In a perfect world, all organizations expect their employees to be excited to come to work every day – Engaged and eager to succeed in their roles with a positive attitude.
Unfortunately, that is not the case in the real world. For example, Friday rangoli competition doesn’t keep employees satisfied. Neither does that once-a-year outing to Goa.
Why? Because engagement and satisfaction are two different things. Even if you work with a great team and keep them engaged, there will be some days where they don’t feel satisfied.
Employee engagement is more related to workers being committed to helping the organization achieve goals. They show up on time and feel motivated to achieve their objectives.
Employee satisfaction involves the future too. You see, all employees want to progress in their jobs and careers. The fear leaves people scared about their job. Contentment involves a lot of factors, and we will talk about that in this conversation.
Dissatisfied employees are not to be taken lightly, as it can harm your entire business. So, in this article, we’ll be exploring the different elements of employee satisfaction.
What is Employee Satisfaction?
Employee evaluations of whether their needs are being satisfied at work are referred to as “employee satisfaction.” The major factors determining whether an employee feels satisfied are frequently assessments of overall wellbeing. An employee is more likely to be satisfied with their job as a whole if they are happy each hour of the day.
The Human Capital industry uses the broader phrase “employee satisfaction” to refer to how pleased or satisfied employees are with things like their jobs, their working environments, and the companies they work for. Many firms use frequent surveys to measure employee satisfaction and track satisfaction patterns over time because it’s one of the main metrics that can assist gauge an organization’s overall health. A high degree of satisfaction indicates that employees are content with their employer’s treatment of them.
Employee satisfaction versus Employee engagement
Employee satisfaction and engagement are critical factors in retaining talent. The proper 20 people can have a greater influence than 200 people in this situation, enabling critical talent to perform at a higher level as a group.
Employee satisfaction is the fulfillment that an individual experiences as a direct result of having a job in a certain position. Not just when they are happy at work; it also affects other aspects of their lives, such as security and confidence, when they are happy at work. If you want your staff to stay with your business for a long time, employee satisfaction is a necessity.
The degree of interest and connection a person feels with their work can be referred to as employee engagement. Engagement is influenced by a number of factors, such as the style of leadership and the sense of belonging at work. Employee engagement is a function of motivation, interest, passion, purpose, and personal investment. Employee engagement makes sure that they are a part of a company’s growth curve.
How do you achieve employee satisfaction?
1. Work-life Balance
The various facets of an employee’s personal and professional lives keep them busy. And that is really important for their contentment and the happiness of the workers. They frequently struggle to strike a balance because of their lengthy, demanding work schedules and excessive workload.
Therefore, management can assist employees in finding a balance between work and personal life. The following are some concrete steps:
Launching work-life balance initiatives
To communicate with one another openly
Offer flexible work hours
Allowing them enough vacation and recreation
2. Employee Recognition
Often, organizations overlook the psychological component. A little bit of appreciation and recognition goes a long way toward keeping employees motivated. They are driven by this to excel and surpass themselves. As a way to increase employee morale and job satisfaction, you can provide your staff with worthwhile perks and rewards.
3. Continuous Feedback
Employees are uncertain about the work and effort they are investing in due to a lack of feedback. Due to the complexity of human nature, multiple persons may interpret the same message or discourse.
Therefore, managers should become skilled at providing feedback. In the workplace, feedback has a hugely positive impact. It can increase trust, enhance employee experience, sustain employee motivation, and reduce turnover rates.
4. Positive Work Culture
When employees experience a sense of belonging at work, they are at their happiest. Create an inclusive organizational culture to accomplish this and make sure that everyone feels welcome, irrespective of their background.
Employees are not only happier when they feel like they can be fully themselves at work, but they also become more invested in and active in your business. You may achieve this by making investments in a culture of belonging, developing initiatives for diversity and inclusion, and enticing your staff to interact with like-minded individuals. Additionally, make an effort to plan team outings so that employees may get to know one another outside of the confines of their regular duties. When employees sense a connection to their coworkers, they tend to be at more ease.
5. Promote Up Skilling
Giving your employees the opportunity to grow their skills promotes their job satisfaction and improves work productivity. This shows that you care about their professional development in addition to the growth of your firm.
It is always a great method to assess whether the employees wish to learn something new or require any particular training.
6. Clear Goals and Objective
Employees understand how to attain specific goals to get to the rewards they want when you lay out clear growth paths with raises linked with them. You can encourage growth by offering challenging tasks and skill-building sessions in addition to each individual’s private growth path.
Aim to offer progression paths for manager positions as well as jobs for individual contributors. Although people sometimes equate having a managerial position with higher salary, not everyone is qualified to hold one. Great team leaders can also be individuals who encourage their team in other ways. Your team members may gain a better understanding of what their careers at the firm can entail by discovering that there are many avenues for progress.
7. Employee Wellbeing
The wellbeing of an employee is largely influenced by their health and wellness. Organizations should promote wellness by offering as many opportunities and resources as they can.
Employers can support well-being in a number of ways, including by providing educational materials and offering seminars on physical or mental health difficulties. For instance, HR staff might impart advice on how to set up an ergonomic workspace at home or how to stretch throughout the workday.
8. Effective Communication
Lack of communication between workers and management strains working relationships and can ultimately result in a variety of unfavorable results. Employees want to be kept in the loop and informed about the direction the company is taking. Communicate with them frequently via the digital workplace and be open about the company’s goals.
9. Engage and Empower Employees
According to research, employees are more content with their jobs when they feel empowered. Although there are still circumstances where top-down management approaches are appropriate, employee empowerment generally has advantages. It fosters innovative problem-solving abilities and raises innovation levels.
Employee engagement and involvement increases worker satisfaction. Teams who collaborate actively are content and happier. The easiest method to motivate employees is to engage them entirely in the process. Demonstrate that their efforts and contributions are always valued and that they are equally important.
How do You measure employee satisfaction?
You can’t improve when you don’t know how to measure the problem. Here are few ways you can do that:
One on One Conversations
Imagine your organization has 1000 people. Scratch that, let’s keep it to 100. Do you think everyone will come to you and share their problems? Reverse it and you won’t have time to talk to everyone individually either. So, schedule one on one meetings on a monthly/weekly/quarterly basis.
Don’t go with random questions, instead take the help of this ‘One on One Template‘ blog that’ll keep you ready.
Conduct Surveys
Not the long and boring ones. But the short, direct, and anonymous ones. Yes, we are talking about pulse surveys.
Be Human
Technology, no matter how good, can only do half of the work. If you don’t give a damn about the troubles your workforce is facing, there is nothing that can help your people feel satisfied.
Start with empathy and create an active listening culture. Read between the lines. Employees might not directly convey all the issues, but they will do it indirectly. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to pick up the hints, understand the problem and help solve them.
When it comes to money, employees know if you are paying them below the market standard. So, keep things competitive from your side. If you can’t solve an issue, then talk to your friends at other organizations. Maybe they faced a similar challenge and were able to solve it.
Bottom Line!
No matter how unpleasant the satisfaction or performance levels are, it’s still important to try and get everything back on track.
In context, there are three basic steps:
Figuring out the satisfaction level of your employees.
Understanding the challenges and creating an action plan.
Taking employee satisfaction back to the desirable levels.
