OPINION | What drives your workforce? Aligning the 3Rs for success

A study found that recognition at work is the top motivator for 92% of Indian professionals.

The pan-India ‘Why We Work’ study, conducted by my firm Avtar in collaboration with EY GDS, was released earlier this month, shedding light on why India works. Drawing from insights shared by over 10,255 professionals (men and women across industries and levels), through surveys, focus groups, and leadership roundtables, this study explains what truly motivates people to work.

Why did we embark on this study? Because most conversations about work focus on the what, how, and where: what work we do, and how and where we do it. We rarely talk about what truly drives people to work every day. Is it just money, or do some of us work for recognition? Or to actively contribute to national growth, perhaps? Understanding the ‘why’ behind every individual’s work is crucial because it can help organisations create value-aligned and high-impact career paths, while empowering employees to make informed career moves through self-awareness.

The study found that recognition at work is the top motivator for 92% of Indian professionals. While about 90% said they work to secure their own and their family’s future, the study also showed that most people want purposeful work – a strong 91% are ready to take on challenging assignments. The results also showed that women are even more open than men to adapting, staying flexible, and thriving in fast-moving work settings (57% women compared to 52% men). The majority of the Indian workforce is also open to AI adoption, with Gen X showing the highest willingness to adapt (71%), reflecting a pragmatic drive for purposeful work through optimisation.

While our research shows some differences across gender and generations, one common thread stands out for all Indian workers: every career choice involves managing risk. This is especially true today, with hybrid work creating unequal access to opportunities, skills becoming outdated due to AI, and broader challenges like economic instability, geopolitical tensions, and climate issues.

This requires workers to build resilience to handle these changes, and resilience comes in different forms: emotional resilience to handle stress and uncertainty, career resilience to keep up with changing skill needs, and social resilience to deal with bias and discrimination. So how do we build this resilience? Interestingly, risk – the very thing resilience helps us manage – also triggers resilience. Working in safe-to-fail environments, taking measured risks and celebrating risk-taking even if the experiment fails, continuous learning, and being financially prepared help strengthen resilience.

And finally, this resilience brings real rewards, which go beyond salary today. They also include intangible benefits like respect, recognition, flexibility, purpose, and opportunities for self-growth.

Together, the 3Rs — Risk, Resilience, and Reward — form the new formula shaping careers today. Risk is the Entry Ticket. Resilience is the Game. Reward is the Prize. In other words, risk sparks the journey, resilience sustains it, and reward makes it worthwhile.

So, dear professionals, how can you navigate your careers in this era defined by the 3Rs? The key lies in taking measured risks, investing in continuous learning, seeking meaningful projects, and building a strong network.

And how do organisations and leaders handle risk, strengthen resilience, and offer fair rewards? By adopting diverse and creative strategies. A few examples include:

* Auditing the real risk exposure across the workforce.

* Reframing work and aligning it around clear goals, growth, and strong purpose.

* Diversifying career identity, which helps employees build multiple career pathways instead of just linear ones.

* Adopting equitable AI that balances productivity gains with fairness and inclusivity.

Circling back to ‘Why We Work,’ its connection to the 3Rs is fundamental. It is the central anchor that determines an individual's risk appetite, provides the emotional persistence needed for resilience, and defines the rewards that matter most. The bottom line: The entire framework of Risk, Resilience, and Reward rests on a single foundation: human purpose. Organisations that truly prioritise this human core of purpose to manage the 3Rs will be the ones that shape the future of work.