The post-pandemic ‘Great Resignation’ trend is a manifestation of the drastic change in employee expectations across the globe. The conventional human resource (HR) levers like financial compensation and bonuses that drove satisfaction are no longer compelling for employees.
HR management teams are reinventing their employee value propositions (EVP) to ensure high job satisfaction among their employees. Enterprises leveraging automation to measure job satisfaction accurately and improve their employee experience are winning the talent war.
Understand job satisfaction, why it matters, the underlying factors, and ways to measure it
What is Job Satisfaction?
Job satisfaction is the level of fulfillment employees feel about their work.
Employee satisfaction, often used interchangeably, is a broader term that encompasses job satisfaction and how employees feel about their workplace and their organization.
Job satisfaction is a subtle deep-rooted work attitude. It differs from employee engagement, which aims to create in-the-moment emotional responses from employees. It is easier to engage employees effectively if they are satisfied.
Why is Job Satisfaction Important in Today’s Workplace?
1. Boosts Employee Productivity
Employees satisfied with their jobs are more likely to give their best at the workplace. Job satisfaction facilitates employee engagement.
Per Gallup’s employee engagement survey, highly engaged business units realize a 41% reduction in absenteeism and a 17% increase in productivity.
2. Reduces Attrition
Job satisfaction implies that your employees are content with the compensation, benefits, and career opportunities. It reduces the chances of employees actively looking for job opportunities outside.
3. Brings in Quality Referrals
Satisfied employees are great brand ambassadors in the job market. They are likely to refer top-quality candidates to your organization. It helps build automatic talent pipelines and cuts recruitment and training costs in the long term.
4. Saves on HR Costs
Since satisfied workers stay longer with the organization, it reduces hiring and onboarding costs. Increased productivity, collaboration, and lower supervision costs improve the company’s bottom line.
10 Major Determinants Employee Satisfaction
1. Employee Perception About Company Initiatives
While investing in a good employee experience is essential; it is also necessary to shape how employees feel about these improvements. Empower your employees with clear guidelines about improving their work experience and the tools available. Reinforce positive experiences with progress reports and consistent execution.
2. Consistent Career Development opportunities
Per the 2022 Great X Report by Michael Page, India, 48% of respondents said that the top reason for their resignation was looking for career progression and promotions.
As employees gain experience and hone their skills, they expect a commensurate increase in their pay and responsibility. If the enterprise does not meet these expectations, it leads to dissatisfaction.
3. Company Attitude Towards Employees’ Pursuits
Enterprises must encourage employees to pursue their hobbies and creative instincts. Supporting social causes your employees are passionate about also helps boost job satisfaction. Employees can connect emotionally with organizations that care about their extra-professional interests.
4. Reward and Recognition programs
With well-designed employee recognition programs, employees feel appreciated and enjoy organizational visibility. Employee awards that celebrate important service milestones and the qualities that employees bring to your organization also help in boosting employee loyalty.
5. Digital Efficiencies in the Workplace
Workforce automation is one of the chief components that increases job satisfaction. Employees leverage digital tools to solve everyday problems and bridge organizational silos. Streamlined digital workflows in a modern working environment make employees feel that the company values their time.
A 2021 Salesforce survey showed that 89% of employees feel more satisfied with their job by using automation in their workplace.
Learn from the Leaders
#1. Amazon
Amazon ranked #4 on Forbes World’s Best Employers 2021 list.
Forbes surveyed employees from 750 companies and asked them to rate their willingness to recommend their employers to friends and family. Participants also had to rate their satisfaction with their employers’ COVID-19 response, economic footprint, talent development, gender equality, social responsibility, and other factors.
#2. Cisco
Cisco ranks #1 in the Great Place to Work® 2021 Global Employee Engagement Study.
96% of its employees said it is a great place to work compared to an average of 57% in US-based companies. Almost all Cisco employees surveyed agreed they could take time off when necessary and that the company made them feel welcomed and cared for.
6. Flexibility and Work-life Balance Policies
Enterprises that offer flexible work timings and hybrid workplaces have seen an unprecedented rise in employee satisfaction and productivity post-pandemic. Employees can better manage family commitments by saving commute time and leveraging digital remote working tools. Employees feel empowered to work on their terms resulting in a higher sense of fulfillment.
7. Quality of Team Relationships
A company culture that drives values like trust, collaboration, and openness leads to employees feeling more satisfied because of mutually productive relationships and a sense of collective well-being. Thus, a happy, supportive, and socially well-adapted team is crucial for the employees’ overall job satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be increased by a job’s interpersonal relationships, which are the interactions between employees and their supervisors, coworkers, and customers.
8. Culture of Inclusiveness
Employees is very perceptive about the fairness of pay and promotion opportunities. Maintaining inclusive work conditions through enterprise resource groups (ERGs), narrow pay bands, anonymous support helplines, and other similar measures help create a sense of fairness and equity that improves employee satisfaction.
9. Quality of Manager-Employee Relationships
Per Mckinsey’s research, interpersonal relationships are the main drivers for job satisfaction, accounting for a 39% share. And among these, relationship with managers is the top factor, with an 86% share. Managers are responsible for coaching and providing opportunities for employees to grow in their roles. An unpleasant relationship with the manager can be a constant source of stress and dissatisfaction.
10. Sense of Security
Job security is a basic necessity for job satisfaction. Employees constantly feeling the need to prove their productivity are prone to burnout. Frequent check-ins by managers showing appreciation and providing constructive feedback make employees feel confident and reduce anxiety about their performance. Clear communication about organizational growth strategies and plans also helps alleviate employee concerns.
2 Key Metrics to Measure Job Satisfaction
It is crucial to quantify job satisfaction for benchmarking and tracking trends. Two important metrics:
Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI)
HR automation tools help conduct ESI surveys with three questions to be answered by employees on a scale of 1 to 10. The mean scores provide an ESI score between 1 to 100 that you can track over time.
Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
eNPS is measured by asking employees how likely they recommend their organization as a workplace on a scale of 1 to 10.
Besides these, associated KPIs such as absenteeism and attrition rate also help understand job satisfaction levels. Social media ratings for your organization, such as LinkedIn and Glassdoor, also offer insights.
Conclusion
Measuring job satisfaction is necessary for designing and improving employee experience strategies. Survey software that enables you to collate, visualize and track employee sentiments over time can provide crucial insights to HR Teams. It can also help you determine the ROI of your HR initiatives.
Organizations must also strive to narrow the gap between what they think job satisfaction includes and what employees value more. HR Teams must give soft drivers, such as company culture and work-life balance, their due to attract and retain top talent.