Does the sound of Monday rolling around fill you with excitement or do you wake up dreading them? This small distinction defines if you have work-life balance and job satisfaction. Understandably, while we all do need to work to pay the bills, some are enjoying the process more than others. Job satisfaction is the intangible, positive response of an individual towards her job. It increases employee engagement and productivity while improving employee retention, and reducing HR costs within the company. Experts categorize it into two types of job satisfaction. First, is effective satisfaction or intrinsic reasons which include a total of pleasurable emotions from the job. It also takes into account its effect on one’s life. Whereas, cognitive satisfaction or extrinsic reasons means one’s happiness through rational means of the job like responsibilities, pay, designation and more.
5 Key Factors That Lead To Job Dissatisfaction
There are many reasons for job dissatisfaction and one must have a clear understanding of the factors that either promote or diminish it.
1. Motivation
Understanding the motivation behind having this job can affect job satisfaction. Ask yourself what motivates you in this job, what aspirations you have for your career and determine if your current lack of motivation is temporary and if you can do something about it like switching jobs.
2. Respect, Praise, And Appreciation
One of the best aspects of work is the relationships built with colleagues and mentors. As women, we feel more satisfied when we are respected and praised for a job well done, even if it’s a simple thank you. Appreciation and open communication between all team members reduces conflict and also improves job satisfaction of all the employees.
3. Fair Compensation
While work is more than a paycheck, today for employees to feel satisfied with their jobs, they want to be compensated fairly for their worth. Similarly, everyone aspires for a promotion at their job. It’s important an individual feels like they will receive a promotion at the right time based on the hard work they do.
4. Leadership & Management Style
Satisfaction at work is also determined by the leadership style of the top management and the direct supervisor of the employee. Employees want to be trusted by their managers with important tasks and not be micromanaged. Micromanagement is a killer of time, trust, productivity, and job satisfaction. This aspect of management style often causes employees to quit their jobs or resent coming in to work.
5. Healthy, Challenging & Creative Workplace
Job satisfaction and productivity go hand-in-hand and organizations that provide employees with a space to do creative and challenging work will help improve the satisfaction felt by the workers. Also, job roles wherein a higher degree of responsibility are involved often adds to higher job satisfaction. Employees that are given the freedom to explore their creativity and break free from the repetitive tasks are also shown to increase job satisfaction.
7 Important Tips To Increase Your Job Satisfaction
Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction are closely interlinked. If you are struggling with job satisfaction these tips can help you.
- Have realistic expectations regarding your goals and responsibilities. Maintain work-life balance so that you don’t feel overwhelmed
- Communicate frequently with your co-workers with a focus on open and honest communication so that everyone has all the required information
- Discover small things about your job that make you happy. Make sure that these activities or tasks are on your agenda every day
- Spend time with coworkers by taking breaks together or scheduling a lunch who have a positive attitude to create a constructive environment
- Sit down with your boss for interaction and feedback as he has the most information that you need to succeed in your job
- Ask for additional responsibilities or join a committee responsible for improving the work environment. If these strategies don’t seem to work, find transfer opportunities to move to a different team
- Take frequent small breaks at work like desk exercises, stretching your legs, deep breathing or taking a short walk around the office to immediately uplift your mood
5 Useful Strategies To Improve Employee Job Satisfaction
As a leader or manager, employees satisfaction is a key priority and here are some ways to improve them.
1. Measure Engagement Levels Regularly
Measuring job satisfaction is one of the foremost ways of understanding the current levels of satisfaction among employees before figuring out the methods of improving them. There are various ways of measuring satisfaction at work like conducting surveys, having one-on-one conversations, and paying attention to the sentiment in the office during breaks. These will reveal the current job satisfaction levels and give you a good sense of the major issues.
2. Rewards And Recognition
Timely recognition of a worker’s efforts will boost their confidence and add to their job satisfaction. Finding a method to acknowledge their achievements through an annual awards ceremony, vouchers and gifts, mentions on social media or the internal company email are great ways to boost morale. Employees’ job satisfaction and performance is often correlated and is an easy method of improving it.
3. Focus On Constructive Feedback
Employees require feedback on how they can be more efficient, work smarter and perform better. Constructive feedback that can aid in the employee’s development and help them achieve their career goals will go a long way in increasing happiness at work.
4. Constant Communication
Communication is a great way for building important relationships at work. A company culture that values open and honest communication makes employees feel safe at their jobs and not be constantly worried regarding promotions, layoffs, and any other massive changes. Companies can incorporate this is by sending organization-wide emails with updates or conduct monthly all-hands meetings for greater clarity and visibility.
5. Allow Time Off/ Flexible Working Hours
Job satisfaction in organisational behaviour shows that most employees especially women show an increase in satisfaction when a company implements a flexible working hours model. As women have to handle multiple responsibilities both at home and work, having a personalized schedule can make all the difference in her life. Also, companies that have a lenient time off policy for maternity leave, sickness are viewed positively by the employees.
Key Takeaways
- If required, hire a consultant or coach to lead workshops and develop plans for development to increase employees satisfaction
- Give personalized gifts to show appreciation to your employees
- Host regular lunches or dinners for the organization to celebrate big wins and let off steam
- Certain companies have an annual retreat which allows the employees and management to get some time off from work, reset and rejuvenate themselves
- Empower employees with a sense of autonomy, where using their strengths, they can apply their learnings to make decisions
One spends most of their time daily at work. One must have job satisfaction at work to be happy in life. It’s a priority not just for employers but as employees, one should take all steps possible to ensure satisfaction. Keeping a pulse on employee job satisfaction is important, especially in remote settings and in times of high change for a company to be a profitable and productive organization.
