Last time I already mentioned a classic motivation study from the 1940s that should have changed how companies lead people. And despite the results, managers keep focusing on the wrong motivators. Let's look at this study in a little more detail. Here’s the mirror-image effect every leader should understand.

The 75-Year-Old Motivation Study Every Leader Still Gets Wrong

If you ever needed proof that managers and employees live in two different realities, here it is: the top motivators managers believe in, and the top motivators employees actually report. And when you look at the full list, it’s basically the same ten items… in the exact opposite order.

Back in the 1940s, researchers asked both groups a simple question: What motivates people at work?
Managers gave one list. Employees gave another.
And the contrast is still painfully relevant today.

---

What managers believed motivated employees (ranked #1–#10)

1. Good wages
2. Job security
3. Promotion and growth
4. Good working conditions
5. Interesting work
6. Personal loyalty to workers
7. Tactful discipline
8. Appreciation for work done
9. Understanding of personal problems
10. Feeling “in on things”

---

What employees reported as most motivating (ranked #1–#10)

1. Appreciation for work done
2. Feeling “in on things”
3. Understanding of personal problems
4. Job security
5. Good wages
6. Interesting work
7. Promotion and growth
8. Personal loyalty from supervisors
9. Good working conditions
10. Tactful discipline

---

If you look at both lists side by side, it’s almost impossible not to laugh. Managers and employees identified the exact same ten factors — just reversed. Salary and security sit proudly at the top of the manager list, yet slide halfway down the employee list. And the things employees care about most — appreciation, being informed, basic human understanding — are near the bottom for managers.

This mirror-image effect explains far more workplace dysfunction than most companies want to admit. Leaders keep reinforcing the motivators they were taught to prioritize. Employees keep waiting for the motivators that actually matter. And year after year, organizations wonder why motivation feels fragile, why engagement drops, and why even well-funded initiatives struggle to gain traction.

What’s remarkable is how old this insight is. This data is from the 1940s. It keeps being replicated. And still, many leaders behave as if motivation is primarily a question of money, titles, and job security. Those things do matter — just not in the way managers think.

The reason the wrong motivators get all the attention is simple: they’re easy. Easy to measure, easy to discuss, easy to budget for. They stay safely in the realm of structure and process. No emotional work. No discomfort. No change in behavior required.

Appreciation?
Involvement?
Understanding?
That’s where leaders start to sweat. These require presence, vulnerability, and actual human connection — the very things business education rarely teaches and corporate culture often discourages.

But those are exactly the motivators that have sat at the top of the employee list for nearly eighty years.

You don’t build motivated teams by adjusting payroll structures and polishing promotion paths. You build them by addressing the needs employees have been consistently voicing for generations:
See me. Involve me. Understand me.

If organizations finally internalized that, most motivation problems would shrink dramatically. But for that to happen, leaders have to stop assuming they already know what drives their people — and actually look at the data that’s been sitting right in front of them since the 1940s.

---

FAQ

What is the core finding of the 1940s motivation study?

Managers and employees listed the exact same ten motivators but ranked them in the opposite order. Leaders focus on pay, security, and promotion, while employees prioritize appreciation, involvement, and understanding.

Why do leaders still misunderstand motivation today?

Because the motivators employees care about most require emotional competence, vulnerability, and presence — areas many leaders were never trained in.

Is salary unimportant for motivation?

Salary matters, but not in the way managers assume. It prevents dissatisfaction, but it does not create intrinsic motivation. Appreciation, involvement, and human understanding do.

Why is this study still relevant?

Because despite eighty years of evidence, companies continue to solve motivation problems with structural fixes instead of relational ones.

What is the simplest step leaders can take?

Start with genuine appreciation, transparency, and understanding. These are the top three motivators employees consistently name — and they cost nothing.

---

Read on the blog →