Analysing your work environment
Getting the best from your staff is about more than task management.
Herzberg’s classic two-factor theory of motivation and hygiene (1959) can be briefly stated as follows:
Some aspects of work, like recognition and achievement, are motivating factors that lead to higher performing employees.
On the other hand, factors such as salary and working conditions are considered hygiene factors that prevent dissatisfaction (and departure) but don’t necessarily lead to direct improvements in performance
While this remains a valuable framework, subsequent research has found that greater individual variation in whether a particular factor is valued as a motivator or a hygiene factor.
At the same time, there has been increasing interest in psychological safety and psychosocial safety — related but distinct concepts that both directly relate to workplace performance:
Psychological safety creates a team climate where employees feel safe to speak up, share ideas, admit mistakes, or raise concerns without fear of embarrassment or reprisal. This greater candour and honesty supports collaboration, learning, innovation, and higher performance.
Psychosocial safety concerns the broader organisational systems and practices that protect employees from psychological harm. Where these fail it can lead to negative effects such as work-related stress and fatigue, bullying, harassment, and other toxic behaviours.
Introducing these concepts allows for a holistic analysis of employee perceptions about their workplace environment, through the combination of the traditional workplace factors identified by Herzberg and successor research, and the mental health dimensions of psychological and psychosocial safety.
Broadly, these workplace factors can be categorised into:
The nature and environment of the work and its rewards
Emotional effort and support from co-workers
Autonomy and freedom to use one’s own judgement
Personal wellbeing and growth
Management commitment to respect and understanding
Effective diagnostics should establish both the level of importance a person places on a factor, and whether it is perceived positively or negatively. While the majority of workplace factors — whether physical or psychosocial — are hygiene factors in practice, organisations do retain important opportunities for staff motivation that enable and encourage them to perform at their peak level.