Motivation has been studied for decades and leaders in the workplace have used assessments like DISC and Myers-Briggs to determine their employee’s personality types to better anticipate behaviors and tendencies.   Additionally, motivational books are used as tools to get employees to increase their performance and / or get them back on track.    
While assessments, books and other tools can help project and inspire short and long performance, the factors that motivate employees to achieve evolve as they mature and begin to truly understand what matters most to them.  Therefore, as leaders we must hold ourselves accountable to build meaningful and purposeful relationships that matter with our employees.  This allows us to better understand those we are serving, just as much as ourselves.
The great founder of the Buddhism belief, Buddha, once said that “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself in it.”. It is indeed one of the prime task of any individual, professional or not, seeking employment and be willingly submit himself / herself to his/her future superior. One should strive and exert effort to discover his purpose why he was hired and landed on the job. It is an everyday task to discover and maintain what motivates us to be excellent in our jobs and maintain being passionately motivated and in love with our profession.
Often times than not, the beginning of every career move is the sweetest and is filled with every desire to be the best and be a step higher with our colleagues. Every single day, we find ways to be better and perform better than we did yesterday – this is the early thrill of starting at work.
However, it is a reality that comes with the ignition of a burning passion in perfoming our job, along the way we lose track of our focus and gradually lose the fuel in maintaining the spark and passion in our work. With the added tenure and time we spend with our work, it is a normal scenario that the highest passion we have when we started is decreasing and decreasing over the years. This is the time when we are starting to fall out of love to something we embraced.
Several factors contribute to this feeling of being “bored”, “tired”, and “exhausted” in our work. Some of the factors that young professionals of today are routine type of work, since most of the young professionals today finds adventure and motivation in  a vast and wide array of job specifications to be done. Another one is the competitiveness of the compensation and benefits. Most of the young professionals today, which is normal, considers salary and benefits as one of their basis in accepting job offers. Furthermore, peer pressures and insecurities also gave their fair share in the burn-out phase of individuals today. As someone who finds worth when we belong to a certain group, the other friends’ financial status and contentment in work adds up to the negative feelings of an individual who almost lose the passion in his current work. Lastly, a hard-to-deal with superior, probably, is one of the major reasons why young professionals fell out of love with their work.
In one of the articles written by Mr. Glenn Lopis, a known writer in maintaining motivation and innovation in workplace, he cited 9 Things That Ultimately Motivate Employees to Achieve:
1.       Trustworthy Leadership
Leaders that have your back and that are looking out for your best interests – will win the trust of their employees who in turn will be more motivated to achieve.    
Young professionals today exhibits the need to be affirmed of the positive things they’ve done and contributed to the progress of the company or institution they are in. Self-esteem of todays generation of young professionals are derived from the sense of being appreciated especially from their superiors.
Trust is a powerful motivational tool and those leaders that are more transparent with their employees will find surprising results and new types of opportunities to develop talent
2.       Being Relevant
In today’s world where everyone wants to be noticed and recognized for their work – employees are motivated to achieve to remain relevant.   As such, employees are in search of new ways to learn, improve their skills and invest in themselves.   This is an opportunity for leaders to get involved and understand how to build the depth and breadth of their employee’s skill sets and aptitudes.  For example, find ways to elevate your employees’ high-potential status.
Helping employees increase their relevancy is important and those leaders that participate in this process will help cultivate increased performance levels and loyalty.  Helping your employees get discovered will elevate their motivation to achieve.
3.       Proving Others Wrong
This particular motivation to achieve has been heighten as of late from younger professionals that seek to prove themselves faster amongst older generations in the workplace.   Employees never want to be stereotyped or marginalized, but for many younger professionals this serves as the trigger to awaken them from within.  This certainly is not a generational issue as many of us have been questioned about our ability to achieve at a high-level.
On the other hand, this way to motivate individuals should be used with caution, as this can spark or ignite misunderstanding in the workplace.
4.       Career Advancement
Perhaps the most important factor on this list is the ability to advance.   Employees are extremely motivated to achieve if this means that advancement awaits them.   This requires employees to be mindful of opportunities that lie around, beneath and beyond what they seek.  As leaders, you will sustain high levels of motivation from your employees if you can open doors of opportunity and accelerate their chances for advancement.  Remember, just because your employees may be relevant, it doesn’t guarantee advancement.  So make it a point to help them get there.
5.       No Regrets
People only have a few real chances in their careers to reach their ultimate goals.   In fact, how many times do you meet people that are more successful than you are and you wonder how they got there.   People don’t want to live with any regrets in their career/life and thus are motivated to not disappoint themselves.
As a leader, don’t allow your employees to walk around carrying a load of guilt.  Share your journey with them – your failures and successes.   An employee that doesn’t believe will never achieve.    Help your employees embrace the unexpected and help them navigate uncertainty and change.   Many people are confused in today’s workplace about their future.  Motivate them by giving them the perspectives they need to achieve.
6.       Stable Future
People are motivated to have safety and security.  Everyone wants a stable future, but you never know when time will pass you by.  That’s why we are all in a race against time and thus motivated to achieve faster than ever before.   We have all learned from the 2008 economic collapse that we can all quickly become victims of unexpected change without preparation.
As a leader, be mindful of providing security and stability in how you lead your employees – and watch their motivational levels rise.
7.       Self-Indulgence
This factor is quite interesting and extremely important to put into proper perspective.   People are motivated for selfish reasons to achieve – albeit money, attention, fame, etc.    Must we be reminded that greed and selfishness contributed greatly to America’s current economic hardship?
8.       Impact
As mentioned earlier on, today’s employees are motivated to achieve more than ever simply by the opportunity to create impact.    As employees reflect on their lives and careers – they want to contribute in ways that measure their achievements based upon the long-term benefits that the company they serve bears.
As a leader, allow your employees to have sustainable impact in the work they perform.  Allow them to make a mark toward significance.   Create the opportunity for their achievement to leave a long lasting legacy that rewards the organization they serve and for future generations to learn from.

9.       Happiness
In the end, happiness is one of the greatest motivations to achieve.  Happiness fuels ones self-esteem and gives people hope for a better tomorrow.   We are all victims of taking our work too seriously.   Step back and enjoy the journey.  Your motivation to achieve is ultimately based on earning a living that brings you tremendous joy and satisfaction.
As a leader, be aware of whether your employees are satisfied in their work and that you are deliberate in having this type conversation with them.  Never assume.   Employees will smile to save their jobs even if they aren’t content.   Assure your employees happiness shines and allow the previous eight motivational factors to influence the process organically.

At the end of the day, it is not solely dependent on the young professionals to stay motivated at work, it is composed of a fair share of efforts both from the individual and the superiors and leaders of the company.
The simple dictum of “You cannot give what you don’t have.” Always applies to our everyday living, particularly in our work. We cannot make our professionals love their work if leaders themselves are seen demotivated in their line of duties. Setting a great example is an old, yet, simplest way to motivate workers to value and embrace their work everyday which will ensure highest degree of contentment and happiness with scope of work and the result of the work process itself.

By: Anna Liza D. Salas | Teacher III | Limay National High School | Limay, Bataan