Good employees are an asset to any company so employers will naturally want to keep those employees. And, according to research, the primary factor in employee retention is employee job satisfaction. Job satisfaction pertains to how content and happy a person is with their job. It is not the same as job motivation but the two are closely related: a satisfied employee is motivated to do their job and a motivated employee is happy to get the job done. It follows that the more satisfied and motivated employees are, the more they want to contribute to the growth and expansion of their company. 

Did you know..? Peoplebank surveys our employees twice a year and develop initiatives to improve employee engagement from the results. We were recognised as an AON Hewitt Best Employer for 5 years running due to our high engagement scores. Our belief is that passionate, engaged people, create passionate, engaged contractors and clients that ultimately creates a passionate, engaged shareholder.

Determining the Employee Job Satisfaction Level in Your Company
You may have an idea of how your employees feel about their jobs but it's best to take a systematic approach to measure job satisfaction in your company. The results of your study will inform you of the reasons behind certain work behaviors (e.g. absenteeism and poor performance) and pinpoint the specific areas you need to work on to improve employee job satisfaction in your company.

You have several methods you can use to measure employee job satisfaction. If you have a full time HR department, your HR manager should be able to create and implement a survey that will give you the exact feedback you need. Alternatively, you can hire a consultant or you can do it yourself if your company is small and cost is a restricting factor.

If you decide to do the survey yourself, you can refer to the many questionnaires available online. One such tool for determining employee job satisfaction is the Job Descriptive Index or JDI developed by Smith, Kendall, and Hulin in 1969. Despite its age, the questions remain relevant and many companies are still using it. It provides the means to measure job satisfaction in terms of compensation, promotions and opportunities for promotion, coworkers, supervision, and the job itself.

Creating a Satisfying Work Environment
Once you get to know the pulse of your employees with regard to their jobs, you can take appropriate steps to make their jobs more satisfying. For example, if your employees are dissatisfied with their pay, look into the compensation package you offer and compare it with industry standards or other similarly sized companies. If you think you cannot afford to increase their salaries, look for ways by which you can do it such as increasing sales and cutting down unnecessary costs. Involve your employees and let them know you are concerned about their problem. Challenge them to help you meet your sales and profit goals so you can, in turn, share with them your income in terms of salary increases and bonuses.

Here are a few more ways you can increase employee job satisfaction in your business:
1. Train your employees, provide feedback, and recognize good performance. Employees feel highly satisfied with their jobs if they know they are effective and appreciated.

2. Inform the employees of the value of their contribution to the organization. Communicate how the company is doing in the market and how your products and services stand against competition. Job satisfaction is directly linked to an employee’s sense of mission and passion for their work.

3. Encourage and reward creativity at work. People experience a sense of satisfaction when they get to think and implement new ways of doing their jobs, face challenges, and are allowed to solve problems at their end.

4. Promote positive interactions at the workplace. Ill feelings toward anyone in the office can lead to general unhappiness and can amplify any issue no matter how trivial it may be.

5. Allow rest breaks and encourage light diversion at work. Highly satisfied employees are having fun with their work but they do know when to take a break in order to recharge and avoid exhaustion. This goes without saying, though, that you will need to have policies regarding slacking and inappropriate activities at the office.

A work-smart, not a work-hard mentality

Not everyone agrees with this tip. And that’s fine, but here is why we recommend that it makes up a strong work ethic. When I say, ‘work-hard’ I mean working excessive hours and never switching off. When you work more hours than you should it’s likely that only half your hours in the day are being utilised, which is why you feel you must overwork or take work home with you. Often, when we are too determined to ‘work-hard’ it can lead to procrastination and eventually, unproductivity. Working hard has its good points, it showcases the ability to put in the effort and the passion/commitment to your work. But we also have to apply a work-smart attitude. Use, time management and prioritised to-do lists to try and do all your work within decent hours. If you can manage some decent home time away from work, you can come back the next day and give it your all. Otherwise, when we never switch off, we end up only giving half of what we are truly capable of, due to constant tiredness or simply because we need a break!

Self-discipline and focus

A strong work ethic requires self-discipline or self-motivation as well as focus. When you have a clear understanding of the tasks ahead of you and a timeline to do them on, it helps to create a plan of action. When you have a plan of action (it can be as simple as a to-do list with dates) you can start focusing on the most important or urgent things first. To have self-discipline is working smart and avoiding wasted time that can disrupt your workflow. It’s necessary to have frequent breaks throughout the day, however, make sure those breaks don’t take over the amount of time you are spending on work, otherwise you’ll end up being ultimately unproductive.

Maintaining quality of work

To be a good worker, you have to show that you can present a high quality of work consistently. If you had one great project that was delivered on time and helped pull in huge revenue and a great client for the company, that’s excellent! But it will be outweighed if the rest of your work is mediocre, late, or simply not up to your best personal standards. It’s better to be consistently good than inconsistently great! Make sure you’re aware of your capabilities, don’t give yourself a hard time for a bad day or week, but evaluate why that week was less productive. When you evaluate where you are at continuously it is easier to sustain a steady quality of work.

Optimism

If you walk around with your shoulders hunched and a constant frown about the fact that you’re at work, it doesn’t sound like you want to be there. If you don’t want to be there, your work is going to be of poor quality (if much work is done at all). It’s healthy and positive for yourself and those around you to maintain an optimistic attitude. Not everything is going to be a happy time and often work can get frustrating, testing or tiring. This is normal. But optimism is what helps us push through tough days and continue to get work done. It’s a necessary part of any action we take in life to have both a realistic or optimistic attitude in order to rise above pessimistic thoughts that can often lower our moods and demotivate us.