Increasing job satisfaction makes great business sense. You end up with engaged employees and a better business.
There have been a number of recent workplace studies that have shown that encouraging management to focus on strategies that increase job satisfaction creates a more productive workforce and higher rates of business success.
By focussing on increasing job satisfaction amongst your team, your organisation can realise benefits, such as;
- Lower employee turnover
- Create brand ambassadors
- Improve company productivity
- Increase bottom line profits
- Reduce recruitment costs
As you can see in the list above, an organisation can benefit by saving money in recruitment and reducing turnover, and increase profits by improved productivity and increased bottom line profits.
What’s not to like about this scenario?
Companies can save money and increase profits by putting a focus on increasing job satisfaction for their employees.
So how do you go about increasing job satisfaction?
Whilst there are many articles and even lengthy books on the subject of increasing job satisfaction, it should be noted that every organisation is different. What works with one team may not work as well with others. Having said that, there are a number of similar activities that work, such as;
Ask employees about their personal motivations
One of the most pertinent methods is to ask your team what they want. This can be as simple as team meetings where everyone openly discusses the issues they face in their roles, and looking for creative ways of alleviating this.
Using an employee survey system can highlight areas of concern, as well as employees who could do with additional mentoring.
Reduce micro-management
Nobody likes having a manager peer over their shoulder constantly, and if you this will make them feel like they are trusted and they will likely reward this trust.
By removing micro-management, a task goes from being something that they are expected to do to being something that is their responsibility.
Improved work environment
This doesn’t necessarily mean spending tens of thousands of dollars on new equipment or office fit-outs. Improving small things can have a huge impact on the satisfaction of your team, and could be anything from a new coffee machine or kitchen equipment, through to comfortable, ergonomic seating for employees.
A good way to achieve this is to run a poll or survey on what employees would like to see improved in their immediate work areas.
Photo: Sarah Reid, Flickr
Improving communication across all levels
A focus on improving communication amongst the organisation, from leaders to workers and importantly, vice versa, is credited at many companies as increasing job satisfaction.
Staff should be allowed to be critical and to feel they can raise concerns in a non-threatening environment. If employees are afraid to speak then they are unlikely to put much effort into the job and they will probably want to leave as soon as possible.
Create an employee recognition program
An employee recognition program doesn’t mean sticking their name on some plaque in the reception area once a quarter. It could be as simple as making an effort to thank them individually as a manager.
We penned an article recently which covers 7 awesome methods for employee recognition, which is worth a read.
Reducing time stress
Tight deadlines have been shown to be another major sources of stress for many employees. Organisations can look for ways to ease this stress by scheduling projects and work further in advance, or literally just freeing up more time, by requesting they attend less meetings and the like.
A great method is to encourage employees to keep a time journal for a few weeks, and then ask them to highlight times they felt they didn’t need to spend energy on these tasks. Reducing these tasks through the use of better delegation techniques can free up many employees for more pertinent work.
One of the most influential names in business management, American psychologist, Frederick Herzberg, once stated
True motivation comes from achievement, personal development, job satisfaction, and recognition.
In Summary
In summary, improving job satisfaction is great both from costs and profits for the organisation itself, through realised efficiencies and reduces employee turnover, and also for the employees themselves, through general happiness and satisfaction.
Those six popular methods of improving job satisfaction, again are;
- Ask about personal motivations
- Reduce micro-management
- Improve the work environment
- Improve communication across all levels
- Create an employee recognition program
- Reducing time stress
Armed with these six strategies, management can focus on improving employee satisfaction to the benefit of everyone. What job satisfaction strategies have worked for your organisation? We would be keen to hear in the comments, below.
