Topics

Herzberg's two-factor theory

The theory

Frederick Herzberg asked employees to describe times they felt exceptionally good and exceptionally bad about their jobs.
The two lists were different, not opposites. The things that made people satisfied were not the absence of the things that made them dissatisfied.
He concluded there are two separate factors:

Hygiene factors (also called maintenance factors)

Pay, working conditions, job security, company policy, quality of supervision, relationships with colleagues.
Their absence causes dissatisfaction. Their presence does not cause motivation — it merely removes the dissatisfaction.
Getting them right takes the workforce to neutral, not to motivated.

Motivators

Achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, personal growth.
These are what actually motivate. They are all features of the job, not of the conditions around it.

Fixing pay will stop people complaining and will not make them work harder. This is the theory's most useful and most counter-intuitive claim.
A business that responds to a motivation problem with a pay rise has treated a hygiene factor and will see the dissatisfaction return.
The route to motivation is job enrichment — redesigning the work so it contains achievement, responsibility and growth.
Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on one scale: an employee can be simultaneously not dissatisfied (good pay and conditions) and not motivated (boring work).

First, fix the hygiene factors. Fair pay, safe conditions, competent supervision, clear policies. If these are wrong, nothing else will work.
Then build in motivators through job design:
- Achievement — give people whole pieces of work with a visible result
- Recognition — specific, timely acknowledgement of good work
- The work itself — variety and interest
- Responsibility — authority to make decisions about their own work
- Advancement and growth — training, and a visible path

The original study used accountants and engineers — professionals with secure, interesting work — and the findings may not transfer to routine or insecure jobs.
People tend to attribute good outcomes to themselves (achievement) and bad ones to their circumstances (pay, the boss), which may explain the two lists.
Pay is not purely hygiene: for people on low incomes, and where pay is a form of recognition, it clearly motivates.

Frederick Herzberg asked employees to describe times they felt exceptionally good and exceptionally bad about their jobs.
The two lists were different, not opposites. The things that made people satisfied were not the absence of the things that made them dissatisfied.
He concluded there are two separate factors:

Hygiene factors (also called maintenance factors)

Pay, working conditions, job security, company policy, quality of supervision, relationships with colleagues.
Their absence causes dissatisfaction. Their presence does not cause motivation — it merely removes the dissatisfaction.
Getting them right takes the workforce to neutral, not to motivated.

Motivators

Achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, personal growth.
These are what actually motivate. They are all features of the job, not of the conditions around it.

Fixing pay will stop people complaining and will not make them work harder. This is the theory's most useful and most counter-intuitive claim.
A business that responds to a motivation problem with a pay rise has treated a hygiene factor and will see the dissatisfaction return.
The route to motivation is job enrichment — redesigning the work so it contains achievement, responsibility and growth.
Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on one scale: an employee can be simultaneously not dissatisfied (good pay and conditions) and not motivated (boring work).

First, fix the hygiene factors. Fair pay, safe conditions, competent supervision, clear policies. If these are wrong, nothing else will work.
Then build in motivators through job design:
- Achievement — give people whole pieces of work with a visible result
- Recognition — specific, timely acknowledgement of good work
- The work itself — variety and interest
- Responsibility — authority to make decisions about their own work
- Advancement and growth — training, and a visible path

The original study used accountants and engineers — professionals with secure, interesting work — and the findings may not transfer to routine or insecure jobs.
People tend to attribute good outcomes to themselves (achievement) and bad ones to their circumstances (pay, the boss), which may explain the two lists.
Pay is not purely hygiene: for people on low incomes, and where pay is a form of recognition, it clearly motivates.