Flexible working has long been seen as the Holy Grail of employee satisfaction. But according to a new study by executive search firm Conker ID, flexible schedules don’t even make the top 20 of what workers truly value. Instead, employee motivation is primarily driven by producing work they’re proud of, feeling trusted by their managers, and being fairly compensated. Understanding this is crucial for startups and small businesses and their talent acquisition strategies.

For junior staff with less than two years’ experience, the top motivators are feeling trusted by their superiors, producing quality output and being fairly financially rewarded. Mid-level employees, with between two and 10-years’ experience, rated financial reward as their top perk, followed by producing quality output and trust from above. Senior staff with over 10 years of experience prioritise producing quality output above all else, followed by the trust of their superiors, and then receiving fair compensation.

A new approach to motivation

Yet across all three groups, their experience is dominated by employers seeking to provide a positive working environment by offering flexible working arrangements, an easy commute and a good work/life balance.

This insight is shaking up conventional thinking, prompting companies to rethink how they structure work, measure performance, and engage talent. Here, three leaders in AI, consulting, and tech share how they’ve aligned their workplaces around trust, autonomy, and purpose rather than perks or clock-watching.

Autonomy as the ultimate incentive

Amjad Karim, CEO of Keen AI, has built his computer vision startup around intellectual curiosity and trust. Founded in 2018, the company provides AI-powered infrastructure monitoring for U.K. energy and water operators, processing over a billion images from drones, satellites, and roadside cameras.

Despite operating in a high-growth, competitive sector, the company is deliberately non-VC-backed. That lack of investor pressure allows Karim’s team the freedom to explore long-term research questions, from monitoring invasive species to assessing the impact of solar storms on the energy grid.

Meaningful work

While much is made of traditional workplace perks, Karim has instead focused on autonomy as a way to motivate the team. This has strong links to what he looks for in the hiring process: people who can understand the problems they are trying to solve, and can envision a solution and achieve it.

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