Labor activity motives in the context of socio-economic transformations

The study presents an overview of domestic and foreign research devoted to the issues of motivation and stimulation of workers. The conclusion is made concerning the necessity of using an integrated approach, taking into account tangible and intangible aspects, as well as internal and external factors. According to the analysis of domestic research, the author highlights a number of stages of socio-economic transformations and shows some features of motivation of the population at each stage. It is determined that, despite the socio-economic changes associated with the transition to a market economy in the 1990s and with the transformation of the employment structure, the majority of the population continues to adhere to traditional labor attitudes, which are based on the desire for paternalism, job security, and unwillingness to take risks. Using the data of the monitoring of the quality of labor potential of the population of the Vologda Oblast for 2018, the author proves that such features of motivation are manifested in certain aspects of labor behavior and are associated with “passive” adaptation to changes in working life (for example - in the case of dismissal - employment in the same or related specialty; and much less frequently, the desire to attend retraining and advanced training courses). The conclusion is made about the prevalence of such features among the entire population in general and among young people in particular. A separate part of the study is devoted to the analysis of satisfaction of the population with certain motives and incentives in the context of the population working/not working within a creative specialty, as well as to the assessment of how satisfaction with motives and incentives affects certain parameters of labor productivity. It is shown that creative workers have higher productivity and wages, while the greatest differences between the selected groups were achieved in such positions as a transparent system of career growth and promotion, interest in the creative approach, an expanded social package. Such results demonstrate the importance of non-material incentives to increase the efficiency of the use of the potential of creative workers.