Beyond Perks and Pay: The Motivation-Hygiene Theory and the Real Reason Employees Leave

In a time of burnout and quiet quitting, the most resilient companies make use of a psychological model from the 1960s.

In 2021 junior bankers at Goldman Sachs sparked headlines with a leaked slide deck: 100-hour workweeks, deteriorating health, and no time for family or friends. Their base salary? $100,000. Goldman’s response? Raise that to $110,000.

The message was clear—and ironic, considering the banking industry this was taking place in: money wasn’t enough.

It’s a pattern playing out across industries. Companies offer higher pay, flashy perks, and morale slogans, yet struggle to retain talent. Employees stay just long enough to take the bonus, then burn out or drift away.

There’s a reason these fixes don’t work—and the American psychologist Frederick Herzberg explained it decades ago.

The two-factor theory

Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory separates what keeps people from quitting from what makes them truly engaged.

• Hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction. These include salary, supervision quality, policies, working conditions, and job security.
• Motivators create satisfaction. These involve recognition, achievement, the nature of the work, growth, and responsibility.

Improving hygiene factors stops people from being unhappy. But it doesn’t make them happy. Real motivation requires something deeper: meaning, challenge, autonomy, pride in your work.

The idea that employees can be motivated both by their material conditions as well as by their intrinsic motivations is hardly revolutionary. But what makes the theory relevant is when you consider what happens when you lack either one of these factors. As an analogy, consider hygiene as the engine oil in your car—it prevents breakdowns. Motivation is the fuel—it gets you where you want to go. Without either, you can’t drive anywhere, but just fixing one doesn’t replace the other.

For many businesses, this is a regular dilemma: hygiene-focused improvements at the cost of intrinsic motivators, or highly motivated employees feeling underpaid and unrecognized.

Four kinds of workplaces

Situation		Result
When motivation and hygiene are high		People stay, grow, and perform. The ideal.
When motivation is high but hygiene is low		People are passionate but frustrated. They burn out.
When motivation is low but hygiene is high		People are comfortable but disengaged. Quiet quitting sets in.
When motivation and hygiene are both low		People leave. And take others with them.

Improving only hygiene—higher pay, better tools, flexible policies—won’t shift employees into the high-motivation zone. Nor will motivational posters or vision statements make up for poor management or unfair treatment. You need both.

Understanding this balance is crucial. Let’s explore how some companies have successfully navigated this terrain.

What works: Case studies of companies getting it right

Whole Foods: Mission and meaning in retail

Retail is one of the highest-turnover industries. But Whole Foods broke the pattern by building a workplace where employees felt valued. According to a case study, the company offered more than good pay and benefits.

It gave employees:

• A mission they believed in
• Freedom to make decisions
• A voice in how the company operated
• Clear growth paths and internal promotions

This blend of hygiene and motivation built strong loyalty in an industry known for churn. By aligning company values with employee aspirations, Whole Foods fostered a culture where employees felt both supported and inspired, and the result was industry-low attrition rates and high employee engagement.

Airbnb: Flexibility as a baseline

When employees began quitting during the pandemic, Airbnb redefined work-from-home into a flexible “work from anywhere” policy. Employees could work from anywhere, with no loss in pay. Over a fifth relocated within a year. Turnover dropped to record lows.

More importantly, Airbnb reinforced motivators. Employees were trusted, supported, and connected to the company’s mission. This approach transformed flexibility from a perk into a foundational element of the company’s culture, demonstrating trust in employees’ autonomy and commitment.

Flexible work-from-home did not mean that employees could slack off. In an interview with Forbes, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky recommended setting tough deadlines. “If you want a team to work harder, don’t make them come to the office, give them a crazy deadline and check on their progress every week… That’s how you get them to work harder, not by being in the office,” he was quoted as saying.

What doesn’t work: When the fix is only skin deep

Amazon: Poor hygiene erodes everything else

Amazon’s warehouse turnover more than doubled industry averages. The reason? Gruelling conditions, unrealistic quotas, and minimal breaks. Even decent pay couldn’t compensate.

Despite new slogans like “Earth’s Best Employer,” employee sentiment barely changed after two years. Why? Because real issues weren’t addressed. No amount of motivational language can cover up a broken work environment.

Addressing fundamental workplace conditions is essential before any motivational strategies can be effective.

Wall Street: You can’t bribe away burnout

Facing mass burnout, investment banks hiked junior salaries—some up to $150,000. But despite high salaries for junior roles, working hours and burnout remained high.

When junior bankers were polled on what they felt would be the most important factor for their next job, “culture” ranked an overwhelming first, followed by reputation of the firm and only then by compensation.

Herzberg’s insight holds: you can’t motivate people with the very things that only stop them from quitting.

Gen Z expects both

The newest generation of employees is accelerating this shift. Gen Z expects hygiene factors—fair pay, flexibility, inclusive culture—as non-negotiables. But they also want motivators: purpose, feedback, growth, autonomy.

They’re more likely to leave a job that doesn’t align with their values, no matter how good the salary. For them, a job is not just a source of income. It has to make sense emotionally, ethically, and personally.

Companies aiming to attract and retain Gen Z talent must therefore ensure that their workplace practices resonate with these deeper values and expectations.

How do you know what motivates your team?

Applying Herzberg’s framework begins with understanding what drives your people. But that’s harder than it sounds. Not everyone is motivated by achievement or autonomy. Some care more about financial stability, others about community or recognition.

Japanese startup Attuned offers a 55-question survey that maps each employee’s strongest drivers. Managers use the data to match roles, recognition and development plans.

DIY options work too: regular one-on-ones, pulse checks and open forums reveal what people value. The key is acting on what you hear.

The value of such feedback is clear: Companies use it to uncover not just what people want, but what makes them stay.

The path forward

Retention begins with clean basics: fair pay, safe conditions, clear rules. Once complaints subside, redesign roles so that work itself supplies challenge, progress, and recognition.

Checklist for leaders:

• Audit hygiene gaps: fix pay inequities, patch safety issues, train managers.
• Enrich the job: add autonomy, visible results, learning routes.
• Keep listening: revisit both lists as the business and its workforce evolve.

Firms that pair sound hygiene with real motivators turn jobs into careers and careers into reasons to stay. A bonus can keep someone from quitting tomorrow. A job that matters keeps them from taking a recruiter’s call next year.

Interested in learning more about the Motivator-Hygiene theory? Try GLOBIS Unlimited’s short course to learn how to apply this framework in the workplace.