What is job satisfaction? As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it’s the employees themselves who decide whether “satisfaction” is what they have.
According to a recurring survey by The Conference Board, 62.3% of US employees surveyed in 2022 said they were satisfied with their jobs. If that sounds low, you might be surprised that it’s actually an all-time high since the survey’s inception in 1987.
But you may still be asking yourself what this elusive concept called “job satisfaction” is that is so important. And how important is it really? And how can it be cultivated?
Therefore, in this article, we’ll discuss what you need to know about employee job satisfaction so you can start reaping the benefits of a highly engaged and loyal workforce.
Job satisfaction is basically the contentment employees have with their jobs. Symptoms of job satisfaction include happiness and fulfillment in one’s role, along with loyalty, productivity, and, last but not least, engagement.
Why is job satisfaction so correlated to employee loyalty and productivity? Simply put, employees who are satisfied and fulfilled with their jobs are likely to stay longer and be more passionate about their contributions to the company.
Job satisfaction is a critical component of a company’s success because it not only affects each employee individually but also the overall performance of the whole organization.
Here are several reasons why employee job satisfaction can make or break a company:
Anyone who’s ever experienced the euphoria of satisfaction with their job knows that satisfaction equals more production. You just feel like you want to.
It’s also been proven. According to a 2015 study by the University of Warwick, happy employees are up to 12% more productive. And a 2019 study by Oxford University found that “happy workers are 13% more productive.”
Satisfied employees tend to be more passionate about their roles (see the section about internal job satisfaction below). They care.
They are more likely to go above and beyond. They take greater pride in their work. This translates to a higher-quality output and fewer mistakes.
High job satisfaction can significantly reduce turnover rates. And recruiting and training new employees is costly. It costs money and time — not to mention all of the collected experience unique to your company that gets lost each time an employee leaves.
Call it Pavlovian, but people, just like animals, are more likely to go where they feel good. Satisfied employees are less likely to take unnecessary sick days or cut corners with their attendance at work.
But unhappy employees who can’t stand being at work find ways to be there less. And therefore, even when they’re there, they’re not. They spend more time on the phone, in the bathroom, and on break. You may even have met someone who has felt that way at some point in their career.😉
Satisfied employees are more likely to speak positively about their company, which, as you know, attracts top talent, better customers, and more enthusiastic investors. Think to yourself, what’s your company’s Glassdoor rating?
Intrinsic job satisfaction is the fulfillment that employees feel from the nature of the work itself and the tasks it involves. It is influenced by internal factors like how much their work
Why are the factors that lead to intrinsic job satisfaction so powerful? It’s simple. When you tap into internal motivations and provide a feeling of satisfaction, you’re fulfilling employees’ deeper psychological needs — and that’s a really big deal.
Employees with high intrinsic job satisfaction are likely to be loyal to an extreme and less likely to quit because they don’t want to quit the dopamine rush called “fulfillment.”
Extrinsic job satisfaction is the fulfillment that employees get from external factors such as:
Extrinsic factors can motivate employees in the short term, but they do not have the power to engage employees as intrinsic factors do. Hence, those primarily motivated only by extrinsic factors will likely jump ship if offered higher pay or better benefits elsewhere.
Passionate employees who find their work meaningful are the team’s hardest-working and most passionate people. Because they have satisfied their intrinsic desire to be part of something purposeful, these employees will likely decline job offers with higher salaries if they don’t find the work as meaningful to them.
Everyone knows that employees want to feel like their efforts, skills, and experiences are compensated accordingly. Hence, higher compensation and better benefits offers have a strong positive relationship with employee job satisfaction.
However, many companies are only starting to realize the importance of making the benefits experience smooth and easy. The benefits experience you create shows how much you appreciate your precious employees and their hard work.
Healthee, for example, makes the entire process of healthcare navigation a breeze and a pleasure with the help of AI.
Having an established work-life balance reduces the risks of employee burnout. This is especially true now that more and more people are working from their homes, where separating their personal and professional lives can be tricky. Encouraging a healthy work-life balance by giving adequate vacation time, sick leave, or flexible hours can promote employee job satisfaction — but can also be a double-edged sword.
If your employees have the constant question in the back of their minds, “Are they gonna fire me?” That’s not good. It leaves a constantly bad taste in their mouths and makes work unsatisfying.
On the other hand, a feeling of job security allows employees to focus on their work and do a great job.
(Hopefully, worrying that they will lose their job isn’t the only thing motivating your employees. But if so, the good news is, there’s lots of room for improvement.)
Several studies have proven positive reinforcement to be more effective than negative feedback in instilling good habits. On top of that, regular recognition of employees’ hard work and achievements boosts their morale and satisfaction. So, being generous and genuine in showing appreciation is a small gesture that greatly impacts employees’ job satisfaction.
Everyone’s motivated on the first day of work. But over time, one of the top reasons why employees leave their jobs is wanting more of a challenge.
