John Wooden, the legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach who led his teams to 10 national championships, recruited the top high school basketball players from across the country. Yet, when new players arrived at UCLA, Wooden began with the basics—starting with how to properly lace up their shoes. While it might seem unnecessary to teach elite athletes something so fundamental, Wooden understood that doing the basics right—such as lacing shoes to avoid blisters—was essential to long-term success.

This attention to the fundamentals offers an important lesson for today’s workplace, particularly in light of troubling trends. According to Gallup, employee engagement in the U.S. is at a 10-year low, and when factoring in historically high quit rates over the past five years, the outlook becomes even more concerning. In the U.S., employee engagement is at 31 percent which means only one in three workers is engaged; globally, employee engagement sank to 21 percent.

The solution may lie in returning to the fundamentals—what humans truly need to thrive at work.

Those familiar with my work may recall that I’ve previously written about 7 core needs for thriving at work, starting with respect. However, in light of growing economic inequality and instability—much of it driven by the widespread adoption of shareholder capitalism rather than stakeholder capitalism—I’ve expanded this framework to begin with three critical survival needs: food, shelter, and safety. These are not abstract ideals; they are foundational, and for too many people today, they are not being met.

These 10 needs can be grouped into three categories: survival needs, social needs, and serving needs. (Three S’s makes it easier to remember too.)

1. Survival Needs: Food, Shelter, and Safety

The first set of needs form the bedrock of workplace well-being. If the ten needs were to be presented visually in the shape of a pyramid, reminiscent of Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success or Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, these three would form the foundational block.

As appreciated as having gourmet food options in the employee cafeteria or having access to an espresso machine in the break room might be… as pleasing to the eye as a hip and cool office design might be… that’s not what I am talking about here. When people lack food security, stable housing, or financial stability, it becomes nearly impossible for them to focus, grow, or contribute fully while at work. For organizations, addressing the food and shelter needs is about ensuring that full-time employees earn a living wage and have access to benefits that meet basic needs.

The leaders at Costco get it. Going back to the days of founding CEO Jim Sinegal, they have been explicit about “taking care of our employees.” They are proud that Costco pays the highest wages among its peers and provides benefits and health care packages that are second to none.

While I’m talking about compensation, also pay attention to wage disparity within the organization. If you feel you are being underpaid compared to what a peer is making that can contribute to disengagement. So too can seeing colleagues be laid off when senior leaders are getting a raise.

Safety, the third need in the survival category, goes beyond job security. It also includes physical safety in the workplace—appropriate working conditions, proper equipment, and environments free of harm. The importance of these conditions became especially clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, when frontline and essential workers faced heightened risk. Safety is not optional; it’s a core human need that organizations must address head-on.

2. Social Needs: Respect, Recognition, and Belonging

These are the human needs that drive connection and emotional well-being at work. I often explain these three needs by talking about them as a progression.

When you first join a team, your colleagues don't know you and you don’t know them, but, at a minimum, you expect them to show you respect. If someone is patronizing, condescending, or passive-aggressive, it brings about negative emotions that hold you back from being your best and doing your best work. Disrespect among team members, such as exclusion or derogatory comments, can quickly erode morale and inhibit performance.

As you’re on the team longer and you've had a chance to show what you can do, then you expect that you’ll receive recognition for the good work you’re doing. Positive feedback affirms that your work is seen and valued. Without it, you may begin to question whether you’re on the right path, eroding confidence. Feeling unseen, unappreciated, or uncertain about whether your contribution is valued triggers negative emotions that hold you back from doing your best; receiving recognition that’s genuine makes you feel more connected to the people and the work you're doing, and you experience positive emotions. Consistent recognition builds assurance and motivation.

As you’ve been with the team for a while, you begin to develop meaningful friendships. You know that people have your back and you have theirs (it has to go both ways for connection to truly come about). Gallup research has found that the question in their Q12 assessment that is most predictive of employee engagement is, “I have a best friend at work.” That sense of belonging when people feel supported by and connected to their colleagues produces positive emotions that boost emotional well-being and enhance collaboration.

3. Serving Needs: Autonomy, Growth, Meaning, and Progress

One of my mentors, the late Frances Hesselbein, often said, “To serve is to live.” These four needs relate to how we serve our organization, our colleagues, and the greater good through our work.

We thrive when we have the freedom to do our work without excessive control. Micromanagement and rigid rules stifle creativity and motivation. Autonomy empowers people to take initiative and responsibility. Autonomy should be supported by managers who provide guidance and clarity and are available in case an employee requires help or support.

Work should provide the right level of challenge—not too little to bore us, and not too much to overwhelm us. When this balance is achieved, we enter a state of “flow,” where we feel immersed and energized by our tasks. Personal growth is about continuing to learn, stretch, and grow in skills and experience. It is disengaging when you feel stagnant or under-utilized.

Our work must feel significant to us personally. Meaning often comes from contributing to the greater good—whether through truth (the fields of journalism or research, for example), beauty (art, design), or goodness (medicine, education). Some professions may encompass a combination. You may find meaning in how the finished product will be used. Alan Mulally, former CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, spoke about the meaning in connecting people around the world through safe, efficient, and affordable air travel so we realize we are not that different after all and, in recognizing that, the world becomes a better place.

We need to see that our efforts lead to tangible results and progress is being made. Achieving goals provides satisfaction and fuels our motivation to keep going.

With a nod to respect and recognition, I want to acknowledge that my thinking about the 10 universal human needs to thrive at work that I have identified has been influenced by the past work of many individuals, including Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Viktor Frankl on meaning, Richard Ryan and Edward Deci in self-determination theory, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on optimal experience/flow, and Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer on progress. In addition, Barbara Fredrickson’s work helped me see that many of the needs produce positive emotions and upward spirals of performance, and Jane Dutton’s work on high quality connections helped me see that many of the needs produce feelings of positive connection.

Bringing It All Together

When these 10 universal human needs are met, people feel positively connected to their work, colleagues, and the mission of their organization. These connections generate positive emotions, which in turn make us smarter, more resilient, more productive, and more fulfilled. Teams that meet these needs enjoy higher engagement, innovation, adaptability, alignment, and overall performance.

So ask yourself:

• Which of the 10 universal human needs are currently being met for you at work—and which are not? How does that impact your level of engagement? For instance:
  
  • Do you feel physically and psychologically safe in your workplace? If not, what specific risks or stressors are present?
  • When was the last time you received meaningful recognition for your work? How did it impact your motivation?
  • Do you feel you are learning and growing in your role? If not, what’s missing?
• If you’re a leader, how often do you check in with individual team members to understand whether their core needs are being met? What mechanisms are in place to listen, respond, and adjust?

• What one small but meaningful change could you make—individually or organizationally—to better support one of these 10 needs this week?

About the Author

‍Michael Lee Stallard, MBA, JD, is a thought leader, speaker and leading expert on how human connection in workplace cultures affects the health and performance of individuals and organizations. In addition to Fired Up or Burned Out, he is the primary author of Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash