You might be surprised, but I agree with almost all of that.
I want to emphasise that when I talk about motivation higher than money, it is definitely not an employee of the month award. If that is your idea of intrinsic motivation, I can absolutely understand your confusion.
The threshold for how much money is enough money to not be a concern depends on both personal opinions as well as the community around the person, just as you say.
If a company tries to convince me it's worth a pay cut to work there, that's a strong signal they are running an awful environment.
The best places I've worked are the ones where managers say, "If you ever feel economically undervalued, please just ask for a higher salary. It would be so silly to lose you over something we can so easily fix."
When I talk about "money should not be a concern" I really mean that. If they are trying to get you for less money, then clearly money is a concern around there, invalidating everything else about intrinsic motivation.
The reason why so many people are talking past you is almost no one has had a boss that says "just ask for a higher salary" and most bosses act like the king of shit mountain for giving you 1% more than you got last year.
One of the most common pretenses used? Family.
We're a family, we work like a family, everyone here is a family. Wouldn't you work overtime for the family? You should sacrifice for the family. You should die for the family.
I want to emphasise that when I talk about motivation higher than money, it is definitely not an employee of the month award. If that is your idea of intrinsic motivation, I can absolutely understand your confusion.
The threshold for how much money is enough money to not be a concern depends on both personal opinions as well as the community around the person, just as you say.
If a company tries to convince me it's worth a pay cut to work there, that's a strong signal they are running an awful environment.
The best places I've worked are the ones where managers say, "If you ever feel economically undervalued, please just ask for a higher salary. It would be so silly to lose you over something we can so easily fix."
When I talk about "money should not be a concern" I really mean that. If they are trying to get you for less money, then clearly money is a concern around there, invalidating everything else about intrinsic motivation.