Therefore, providing room for career development is key to retaining your A players.
Rolling out employee satisfaction surveys has been a staple of many companies to assess their team’s satisfaction levels.
The most common method is to conduct regular (monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually) anonymous surveys to encourage honest responses. For more insightful data, the survey should ask questions about:
Typically, these questionnaires are in a rating (1-10 or 1-5) or Likert scale format.
Once you have established a collaborative working environment, employees’ one-on-one meetings with supervisors can provide deep insights into employee satisfaction. The key here is to encourage a safe space. Otherwise, employees may not say what they truly feel during the interviews. When done right, these discussions can uncover nuanced views and feelings about the workplace that surveys might miss.
The most honest feedback can sometimes be attained from people who will no longer be working for the company. Because they have less reason to filter their responses since they already have one foot out the door. This is when you want to ask a few open-ended questions to encourage them to pour their hearts out and give you as much insight as possible.
Here are some of the questions you may ask:
After collecting data from these methods, analyze the results and identify patterns among the employees’ answers. And implement changes based on the findings.
A lot of improving job satisfaction is just about considering what employees really want. As we’ve learned, they want to feel intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. They want to like what they are doing and feel challenged. And they want to be appreciated. Here are some ways to give that to them.
Everyone wants a good salary and health benefits — and employees who don’t feel they’re getting what they want, want to leave. Ensure that your compensation packages are competitive within your industry and region. Offering wellness programs and other perks on top of compensation may also help increase employees’ overall satisfaction.
Depending on your industry and your employees’ personalities, consider offering ways to help them be present in their lives outside of work. That could mean offering flexible working hours, the option to work from home, or generous parental leave. Of course, trying to keep employees motivated while they are OOO opens a whole new Pandora’s box to be mindful of, but that’s outside the scope of this article.
Cross-team collaboration, one-on-one check-ins, and celebrating individual and team milestones can all improve the work environment.
But toxic employees do not.
Therefore, I’ll mention this for the second time. Because it’s that important. Make sure to deal with the bad apples. Either look into what’s bothering them and try to fix it, or, ya know.
As mentioned, employees want to be challenged and they want to feel they are advancing their careers. According to Pew Research, 63% of employees who quit in 2021 cited not having opportunities for advancement as a reason they left.
Kara Baskin of MIT’s Sloan School of Management recommends
For many employers, doing these things affords the most ROI for improving the company.
Being able to praise employees is a hugely important part of management. Being able to do it without making others jealous is doubly important. Here’s some great advice on how to do just that.
Ensure that employees understand how their work contributes to the overall success of the company. Do this by sharing statistics and data about the impact of their projects (e.g. a percentage increase in revenue because of a winning ad from the marketing team).
Additionally, if your organization does something that internally motivates your employees, keep reminding them of the goodness that comes from what they do.
In Healthee, for example, we are inspired by being able to help companies nationwide make the most of their health benefits, save money, and improve employee satisfaction.
Managers or HR staff should be accessible to employees so that they can raise concerns. This could mean having an open-door policy or designated office hours for discussing issues. Once any issues have been addressed, communicate it back to the employee who raised the concern originally while ensuring confidentiality is maintained.
Having a high employee engagement rate is a strong indicator of high job satisfaction. When employees are satisfied with their work, they are more likely to participate in the company’s goals with enthusiasm.
For decades, studies have consistently found that job satisfaction increases slightly with age. Why? Some older adults propose that it’s because youngsters lack work ethic. But most likely, it’s because the people who still have jobs when they are older have higher-paying jobs with better conditions.
Satisfied employees are not only more productive and engaged but also less likely to commit the sin of absenteeism. One study found that highly engaged teams were 21% more profitable, suffered 41% less absenteeism, and had 59% less turnover.
Studies have consistently shown that employees who feel secure in their jobs are more likely to have higher levels of job satisfaction. Conversely, employees who feel insecure in their jobs are anxious about being let go for reasons that are either barely in their control or, perhaps, not at all.
Subjectively, from what we’ve seen, a widespread mistake, and probably the most common one that managers make concerning job satisfaction, is assuming that financial compensation is the primary or the only driving factor.
While competitive pay is undoubtedly important, job satisfaction is influenced by a mix of factors such as work-life balance, career growth opportunities, leadership quality, relationships at work, etc. When managers are too focused on salaries, they tend to neglect these other critical aspects of employee job satisfaction.
In today’s fast-paced and highly competitive work environment, many employees overlook the hidden dangers of working long hours. Learn more about the potential impact long hours can have on your employees.
Learn what a third-party administrator (TPA) is in healthcare, its role in managing health insurance plans, and why it’s a crucial partner for employers.
It's that time of the year again, open enrollment. And now is the time to send an open enrollment email to employees to ensure they are aware of their benefits and actively engage in the open enrollment process.
