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10/29/2012

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Well put Jim. I noticed that "hygiene" and "motivator" appeared in back-to-back sentences, which is fitting. I think comp pros latch on to Herzberg for good reason.

What I've been thinking about related to this is whether you can win with communicating pay. I think you need to communicate about pay to some degree, but I wonder if the act of discussing pay puts it on the table as a hygiene consideration. Can you do more harm than good? I don't have an answer yet.

Interesting observations, Joe. Frederick H's theories resonate so strongly due to their apparent extreme accuracy. It is only when you take pay OFF the table that it becomes a critical issue. Pay is a communications device by virtue of its own nature, as many posts here suggest. My clearest on the subject may be "Pay is a Scorecard" ( http://www.compensationcafe.com/2010/10/pay-scorecard.html).

If pay is noticeably hygiene-deficient, the topic will be raised by the subject. Seems to me that when management brings it up, people will instinctively either dismiss it as OK or push for more as a sign of recognition or status or whatever, but cash alone will not adequately substitute for the higher order psychological drivers.

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