In the last two years, since the pandemic has introduced changes in ways of living and working, questions about the balance between private and professional life, opportunities for professional development, and due to the health crisis, mental health of employees have become more relevant. It has started to be discussed that for employees, especially younger and more aware ones, job satisfaction is more important than salary itself.
The truth is that this has become increasingly important to them after the pandemic, but at the same time, salaries have not become less important. Of course, there are always exceptions, but the fact is that if salary, as a so-called hygiene factor, is not adequate, it can cause great dissatisfaction among employees.
Dario Car, a human resources consultant at DeeP Project, explains this with the example of the overlap between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s two-factor theory, which companies use in their efforts to retain employees.
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—– Herzberg developed the two-factor theory in 1959, studying about two hundred office employees, and through his research, he wanted to obtain information about which business factors contribute to extreme job satisfaction. He was also interested in which business factors lead to extreme absence of job satisfaction.
The conclusion of the research was that there must be factors that contribute to a certain level of satisfaction, which he called hygiene factors. Thus, they will not contribute to high levels of satisfaction; however, if they are not present, they can influence the development of a high level of absence of satisfaction, or dissatisfaction.
In addition to hygiene factors, he concluded that there must also be so-called motivating factors that, if present, can cause a great amount of satisfaction. He called them motivational factors. These motivational factors are precisely one of the demands of young people. Because of these two factors, the theory is called two-factor – describes Car what young people currently seek the most in the labor market.
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What Drives Young People
– Therefore, if a company is somewhat responsible towards its employees, it has satisfied the so-called hygiene factors. The main hygiene factor is salary, and then there are other benefits that most companies offer. However, after satisfying the hygiene factors, it is equally important to satisfy the motivational or intrinsic factors, which is what ‘drives’ young people.
Examples of motivational factors, or intrinsic factors, include challenging work, achievement and success, responsibility, opportunities for development, and recognition and advancement – adds Car as to why these two theories are mentioned in the context of reducing ‘turnover’ among employees in companies, especially among the young.
According to research by McKinsey & Company, for people in all professions, regardless of income level, high income is almost as important as interesting work.
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Both Sheep and Money
Given his experience, Car says that employees are more easily retained by owners and directors who belong to ‘millennials’ because they are more similar to Generation Z, especially in younger companies that work with newer technologies and thus offer more challenging work. In the hierarchical distribution of work and tasks, it is most important for the employee to see their purpose and goal and to feel part of the team. This way, they will also be motivated, says Car.
This is particularly expressed among younger generations who today, unlike older ones, increasingly seek ‘meaningful’ jobs related to their profession. Also, the fact that members of Generation Z care more about their health and well-being does not mean that they will agree to better working conditions at the expense of lower salaries. They have clear demands here as well.
Various benefits actually come as an additional plus to already satisfied hygiene conditions such as good salary. Therefore, they will seek a job that offers them both a good salary and good benefits, along with, of course, opportunities for advancement and development.
