The amazing impact of ‘Hygiene Factors’ on business performance
A discussion of workplace features that dissatisfy employees and make them leave
When I first came across the phrase ‘hygiene factors’ some years ago, it initially intrigued me because of its logic.
I first learned that hygiene factors are workplace parameters when absent make employees leave but will not guarantee they will stay if the hygiene factors are present! While that logic initially seemed a puzzle, over three decades, I have witnessed hygiene factors play a very important role in businesses and determining success or failure.
The history of hygiene factors: In 1964, the American psychologist Frederick Herzberg propounded the two or dual-factor theory, also popular as the Herzberg motivation-hygiene theory. According to this theory, each workplace has some factors that result in employee satisfaction, whereas other factors cause employee dissatisfaction with the two factors acting independently.
Herzberg felt that when employers meet basic employee needs such as minimum wages and ensure safe and pleasant working conditions, those do not lead to employee satisfaction. Instead, employee satisfaction is linked to employees’ opinions about their work and their advancement, recognition, advancement, and sense of responsibility they feel while working.
Herzberg recommended that companies focus on both factors, one that leads to satisfaction and the other that leads to dissatisfaction, to create a work environment that enhances employee morale, leading to greater business productivity and progress.
What makes an employee happy and satisfied with their employer? Herzberg’s study showed that when a person’s workplace provides achievement, competence, self-realization, improvement in status, and personal worth, they are content and work harder. The critical aspect of the dual-factor theory is that the absence of the factors leading to satisfaction does not cause unhappiness or dissatisfaction.
What causes employee dissatisfaction? When employees don’t think favorably about their colleagues, salaries, work environment, bosses, and the problems at work, such a view leads to employee dissatisfaction, making them slack off at their workplace.
Now that we found out what leads to employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction, let us see how we can act on both aspects. To increase our team’s satisfaction, we must help employees achieve self-realization by giving them higher responsibilities and roles that elevate their self-esteem. On the other hand, to prevent employee dissatisfaction, we must modify our policies and procedures, managers’ employee handling, and the overall work conditions.
In short, a business intent on increasing employee satisfaction and reducing employee dissatisfaction must work on both sets of independent factors that lead to those two outcomes.
The dual theory clearly distinguishes the motivator factors which encourage employees and the hygiene factors that cause dissatisfaction.
Motivators: A business has numerous opportunities to motivate its employees by creating an environment for personal growth achieved through workplace accomplishments and recognition.
Employees are satisfied when you challenge them by giving them higher responsibilities, seeking their views in decisions, and making them feel important in their contribution to the company’s growth.
Like in the sixties of the twentieth century when Herzberg conducted his research for the dual-factor theory, employees who perceive meaning in their work are very likely to achieve motivation. A company’s overarching purpose, like social change or helping the world in some way without a profit motive, impresses employees to seek work there and be happy after joining it.
Hygiene factors: This article focuses on common hygiene factors, including salary, benefits, paid holidays, insurance coverage, job safety, and status within the company, which commonly lead to employee dissatisfaction. The word hygiene here alludes to a workplace’s cleanliness which can put off employees as employees desire. Similarly, when employees think their employer does not have business hygiene factors, it puts them off and causes their unhappiness and eventually their departure.
Though having hygiene factors won’t ensure employee satisfaction, their presence reduces or eliminate employee dissatisfaction. Such is the paradoxical nature of hygiene factors. If a business can tackle employee dissatisfaction by paying fair wages and letting employees know their jobs are secure, that would achieve a positive work environment.
Organization goals must be to reduce employee dissatisfaction and increase employee satisfaction through ‘motivators.’ Between the two goals, dealing with dissatisfaction precedes the other, of satisfying employees. Moreover, employee satisfaction has manifold business benefits as happy employees share their expertise with others and create a better work environment through a more cohesive team with effective bonding among members.
As shown below, there are four possible outcomes to the interplay of hygiene and motivation factors at any organization.
Using Herzberg’s hygiene factor theory at your business: Herzberg understood the work factors that motivate employees and enrich their work lives. Therefore, he believed that involving employees in planning, performing, and evaluating their performance is good for ensuring hygiene factors.
Empowering employees to have greater authority over their activities by reducing the need to seek approval from their bosses or others encourages them to accept greater responsibility and authority. In addition, regular feedback and performance evaluation help employees understand any improvements they must make for higher productivity.
Making employees responsible for the whole activity rather than just a few tasks contributes more. For example, a pest management technician who sells services accepts payments, plans the pest treatments, and obtains post-service customer feedback would be fully involved to achieve higher business and greater customer satisfaction. In addition, if such technicians could become adept at their company business processes, they would be valuable team members who would help manage pest management with fewer people in a business unit.
During the past two years, phenomena such as the Great Resignation in the United States have highlighted the widespread employee disengagement, which found an outlet during a pandemic-induced business slowdown. However, lower levels of employee engagement are a reality for all countries and industries, with the pest management industry, not an exception.
Surprisingly, a fifty-year theory from the last century has simple and easily actionable guidance for employers. First, each business must have two simple employee goals: achieving employee satisfaction and preventing employee dissatisfaction by managing hygiene factors. Our illustration above has shown how inadequate hygiene and low motivation result in poor productivity and hence need focus and action.
Good one