Employees are generally willing to go above and beyond if employers are willing to go above and beyond--extra pay for the extra effort.
I think people are waking up to the reality that money has diminishing returns beyond a certain point. Owning a house, a car and taking vacations can improve your life. But owning a bigger house, more expensive car and luxury vacations gets old very quick (and doesn’t make one more “happy”).
What we’re really craving at that point is a sense of connection with others and a feeling of belonging. Having an external impact. Believing in and contributing to something beyond ourselves. So no amount of excessive self-indulgence/consumption can fill that void.
So people are now willing to trade that extra monetary reward for their time back to do that and more.
It’s the revelation they’re unlikely to ever have that kind of money. That working harder doesn’t do any good, no matter what they’re told, it will always be out of reach.
Why should they bother to work extra to win a rigged game when the prize is money that won’t get them ahead in any way?
“We can no longer overwork and underpay the help. What do?”