Did you know only 40% of employees like their jobs? More than just a sad figure, it most certainly means employee turnover, and lots of it. Turnover is expensive, time-consuming, and, worst of all, very often preventable. So, how do you measure and improve employee satisfaction?
It Starts With Surveys
While you can measure employee satisfaction in many ways, surveys are typically the easiest. There are lots of digital platforms that host these types of surveys and aggregate data automatically, making your job as a business owner quick and easy. Or, if you’d like to keep it old school, you can always put a suggestion box in an open area so employees can leave their feedback.
Getting To The Root Of The Issue
While employees report low workplace satisfaction for a variety of reasons, some of the most commonly cited reasons are low compensation, lack of benefits, lack of flexibility, overall workspace, external responsibilities, stress, and safety concerns. Typically, these concerns fall into 3 categories: external, compensation-related, and environmental.
Once you understand which concern category is reducing your employee satisfaction, you can do something about it, which is great news for you and your business.
Offer Support
Unfortunately, you can’t do much about anything external troubling your employees. This category includes the personal issues in your employees’ lives, like health concerns or the need to move for a spouse’s new job. These can spring up at any time and usually mean your company is no longer the right fit for certain employees. You can’t control that, but you can offer support to your employees.
But what does offering support look like? Well, it can be different, depending on your industry, but typically includes offering PTO and flexibility to help them address their needs. For example, offering an extra week of PTO to every employee in the event of bereavement can be a great way to show you care. Or if you have some great employees who might struggle for health reasons or because they are caring for dependents, you could offer a remote or hybrid work option. It all depends on your industry and comes down to treating people like you would want to be treated and adapting to employee needs.
It’s All About Incentives
The second category has to do with your overall compensation package. Sixty percent of employees rate compensation as a highly important element of job satisfaction, and it’s really no surprise. People like to feel valued, but they won’t if they are not compensated for a job well done.
So, please, take care of your staff financially. Offer competitive pay and affordable benefits they can use to take care of their families. Offer raises and bonuses to long-term and high-performing employees. Make sure an upward career path exists for your staff to keep them at your organization for years to come. Trust us, investing in your employees will pay dividends down the road.
Satisfaction Starts And Ends With Company Culture
At Newsletter Pro, we know better than anyone that a happy workplace culture is a successful workplace culture. In other words, when your employees are given the opportunity to build real relationships with each other and form team bonds, they look forward to coming to work and get more done. Plus, building a great company culture is even easier than you might think.
It really comes down to treating people with respect. If employee feedback indicates they are feeling overworked, stressed, unsafe, or disrespected at your company, then you need to fix your company culture ASAP. If your company clings to toxic ideas like “new employees can be treated poorly because they have to ‘pay their dues’” or “work is more important than family,” then you deserve to lose your best employees.
After all, why should they care more about your company than you care about them? Everyone should be treated like they matter when they come to work, and that is non-negotiable. So, if your employees are not thriving in your company culture, fix it. Go over expectations for how your management should treat their teams, address any safety concerns your staff might have, and work on setting up opportunities to build relationship capital.
By listening to your employees and addressing their concerns, you are investing in the future of your business and its viability in the coming years. You will attract and retain top-tier talent and increase your organization’s overall productivity. All it takes is measuring and improving your employee satisfaction.
