motivating' factors.
On the whole, then, people stay because of their sense of achievement and leave because of their sense of the company bureaucracy.