Herzberg and The £110,000 Question Why Did They Still Quit?

The £110,000 Question: Why Did They Still Quit?

March 2021. Goldman Sachs - most of you remember them - literally one of the most prestigious investment banks on the planet - had a proper crisis on their hands. A group of junior analysts leaked an internal survey that went viral, and it was absolutely brutal. These analysts were not your average workers moaning about the coffee machine being broken. We're talking:

• 100-hour work weeks (that's 14 hours a day, seven days a week)

• Sleeping an average of 5 hours per night

• Working from morning until after midnight without eating or showering

• One analyst literally wrote: "I've been through foster care and this is arguably worse"

Goldman's response? They bumped salaries up by nearly 30% - first-year analysts went from $85,000 to $110,000, second-years to $125,000, and first-year associates to $150,000. Problem solved?

Nope. Not even close.

When these junior bankers were surveyed about what they wanted in their next job, "culture" ranked overwhelmingly first, followed by the firm's reputation, and only then compensation. They'd take a pay cut to not feel like they were dying inside.

However, it all makes sense to those of your familiar with Frederick Herzberg's world, where he basically predicted in 1966 that this exact scenario would take place.

Herzberg's "Actually, Money Doesn't Work Like That"

Frederick Herzberg was an American psychologist who looked at Taylor's "just pay them more" theory and said, "Yeah, but actually..." His research throughout the 1950s and 60s led him to one of the most important discoveries in business management:

"Money stops you from being miserable. It doesn't make you happy."

Let that sink in for a second...

Herzberg defined motivation as "the will to work due to enjoyment of the work itself" - not because you have to, but because you genuinely want to. And he argued that simply removing things that make people unhappy won't actually motivate them. It just stops them from being actively miserable.

It's like fixing a leak in your roof. Yeah, you're glad it's not raining on your head anymore, but you're not exactly thrilled about your house now, are you?

Hygiene Factors vs Motivators

Herzberg split workplace factors into two completely separate categories. This is crucial for your IB Business Management exam:

HYGIENE FACTORS (or "dissatisfiers") These are the basics - stuff that stops you from hating your job but doesn't actually motivate you:

When hygiene factors are rubbish, employees become dissatisfied. But when they're adequate? People don't become satisfied - they just stop being actively unhappy. The opposite of dissatisfaction isn't satisfaction; it's just... no dissatisfaction.

Think about it: Your workplace has clean toilets. Are you BUZZING to come to work because of this? No. But if the toilets were in an absolutely terrible state, you'd be fuming, wouldn't you?

MOTIVATORS (or "satisfiers") These are the things that actually make you want to work hard:

Motivators are intrinsic to the job itself and tap into a person's internal drive for meaning, challenge, and achievement - when these are present, they lead to genuine job satisfaction and motivation.

Back to Goldman: A £110k Lesson in What Money Can't Buy

Right, so those Goldman Sachs analysts. Let's analyse this through Herzberg's lens:

Hygiene Factors:

• Salary? ✓ Absolutely sorted. £110k for a graduate role is incredible money.

• Job Security? ✓ It's Goldman Sachs. Prestigious as it gets.

• Working Conditions? ✗ Debatable. The offices are probably nice, but 100-hour weeks?

Motivators:

• Achievement? Sort of... but does it count if you're too exhausted to appreciate it?

• Recognition? ✗ Analysts reported demanding bosses and being treated poorly by senior bankers

• The Work Itself? ✗ Interesting deals, but repetitive grunt work at 2 AM

• Responsibility? ✗ You're the bottom of the food chain

• Personal Growth? ✗ Hard to grow when your body "physically hurts all the time" and you're "in a really dark place" mentally

No wonder they wanted out. Money cannot motivate a hard-working employee to work harder, but inadequate pay can reduce their willingness to put in effort. Goldman had solved the hygiene problem but completely ignored the motivators.

The Salary Paradox: Why Your Raise Won't Last

Here's something properly counterintuitive that Herzberg discovered: Salary is the most interesting hygiene factor because it's often used to try to motivate people, even though it doesn't actually work as a motivator.

Let's say you're earning £25,000 and you get a raise to £30,000. You're buzzing for about... what, a month? Maybe two? Then it just becomes your new normal and you're back to wanting more. Except for a short period, people are never completely satisfied with their compensation and will always want more.

But if your salary suddenly dropped to £20,000? You'd be absolutely raging and probably start looking for a new job immediately.

That's the asymmetry Herzberg identified: bad pay demotivates, but good pay doesn't motivate. It just stops you from being demotivated.

Straight salary falls into Herzberg's hygiene factors - it's necessary, but not motivating. While adequate pay is essential to retain employees and prevent dissatisfaction, it won't drive higher performance.

So What Actually Works? Job Enrichment, Enlargement, and Rotation

Herzberg wasn't just about pointing out problems - he offered solutions. His big idea was to redesign jobs to make them actually interesting and meaningful. Three main approaches:

1. JOB ENRICHMENT

Job enrichment means adding tasks that increase the depth of a job - giving employees more decision-making authority, responsibility, and opportunities for personal growth, not just more tasks.

Example: Instead of just processing customer orders all day, you might also:

• Train new staff (responsibility)

• Suggest improvements to the ordering system (autonomy)

• Handle complex customer issues (challenge)

• Track your team's performance metrics (achievement)

Job enrichment makes work more meaningful by giving employees a sense of control, purpose, and fulfillment rather than just piling on more responsibilities.

