What Is Employee Satisfaction? (With Ways To Improve It)

Updated 30 September 2022

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Employee satisfaction is an indicator of the emotional well-being or psychological health of an organisation's employees. Employees who feel valued at work and are content with their workplace tend to find more satisfaction in their present roles. Learning about employee satisfaction can help you understand an organisation's employee retention and how it allows employees to deliver their best. In this article, we answer the question, 'What is employee satisfaction?', outline the steps to measure it and share the various benefits of high employee satisfaction.

What Is Employee Satisfaction?

The answer to the question, 'What is employee satisfaction?' lies in the level of contentment that employees feel when working with an organisation. A healthy work environment is crucial to employee satisfaction, as it fosters positive work group dynamics. An organisation's high employee satisfaction means that teams in that company remain positive and productive. A company may witness many people leaving the organisation when employee satisfaction is low. An organisation that understands the significance of high employee satisfaction strives for offering its employees a work environment that promotes work-life balance and offers opportunities to grow.

Factors that contribute to high employee satisfaction include rewards and recognition, managers taking feedback and employees feeling challenged with the work they perform. When supervisors actively listen to their team members and implement ideas that the members share with them, it encourages employees to remain more involved and productive. There are several professionals who intend to gain new skills and challenge their present skill set. When organisations offer them challenging roles, it not only allows employees to take pride in their work but also results in less employee absenteeism and turnover.

How To Measure Employee Satisfaction?

Managers or HR professionals may follow these steps to measure employee satisfaction:

1. Send anonymous surveys

Sharing anonymous surveys with employees proves to be beneficial in determining how happy they are working with an organisation. With the help of these surveys, organisations collect feedback. Using this information, they discover ways to improve the work culture for all their employees. Below are some areas that an organisation may choose to address when sending surveys:

Career development: When organisations ask their employees about growth, they find out how they may offer their employees more opportunities to help them excel in their career. They may recognise several ways to make their employees feel supported.
Leadership: Asking employees about leadership is an efficient way to determine how managers function and how team members feel about their leaders. This way, organisations may discover how inspired teams feel working with their supervisors or may explore ways to improve the organisation's leadership.
Teamwork: The assessment of workplace collaboration helps organisations to find out if their employees are utilising their teamwork skills or if they possess these skills, and what challenges they are experiencing while applying them. This evaluation enables companies to determine if they are required to organise additional team-building activities.
Workplace relationships: Finding out if team members have cordial relationships with each other and other members of different departments can help organisations to assess their work culture better. If the survey responses are not as expected, managers may take steps to foster positive interactions between colleagues.
Communication: Open and coherent communication facilitates team performance and improves business efficiency. Measuring this may help organisations to devise ways that help employees comfortably exchange their thoughts and ideas.

2. Organise meetings

To know how employees feel about different aspects of an organisation's work environment, companies may conduct routine meetings. With the help of these meetings, organisations are better able to discuss varied matters either during one-on-one meetings or group meetings. With in-person meetings, organisations offer employees the opportunity to talk about their concerns in private. When organisations invite team members to group meetings, they allow the employees to exchange feedback and ideas.

3. Observe the workplace environment

Observing their employees and how they act at work is an efficient way for organisations to identify their concerns or how cordially team members work with each other and their managers. To gauge their contentment, organisations may notice how often their employees smile and laugh, as this is a good indicator of satisfied employees. If organisations notice that their employees feel stressed and exhausted, they can take steps to help their teams find a better balance at work.

4. Conduct exit interviews

Exit interviews help an organisation to understand why their employees are not able to find satisfaction in their roles or the company's management. During these interviews, HR managers may also try to understand from employees why they are choosing to work with another company. Below is a list of some questions organisations may ask employees during their exit interviews:

Why do you choose to leave this position and this organisation?
Do you have feedback for us that may help us improve our work environment?
During your time in this organisation, what did you enjoy the most?
What are the factors that made you dislike this place?
Did the organisation give you enough opportunities to excel in your career?
Would you recommend others to work with our organisation?
What is making you choose a new employer?
If this organisation offers you a better role in the future, would you like to work here again?

Tips For Employee Satisfaction Surveys

Below are some tips an organisation may follow when sending out employee satisfaction surveys:

Keep surveys confidential so that employees share their views comfortably.
Encourage employees to honestly give answers to ensure the effectiveness of surveys.
Share surveys with employees multiple times a year.
Implement suggestions and ideas after processing surveys.
Tell employees about when they can expect improvements to start impacting them.
Conduct team meetings to discuss the results of employee satisfaction surveys.

Benefits Of High Employee Satisfaction

Here are some benefits of high employee satisfaction:

High productivity and work quality: When employees feel satisfied with their role and organisation, they tend to be more productive and remain focused on achieving higher-level goals.
Low employee turnover: If an organisation offers its employees opportunities to grow in their roles and fields, they are less likely to leave for another job.
Increased morale at work: An employee shows a positive attitude at work when organisations offer them a supportive work environment.
Competitive advantage: Productive and valued employees help organisations to remain competitive in the market and such companies may also attract other motivated candidates.

Ways To Improve Employee Satisfaction

Here are some ways an organisation may follow to improve employee satisfaction:

Recognise the requirements of employees. With the help of surveys and meetings, an organisation may ask employees about tools or resources that can help them to accomplish their tasks easily. By analysing this information, organisations may develop and implement varied initiatives that enable employees to complete their work efficiently.
Treat employees well. When the management and HR department of an organisation creates a safe and positive work environment, it promotes fair treatment of all employees. Recognising their accomplishments and asking them to share their concerns and resolving those issues is a great way to respect their work, experience and feedback.
Review pay and benefits packages. During performance assessments, an organisation may ask employees if they feel satisfied with their pay and perks. After collecting that data, the company may consider revising salary structures and offering its employees more appealing ones.
Improve job security. The satisfaction of job stability is a great motivator for employees to continue working with an organisation. When companies offer job security, it facilitates improved performance and employees feel motivated.
Create opportunities that align with skills. Assigning job duties that align with an employee's skills is an efficient way to improve employee satisfaction. An organisation may also consider offering their employees various job training and educational programmes to help them develop new skills.
Promote relationship building with supervisors. When companies conduct meetings where both employees and their direct supervisors take part, they are more likely to help their employees and leaders develop strong relationships. They may do this by organising interesting team bonding activities.
Recognise employee performance. When companies recognise the achievements of their employees, it helps the employees to feel valued and motivated. This recognition instils a sense of pride in employees who may strive to achieve more goals.
Prioritise corporate social responsibility. If an organisation engages in social causes, its employees tend to take pride in their company's vision. To enhance this feeling of pride, the company may develop programmes where all the employees can participate and contribute to causes that matter to them.
Remain open to perspectives. An organisation that accepts feedback and ideas from their employees is better able to offer inclusivity to their employees. The company may implement these suggestions and ideas while creating company policies or implementing charitable initiatives.
Make the workplace inviting. When organisations offer different activities to their employees, the workplace becomes more enticing. They may create a sports club, offer relaxation areas, provide delicious snacks or schedule engaging team excursions.