Motivation on the Run

An article, attributed to AP (Associated Press) writer Justin Bachman, caught my attention when the headline stated “Young workers not interested in traditional motivators.” This looked like great material for my podcast, so I read the article excitedly looking for the new study that would shed light on motivating younger workers. But I was very disappointed when the article did not quote a new study, but instead had a very brief quote from a gentleman named Mike Hyter with no mention of a study.

So, I went to Google and quickly found the origin of the AP article. Below is the link to a press release for a company that provides consulting services to business and in the press release Hyter says, he “believes” several times and it states “according to Hyter” several times. Read the press release for yourself…

Employers Stumped by Younger Workers

The workplace generation gap, according to Hyter, is a variant of the classic organizational diversity challenge: “How does management mobilize the human assets in an organization when everyone’s motivating factors are different? How does management deal with everyone as individuals and align their values with corporate objectives?”

Several things come to mind after reading the AP story and then reading the company press release.

First, I believe that the AP should have attributed this to a press release and not as a news story as we are led to believe. In the same paper where I saw this story, another story stated that people should be very cautious of reading blogs, because they are filled with untruths. Hmmm… it seems like we have a double standard at work here.

Second, I believe that the information in the press release may have some accuracies, but it is obviously an opinion, even if an educated opinion (I can’t be certain of this). Usually these are the kind of statements made from a definitive study that was controlled and scientific. Not here.

Now for the quote I placed above. This is precisely what we have started talking about on the Motivation on the Run podcast. Motivating factors are different, but they are different for everyone, not just the young.

Material for the podcast? Not exactly…