Can you articulate what your intangible needs are for Career Success?

Another word for needs might be benefits, but I think it is interesting to ask the question: What do I need to have job satisfaction? We all have different needs that give us energy and passion to motivate us at work. The question is can we articulate them.

Tangible and intangible benefits can be described as the benefits that make up the culture of your organisation. I describe the culture of an organisation as the invisible glue that binds a company together. There is a huge amount of blogs, academic papers and research on Organisation Culture which you can read if you want to explore culture further, but I am interested in exploring the questions you need to ask yourself - to be aware of what you need for job satisfaction.

I describe tangible needs, as the benefits you can state as per your contract. For example, salary, defined benefits, job title ect. In general tangible benefits can be articulated and measured.

Is is easy to understand if your tangible benefits are providing you with job satisfaction. Nonetheless, they need to be thought about if you are changing jobs. For example, how important is your job title for you? Different organisations have different titles but they do the same role. Would you be willing to take a job that had a different job title to the job title you have now, but the work is more interesting?

Intangible benefits — what do they look like? How do you define them? Have you ever given them much thought?

With the new home working arrangements due to Covid-19, it is suggested that employees want a blended approach to working. They would like the opportunity to work from home for a few days and work in the office for a few days. Before this Global Pandemic working from home may have seemed to be a benefit, now it is viewed as the norm.

What about recognising a team member’s milestone or achievement and having team gatherings with cake? Or free tea and coffee? Summer BBQ’s and Christmas parties or pizza Friday, how important are these intangible benefits to you?

What about intangible benefits deemed to have a higher value such as continuous education assistance? Defined benefits like Health care cover, pension contribution versus an annual amount provided to an employee to use on benefits as they wish? How important is your organisation’s Social Responsibility Policy? Does your organisation support diversity and inclusion or is it just a statement in the company handbook?

Daniel Pink, an American author who studied the behaviors of people in 2009 wrote the book ‘Drive’. In this book, he discusses the surprising truth about what motivates people. Pink’s theory is drawn from research undertaken by psychologists, Harry Harlow and Edward Deci in 1971. They discovered that rewards can fail to improve people’s engagement with tasks and may even damage it.

I know we may believe we are motivated by our tangible needs, salary, benefits and titles but actually Pink says we are motivated by:

Autonomy — Our desire to be self-directed can increase engagement over compliance.

Mastery — We want the opportunity to grow professionally and learn something new.

Purpose — The desire to do something that has meaning and is important.

How do your intangible needs meet your motivation for job satisfaction? For me, I like to use my initiative and have control over my work and what I deliver. Knowing that an organisation trusts me to do the right thing and having flexibility in my role is a non-negotiable tangible benefit for me to do my best work.

Can you articulate your top five non-negotiable intangible benefits? How do they motivate you to have passion and energy for Career Success?

I would love you to hear your comments and thoughts and if I can help you figure out what your intangible needs are for you to have Career Success please get in touch.