Sinkies lack motivation

Don’t laugh, this is true. And this is the reason why they are not keen to take on low paying jobs. How could they? How could they survive when a HDB flat cost several hundred thousand dollars, a car also cost a hundred thousand and 3 meals a day cost $15! And there is public transportation cost as well. So how to motivate them to accept lower paying jobs? Some may find it cheaper just to stay at home and live with their parents.

Money can fail to motivate when it is too little or not enough. And this can be relative and can also be real. A young adult will need a thousand dollars to get by a month not counting housing and household expenses. Anything less is just not enough. Would he be motivated to work for $1k pm or would he be motivated to work for $2k pm when the cost of living is so high?

At the other extreme, someone earning $30k pm, would he be motivated to change job that pays him $31k, and worst, when the heart is not in the new job, when there is simply no interest for the new job? Maybe try doubling the amount like $60k and throw in more perks for someone who is not interested but can be bought over. The excessively high offer could extract some interest for a while but not for along as money, like drugs, need to be increased in dosage to acquire the same effect as before. That means more money will be needed tomorrow, next month and next year to keep the employee interested.

This money and motivation problem could be seen among the gods. Look up into the clouds and it is not unusual to see the gods feeling down. Why should they be made to do things they are not interested when they were happy in what they were doing before? And offering them money, how much and how much more, and how much longer before they feel jaded again?

Is this the problem facing our political leadership? Putting square pegs into round holes and holding them there by plastering them with more money and more money? It is definitely easier and less costly to motivate someone earning $2k with a $20k job. He would work 24 hours for it and never feel tired. What effect would it be to offer someone $50k when the person is already getting $50k and to do something he does not like? Yes very costly and very ineffective.