What is employee satisfaction?
Employee satisfaction is the extent to which employees are satisfied with all aspects of their job and the organization in which they work. Before you can begin working on increasing employee satisfaction it is important to know exactly what it entails and which factors influence it. Some factors that influence employee satisfaction are:
● To what extent do an individual's work activities contribute to the overall performance of the organization?
● How is the relationship with colleagues and supervisors?
● Is there a good balance between work and private life?
● Does an employee have influence on the execution of the work and is their own input appreciated?
● Is the level of (financial) appreciation for the work sufficient?
Why is employee satisfaction so important?
Employee satisfaction is primarily important if you are a pleasant and accessible company where people feel comfortable and enjoy working.
But also from a business perspective deliver satisfied employees you save a lot. A good atmosphere, collegiality and employees who are in the right place ensure a considerable increase in productivity. People cooperate better and the team spirit is strong.
This in turn leads to satisfied customers who return and recommend your product or services. And you also spend much less time and money on unwanted employee turnover. All in all, high employee satisfaction therefore directly leads to time savings and higher revenue.
Research into employee satisfaction
Research into employee satisfaction helps you map employee satisfaction within your organization. Only when you listen to feedback do you find out what is going on and where improvement is possible. An employee satisfaction survey, also called an MTO, usually consists of a questionnaire with statements. It is a good indicator to measure how satisfied, engaged, motivated and loyal employees are and what (positive and negative) consequences this has in terms of efficiency, work atmosphere and motivation.
Monitoring employee satisfaction
Monitoring employee satisfaction is the next step after conducting an employee satisfaction survey. Monitoring is important, because an MTO is only a snapshot. Moreover, filling in a very long questionnaire once a year is not really appropriate anymore. Measuring employee satisfaction should be an ongoing process. Only in this way are you able to truly bring about change.
You monitor employee satisfaction by setting up a modern HR cycle. Choose multiple points of contact throughout the year and always keep a finger on the pulse. Now that many employees are working from home (and the distance to the organization has literally and figuratively grown), this is more important than ever.
Increase employee satisfaction
As an employer, you can start working on increasing employee satisfaction. Hopefully you have already gathered a number of starting points from the feedback you received from your employees. In addition, there are a number of things you can start doing immediately to increase employee satisfaction:
Take satisfaction with you into the whole employee journey
Employee satisfaction begins with the job interview and never ends, not even after a last working day. Make sure that both your onboarding as offboarding process is arranged down to the smallest detail and that you in the time in between pay sufficient attention to employee engagement .
Put sustainable employability on the agenda
Sustainable employability is about the engagement, health, the (work) enjoyment, the development and the commitment of employees over a longer period. By focusing on sustainable employability your absenteeism rate decreases and employees will work for you longer, healthy, productive and with pleasure.
Gives talent the space
Encourage your employees to develop and place them where their capacity is greatest and their competencies are utilized. Read our 5 tips to stimulate the development of your employees.
