Motivating employees is vital to a company’s success, particularly in the current global economic crisis. By understanding what motivates their people, managers can mobilise the full potential of each individual and direct their energy more effectively. The results of this study confirm that management methods, organisational climate, social structures, economic realities and culture are essential elements that contribute to the meaning of work, and that they are also sources of motivation at work. Motivation cannot be achieved everywhere and always with the same recipes. Renewing the sources of motivation requires a prior analysis of the changes currently affecting the world of work and their consequences. The aim of this study is to help people who manage human resources (in companies) to understand how to create conditions conducive to employee motivation, how to guide, arouse and support their motivation, and how to build appropriate motivational strategies.