Millennials and Gen Z, who could make up over 60% of the workforce by 2030, want jobs that not only pay bills but also give them a sense of fulfillment and purpose - making job enrichment essential for companies that want to stay competitive.

2. JOB ENLARGEMENT

Job enlargement is about adding more tasks at the same level - increasing variety without necessarily adding more responsibility or complexity. It's horizontal expansion rather than vertical.

IB Business Management Real-life Example: A manufacturing worker who only assembles products might also:

• Do quality checks

• Help with packaging

• Assist with inventory counts

Nearly 71% of employees admit to feeling bored at work, and job enlargement helps combat this by adding variety to reduce monotony. But, if not executed well, just adding more tasks without additional resources or recognition can lead to job dissatisfaction and "job creep" - where your responsibilities keep growing without extra pay or acknowledgement.

3. JOB ROTATION

This is moving people between different roles temporarily. Job rotation allows team members to work in different departments or roles, offering diversity and broadening their skill set.

IB Business Management Real-life Example: A customer service rep might spend:

• 3 months in phone support

• 3 months in email support

• 3 months in training

• 3 months in quality assurance

Benefits? You learn new skills, meet different people, and don't get stuck in a rut. It's like a work version of crop rotation - keeps things fresh.

The Modern Workplace: High Hygiene, Low Motivation

Here's a context at work that's becoming increasingly common: Companies where employees have very few complaints about their position but also have no motivation to perform the work - they view their jobs merely as a means to a salary.

Sound familiar? That's loads of office jobs in 2025. Decent pay, nice office, free coffee, flexible hours... but absolutely soul-destroying work that makes you question your life choices every Monday morning.

Investment banks tried to fix burnout by hiking salaries - some junior roles went up to $150,000 - but working hours and burnout remained high because salary couldn't solve the real problem. The real issue was culture, autonomy, and meaningful work.

What Gen Z Actually Wants (It's Herzberg's Motivators)

Gen Z expects hygiene factors like fair pay, flexibility, and inclusive culture as non-negotiables, but they also want motivators: purpose, feedback, growth, and autonomy. They're more likely to leave a job that doesn't align with their values, regardless of salary.

This generation gets what Herzberg was on about. They're not willing to sacrifice their mental health and personal growth for a fat paycheck. And honestly? Fair play to them.

Is Herzberg Wrong About Money?

Not everyone agrees with Herzberg, especially about salary being purely a hygiene factor. Here's the criticism:

"Aren't people motivated by money though?"

Well, yeah, sort of. Pay structures that include commissions, bonuses, and other incentives may have more ability to motivate performance than straight salary, though this might be less about the money itself and more about the recognition and the social status that comes with earning more.

Think about it: When you get a bonus, are you happy because of the money, or because someone recognised you did a good job? Bit of both, surely?

"What about promotional opportunities?"

Herzberg would say promotions motivate you, but not really because of the pay rise. The motivational influence of promotions comes from increased responsibility, more challenging work, and a personal sense of accomplishment - all motivating factors - not primarily from the higher salary.

The pay rise is just the hygiene factor catching up with your new role.

Herzberg vs Taylor vs Maslow

Let's get this straight for your IB Business Management exam:

Taylor: "People work for money. Pay them more, they work harder." Herzberg: "Money stops dissatisfaction. It doesn't create motivation. The work itself needs to be good." Maslow: "It's more complicated than both of you think. People have different needs at different times."

Who's right? Kind of all of them, depending on the situation:

• If someone can't pay their rent (Maslow's physiological needs), money absolutely matters (Taylor's point)

• Once they're financially stable, the work itself becomes more important (Herzberg's point)

• But they also need social connections, recognition, and growth opportunities (Maslow's higher needs)

It's not either / or - it's both / and.

Real-World Application: What Smart Companies Actually Do

Modern employers need to recognise that salary and benefits must be competitive (hygiene factors sorted) whilst also providing roles with clear responsibilities, recognition, opportunities for development, and a sense of purpose (motivators present).

Here's what that looks like practically:

Hygiene sorted: Competitive salary, decent working conditions, fair policies, job security PLUS
Motivators present: Meaningful work, recognition systems, opportunities to learn, autonomy in decision-making, clear path for advancement

Get the hygiene wrong and people will leave. Get the motivators wrong and people will stay but be dead inside, doing the bare minimum.

Neither works out well.

Your IB Business Management Exam Wants You To Know:

Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory:

• Two separate factors: Hygiene (prevents dissatisfaction) and Motivators (create satisfaction)

• Hygiene factors: Salary, working conditions, company policies, job security, relationships. When adequate, they prevent dissatisfaction but don't motivate

• Motivators: Achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement, the work itself. These create genuine job satisfaction and motivation

• Key insight: Improving hygiene factors stops people from being unhappy but doesn't make them motivated. You need proper motivators for that

Job Design Methods:

• Job Enrichment: Adding depth - more responsibility, autonomy, challenge

• Job Enlargement: Adding breadth - more varied tasks at the same level

• Job Rotation: Moving between different roles for variety and learning

Criticisms:

• Salary might be both a hygiene factor AND motivator (people do seek promotions for money)

• The theory suggests pay is only a short-term motivator, which is debatable

• The distinction between the two factors isn't always clear in practice

Remember: Money gets people through the door and keeps them from quitting, but it won't make them care about their work. For that, you need the job itself to be meaningful, challenging, and rewarding.

Goldman Sachs learnt this the hard way. Don't let your future company make the same mistake.

Stay well,