Ways to improve job satisfaction for employees

In the wake of the Great Resignation this year, employee satisfaction is more important than ever. With employees reevaluating what is important to them in both their personal and professional lives, low levels of employee job satisfaction can have some pretty detrimental effects on a business.

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Whether you’re looking to reduce turnover and retain your top talent, or you’re looking to recruit new talent to the company, prioritizing employee satisfaction is a key factor in doing so.

We talked to the employee experience experts at The Assist, a free weekly newsletter dedicated to helping modern professionals, to better get a sense of what employee satisfaction looks like in 2023 and the ways in which leaders can promote a healthier work culture.

Let’s learn a bit more about what exactly employee satisfaction is and how to boost job satisfaction levels in the workplace.

What Is Employee Satisfaction?

Employee satisfaction is a measure of how content an employee is with their job, work environment, and the overall company culture. There is a myriad of variables that affect levels of employee satisfaction including salary, non-monetary incentives, and growth opportunities (to name just a few).

High levels of employee happiness in the workplace help to avoid employee burnout and keep employees motivated to excel in their roles. Most companies have no problem understanding the concept of employee satisfaction, but many struggles to see why it’s so important and how to keep employee satisfaction high.

Why Is Employee Satisfaction So Important? 

Employee satisfaction is important because it has a direct impact on a company’s bottom line. If you have high levels of employee satisfaction, you’ll likely see reduced turnover rates because you’re able to retain your employees.

Happy employees are much more likely to take pride in their work and feel a strong sense of loyalty to the company and its core values. Employee satisfaction can also increase productivity levels at work and quality of work output.

Key Reasons Employees Become Dissatisfied

Typically, low levels of employee satisfaction aren’t driven by only 1 specific issue, but rather a culmination of multiple roadblocks hindering the employee. Below are a few contributing factors that may lead to employees becoming dissatisfied –

• Being underpaid: Most employees don’t leave their jobs purely based on finances alone, but it is important that your employees are being compensated fairly and in line with market/industry standards for their role.

• Lack of recognition: If an employee’s hard work is consistently going unrecognized or underappreciated, that employee will inevitably lose motivation and become dissatisfied with the lack of positive feedback. You can easily set up a program like this to start building a culture of recognition.

• Ineffective leadership: Whether it’s the CEO or someone’s direct manager, an ineffective leader can greatly affect employee morale. Without clear goals and effective leadership, the work environment can easily become chaotic.

• No growth opportunities: No employee wants to feel like their career path is stunted. If there aren’t growth opportunities clearly available and communicated, they will be likely to look elsewhere.

• Poor work-life balance: Setting realistic boundaries and expectations with your team is vital to maintaining employee satisfaction and promoting a healthy work-life balance.

Now that we understand a bit more about what employee satisfaction is, why it’s so important, and some of the pitfalls to avoid, let’s learn more about what you can do to start improving employee satisfaction today!

*Pro-Tip: The Assist newsletter delivers great free resources for employee satisfaction & engagement directly to your inbox!

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Ways To Keep Employee Satisfaction High

1) Celebrate Employee Milestones

Whether it’s a 1 year work anniversary, a 10 year anniversary, or a birthday, make that employee feel special and valued by celebrating them and their contributions to the company.

How this improves employee satisfaction

1) By celebrating employee milestones, you’re showing that employees that their loyalty and dedication to their roles and the company is appreciated.

2) Employees who feel valued and appreciated are much more likely to continue their career growth with you and continue to produce high-quality work.

3) Even small gestures can go a long way in bolstering employee satisfaction.

Try doing this to keep employee satisfaction high: Bonusly’s Signals interface makes it easy to gather and analyze employee feedback. The platform offers multiple types of employee surveys, including templatized versions to get you started. You can also anonymize responses so that employees feel empowered to be completely honest with their feedback.

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