A new South African company that specialises in kitchen and homeware products - Kitchen8 - has excelled at building a remarkable sales team who are focused on innovation, customer centricity and customer service. The company has a strong e-commerce presence and five stores located across the country.

Its sales agents are known for their efficiency and friendly demeanour. The company has extremely positive customer ratings on HelloPeter.com, Google Reviews and on social media. Part of the challenge for a business like Kitchen8 is to ensure its workforce remains motivated, especially as the company is recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consider the Kitchen8 workforce:

Most of the administrative employees are based remotely

The sales team split their time between work-from-home and the Kitchen8 offices, on a hybrid-work model

Many employees work in the brick-and-mortar Kitchen8 stores

Applying what you know of Hertzbergs Motivation Theory, demonstrate how Kitchen8 should use each of the hygiene and motivation factors to alleviate any fears the employees may have about their future at the company, and how the company will keep its workforce motivated. Keep in mind that many of the employees have been working remotely during the pandemic and have not returned to the office. Some team members may be working partially from home on a hybrid basis.

(20 marks)

You will not receive any marks for merely listing Herzbergs factors. You need to apply factors to the given case.