Work Ethic: The Science Behind America’s Most Wanted Skill

The desire to level up is in our DNA

The hard skills employers look for change just about every year, and then again with every major advancement in technology. For example, cloud computing reigned as the most in-demand technical skill globally two years ago, only to be bumped down a notch by “cybersecurity” – a skillset in response to growing, global cyber attacks that only a handful had heard of, let alone possessed, in 2020.

Of course, a lot of things caught us by surprise in 2020. 

Inarguably, Covid-19 had a devastating effect on the American workforce. It was not merely an epidemic of disease, but of fear and vulnerability. Today, as we get back to pre-pandemic hiring levels, it is important we learn from the hard lessons that unprecedented time in our nation's history taught us, and fast. 

With 32% of US-based companies struggling to find talent to fill open positions, and a skills gap reported to leave 2.4 million jobs unfilled through 2028 causing a potential economic loss of $2.5 trillion, the power of a pivot is now.

Hybrid work environments, greater benefits, and higher wages are indeed a strong start to checking off this next generation of talent’s boxes. But what about your - the employers’ - boxes? 

“I’d be happy if someone just showed up the second day,” reported a training manager of an international medical device company, after sharing the cost of attrition. “Bring me someone with some soft skills, and I’ll train them in the technical skills,” says a GM of a global wastewater treatment company.

Today, post-pandemic, work ethic just may be the most employable skill in 2022, no matter the industry. And there’s no school for that.

Maybe We’re Born with it?

According to Thinkers Point, work ethic is a soft skill and a belief that diligence and tough work have an ethical benefit and an inherent ability, virtue, or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. Based on a group of values centered on the importance of labor,  manifested by determination – according to many – you are either born with it or you are not.

Psychologist Marie Hartwell-Walker recently studied disparate degrees of this valuable skill between kids, who lived on small family farms, and kids, who lived in the city. The “farm kids” worked (and worked hard), she reported, while the “city kids” lamented over routine chores, such as clearing the table. 

Did the city kids simply get in the wrong line at birth?

“I think it comes down to this,” she writes. “On the smaller farms, work is clearly valued, it is done routinely, by everyone, and the consequences for not doing it are obvious and clear. In other households, kids experience work as capriciously imposed by the big people and whether they do it or not has little observable consequence.”

Hierarchy of Motivation

One of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century, Abraham Maslow, established “the hierarchy of motivation”, theorizing that in any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth, or to step back into safety or comfort. Both are immersive actions but inspired by disparate levels of ambition, a key ingredient of work ethic.

His hierarchy of needs comprises a five-tier model of human needs, in the following sequential order: Physiological (food and clothing); safety (job security); love and belonging (friendship); esteem (feeling of accomplishment); and, finally, self-actualization (achieving one’s potential).
This model would indicate that every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward one’s highest level of achievement, just maybe at different times or based on different circumstances. With job security as one of the lowest rungs to climb, perhaps our pivot lies within what we are looking for vs. who we are looking for. After all, a candidate with a degree does not mean much if they can not get along with others. A credential is irrelevant if they do not show up. 

As 2022 continues its foothold on a tight labor market, widening our nets to include the less decorated, specifically the under-resourced and under-served, will bolster our workforce with a new generation of talent born to succeed. After all, technical skills can be taught. The desire to level up, according to science, is in all of our DNA. 

Cynthia P. Jenkins is Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of skillsgapp. Contact Cynthia Jenkins