What do people really want to get out of their job? It's something that managers should be thinking about so they can figure out how to motivate and engage their employees.

A new white paper by Paycom seeks to understand the most common factors that drive employees to love their jobs and work hard on behalf of their employers. The paper notes that recent research by Gallup drew a link between high employee engagement and a number of positive business outcomes, such as higher customer ratings, profits and productivity as well as lower turnover and absenteeism.

Paycom argues that despite much of the hype about what sets young workers apart from their older colleagues, research shows millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers mostly want the same things from a job. They want their work to have purpose, they want recognition and, of course, they want to achieve a work-life balance all while making decent money.