Most of the first wave of post-90s generation have already entered the workforce, and with graduation season approaching, the second wave will soon follow. Gradually, the post-90s generation will become the new force in the workplace. While diligent work is every employee's responsibility, what can you, as employers, do to further enhance employee productivity?
Here's how to motivate the post-90s generation.
According to Maslow's 1957 "Hierarchy of Needs" theory, human motivation stems from seven fundamental needs: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, knowledge needs, aesthetic needs, and self-actualization needs.These needs often coexist simultaneously. At different stages of life, an individual will have a dominant need that provides the greatest stimulus. Generally, once lower-level needs are relatively satisfied, higher-level dominant needs emerge. Therefore, when a dominant need at a certain level is largely fulfilled, the motivational effect becomes difficult to sustain, necessitating a shift toward higher-level dominant needs. Consequently, companies need to understand the dominant needs of post-90s college graduates at different stages to enhance the effectiveness of motivation.
For many post-90s college graduates, work extends beyond fulfilling survival and security needs. They pursue higher material enjoyment than previous generations, such as branded personal goods and travel/leisure spending. Facing life milestones like marriage, homeownership, and furnishing within a few years, their material demands intensify. Reasonable compensation ensures their independent livelihood and represents the company's reward for their effort, time, and skills.In their minds, compensation is not merely remuneration for labor; it represents personal value, the company's recognition of their work, and even their individual capabilities and career prospects.
To enhance the motivational impact of compensation, companies should develop diversified salary structures, promotion systems, and benefit programs tailored to post-90s college graduates. Diversified salary structures can include base pay, performance-based pay, and bonuses, with performance pay awarded upon meeting targets and bonuses granted for exceeding them.The amounts of performance pay and bonuses should reflect the employee's contributions and the benefits generated. This way, after the base salary meets the employee's basic living needs, they can earn higher income through their own efforts. To achieve higher income, employees will work even harder. Companies must also adjust their salary promotion systems promptly based on employees' capabilities. Otherwise, if employees' efforts are not proportionate to their rewards, the existing salary system will lose its motivational effectiveness.
2. The need for friendship and belonging.
Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes collectivism, where individuals derive security from belonging to a group and gaining recognition from peers. However, post-90s college graduates—characterized by strong self-awareness, pursuit of personal value, and emotional volatility—often struggle to integrate into collectives. Companies should foster positive interpersonal environments by respecting their personal habits and career choices, appreciating their innovative thinking and boldness, and helping them develop interpersonal skills for smoother integration.Whenever possible, assign roles based on their interests, hobbies, and aspirations to fully unleash their potential. This fosters a sense of being valued and trusted, cultivating responsibility and engagement, thereby strengthening the collective's cohesive force. 3. Need for Knowledge and Self-Actualization Post-90s college graduates possess specialized knowledge, strong learning abilities, a spirit of innovation, and high autonomy. Enterprises should fully leverage their wisdom by involving them in management and decision-making processes, assigning greater responsibilities.Participation incentives and empowerment serve as affirmation, fulfilling their spiritual need for self-actualization. This energizes them to proactively identify and resolve workplace issues, enhance their skills, and strengthen teamwork. Empowerment also cultivates a sense of responsibility. Employees with strong accountability courageously take ownership of their actions, continually challenge themselves toward higher goals, and learn from setbacks.Simultaneously, companies should tolerate their failures, help them identify root causes, and provide appropriate training to satisfy their thirst for knowledge. This enables them to translate theoretical knowledge into practical skills, growing through failure and learning. Post-90s college graduates, newly entering society, often overestimate their abilities and hold overly idealistic career plans.The fate of employees is inextricably linked to the survival and development of the enterprise. To fully unlock their potential, companies must set challenging yet achievable goals that ignite their passion. Firm and attainable objectives enable them to persevere through setbacks and difficulties, maintain immense drive even in adversity, unleash their full potential, and gradually realize their dreams.Goal-based motivation also helps post-90s college graduates overcome weaknesses like poor stress tolerance, low resilience to setbacks, and emotional instability.
Internal promotion serves as a vital employee incentive mechanism, fulfilling both the need for collective belonging and the drive for self-actualization. As the future successors of enterprises, post-90s graduates benefit from internal promotion systems and challenging objectives. These not only offer immediate rewards but, more importantly, reveal future prospects, motivating them to work harder.Successors promoted internally possess deep industry knowledge and operational expertise, enabling them to mobilize resources more effectively and strengthen their sense of belonging to both the company and the sector. 4. Emotional Needs Emotional motivation does not rely on material incentives or lofty ideals but instead leverages emotional connections between managers and employees. This includes methods such as ideological exchanges, home visits for support, and democratic consultations.Post-90s college graduates often feel inner loneliness, pursue equality and respect, prefer friendly interpersonal relationships and equal communication styles, dislike traditional lecturing methods, and dare to question authority. Therefore, managers should not adopt a high-handed approach, using commands or directives for work or emotional exchanges. Instead, they should strengthen emotional communication through friendly and respectful means, attentively listen to their needs, and help them maintain positive emotions and work enthusiasm.
5. Combine positive and negative incentives.
Positive incentives reward behaviors aligned with corporate goals, while negative incentives penalize actions contrary to these objectives. Clear rewards and penalties not only impact individuals directly but also influence their peers. Timely recognition and discipline help elevate employee enthusiasm and sustain their creative output.Companies must promptly fulfill promises made to post-90s college graduates regarding promotions, training, and benefits upon hiring to prevent dissatisfaction and the pursuit of better opportunities elsewhere.Negative punishment often yields more detrimental outcomes. Post-90s graduates possess strong self-esteem and rebellious tendencies, disliking criticism. Punishments should avoid personal degradation, preserving their dignity. Simultaneously, acknowledge their achievements to ensure they feel respected and cared for during discipline, transforming negative incentives into positive ones.
Psychology Channel Editor's Note: Talent advantage equals corporate advantage. To maximize the potential of post-90s employees, managers should select appropriate incentive approaches based on both organizational needs and individual requirements. Develop tailored incentive measures to attract, cultivate, and retain talent, ensuring sustained growth amid fierce market competition.