(Can’t get no) satisfaction
Jagger and Richards were right when they wrote about the difficulties of searching for satisfaction. Granted, they weren’t really talking about job satisfaction, but these are challenges that face employers now as much as ever. The great resignation, the ‘quiet quitters’ and the post-COVID challenges with flexible work all come from a genuine question - what creates job satisfaction?
Between the late 1950’s and the early 1990’s Frederick Herzberg - and his collaborators - pioneered his work on motivation theory at work. Herzberg’s theory that there are two dimensions to job satisfaction: “motivation” and “hygiene”. He suggested that the opposite to satisfaction was not dissatisfaction, but simply ‘no satisfaction’. Similarly, the opposite to dissatisfaction is simply it’s absence.
Hygiene issues, according to Herzberg, cannot motivate employees but can minimize dissatisfaction, if handled properly. In other words, they can only dissatisfy if they are absent or mishandled.
Hygiene topics include company policies, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations and working conditions. They are issues related to the employee's environment.
Motivators, on the other hand, create satisfaction by fulfilling individuals' needs for meaning and personal growth. They are issues such as achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility and advancement.
Once the hygiene areas are addressed, said Herzberg, the motivators will promote job satisfaction and encourage production.
This ‘two-factor’ theory further breaks these areas down. Motivation factors include:
Advancement: Herzberg defined advancement as the upward and positive status or position of someone in a workplace. This could include opportunities for a person to experience personal growth and promotion. Personal growth can result in professional growth, increased opportunities to develop new skills and techniques, and gaining professional knowledge.
The work itself: The content of job tasks in itself can have positive or negative effects on employees. The job’s difficulty and level of engagement can dramatically impact satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the workplace.
Responsibility: Responsibility encompasses both the responsibilities held by the individual and the authority granted to the individual in their role. People gain satisfaction from being given the responsibility and authority to make decisions. Conversely, a mismatch between responsibility and level of authority negatively affects job satisfaction.
Recognition: includes praise or rewards for reaching goals at their job or for producing high-quality work. Negative recognition involves criticisms or blame for a poorly-done job.
Achievement can involve, for example, completing a difficult task on time, solving a job-related problem, or seeing positive results from one’s work. Negative achievement includes failure to make progress at work or poor job-related decision making.
‘Hygiene’ factors - which lead to the absence of dissatisfaction - include:
Interpersonal relations involve the personal and working relationships between an employee and their supervisors, subordinates, and peers. This can manifest in, for example, job-related interactions as well as social discussions in both the work environment and during informal break times.
Rewards includes wage or salary increases, and negatively, unfulfilled expectations of wage or salary increases.
Company policies and administration includes factors such as the extent to which company organization and management policies and guidelines are clear or unclear. For example, a lack of delegation of authority, vague policies and procedures and communication may lead to job dissatisfaction.
Supervision involves an employee’s judgements of the competence and fairness of their supervisor. For example, this could include a supervisor's willingness to delegate responsibility, as well as their knowledge of the job at hand. Poor leadership and management can decrease job dissatisfaction.
Working conditions involve the physical surroundings of the job and whether or not they are good or poor. Factors leading to a good or poor workspace could involve the amount of work, space, ventilation, tools, temperature, and safety.
Herzberg’s theory faces some challenges. It’s never as simple as creating a ‘one size’ fits all model. It’s not true that the power of hygiene factors and motivators is equal for everyone. For some, motivating factors may easily overpower the negativity of a low hygiene score. As ‘Generation Y’ reach the workforce, there is significant evidence that they “bring high expectations for a rewarding, purposeful work experience, constant learning and development opportunities” (Bersin et al, 2016) and in job flexibility.
At AIBOR, we believe in building in the flexibility that reflects the organisations we work with. We know, from experience, that it’s better to know, than to assume, when it comes to what is happening. We’ve seen the research that “firms also need to be able to measure the outcome of motivational initiatives, which may include measuring the impact of flexibility initiatives on turnover, job performance and employee well-being” (Goudreau 2013), and that’s why we exist. Because we think there should be a better way to measure progress, a better way to listen, and a better way to know what your teams are really feeling.
