What keeps people motivated – Motivators and Hygiene factors

You may not choose to stay at a job just for the salary, but you won’t stay in the job if there is no salary.

Your remuneration at work is thus a “hygiene factor”

The only thing I remember from my Organizational Behavior Class almost a decade ago is “Herzberg’s Two Factor theory of motivation”

It argues that there are two factors that an organization can adjust to influence motivation in the workplace.

  1. Motivators: Which can encourage employees to work harder.
  2. Hygiene factors: These won’t encourage employees to work harder but they will cause them to become unmotivated if they are not present.

You can think about the common motivators – sense of achievement, responsibility, security, salary, policies et all.

They all fall under one or the other

All this is good to know, but why should it matter?

Because this applies equally to our lives.

The conclusion he drew is that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are not opposites.

Remedying the causes of dissatisfaction will not create satisfaction

Once the hygiene factors are met, what keeps people motivated is catering to people’s deep-seated need for growth and achievement –

Interesting work, learning opportunities or increasing responsibility.

What else do you think keeps people motivated?

#reviewswithranjani

Sources : 

  1. https://hbr.org/2003/01/one-more-time-how-do-you-motivate-employees
  2. https://expertprogrammanagement.com/2018/04/herzbergs-two-factor-theory/

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