Measuring Employee Satisfaction

All the leaders want satisfied employees: people who are excited to come to work, motivated to do a good job, and open to changes and collaboration to improve what they can do for the institution.

Employees who are satisfied tend to be:

·       * Happier, more content, and more motivated at work.

·       * More productive.

·       * Taking leaves for only for the unavoidable reasons.

·       * Better able to collaborate and network with colleagues.

·       * More likely to positively spread the word about your organization as brand advocates.

·       * More likely to stay at your organization for a long time, reducing employee churn.

Ultimately, satisfied employees give back to the institution, making it grow into the best place it can be.Yet, many employees are not satisfied.

According to the various researches more than 48% of employees are either “unhappy” at work, or only “somewhat happy.”

This is a big issue for both the institution & the employee .At a time when employee loyalty is at a low, companies need to focus on raising employee satisfaction in order to retain their top talent. Measuring employee engagement helps the leader to understand how to engage employees in a way that works best for the institution.

Benefits of measuring the Employee satisfaction

Employee satisfaction depends on factors related to the work conditions of everyday life at work, including the benefits and compensation the team members receive in return for their effort. There may be parts of the job that employees are not happy with, but other parts they enjoy. In order to ensure the institution have a highly motivated team, the leader needs pay more attention to employee satisfaction.

To identify strengths, problem areas, and “hidden truths”

Regularly measuring engagement helps the leader to tackle obstacles before they become problems. The leader can also use engagement data to showcase what’s going well and connect weaker teams or departments to stronger ones.

To build trust 

Asking for feedback from employees shows that the leader cares about their opinions and how they feel at work. Prove that the leader is there to listen and wants to create the best working environment.

To understand trends.

Understand what’s happening in the institution by location, team or compared to industry benchmarks. Keep track on the progress & direction of the institution.

How to measure Employee Satisfaction?

Having One-on-One Conversations

Having conversations personally with the employee is one of the best ways to measure the satisfaction. Many companies have these types of conversations on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. Be clear about the goals of these sessions. Ultimately, the leader wants to find out about how satisfied the employee is with their roles and the institute as a whole.

Conducting Surveys

Sometimes it’s difficult for employees to express themselves to their leader or manager, especially if they are concerned about how the other party will take it. That’s why surveys, especially anonymous ones, can be helpful tools. Surveys also help you get quantitative data, rather than just a bunch of ideas and suggestions.

How to Improve Employee Satisfaction

Once the leader measured the current level of contentment at your company, the real work begins. Leader can improve employee satisfaction by trying these tips:

Team Building at Work

Engaging the employees once in a while with team building exercises like ropes courses, paintball, boating, camping etc.   These exercises will help the employees to build a great team spirit at work & also will reduce the pressure at work place making it more comfortable to work.

Host an Annual Awards Ceremony

By treating the best employees to a yearly bash on the boss’s dime, you’ll encourage good will, inspire improved performance.

Let Employees Own Achievements

A sense of achievement can be a real shot in the arm.  Leader needs to give the employee freedom to get creative, to come up with their own ideas and run with them.

Give out Gift cards or Coupons

Giving employees small gift cards or coupons in festive season like Sinhala & Hindu New Year or Christmas will go a long way for boosting employee satisfaction. 

Broadcast Names

It’s great when the boss comes up and says “good job” for a deed well done.  It’s even better when the boss writes up a blurb and sends it to the company newsletter or even the local newspaper. Make the employees feel like stars for their work.

Allow Time Off

Who doesn’t like an extra day or two off?  If an employee is giving his maximum efforts by sacrificing more than he is asked for, to get the job done, leader should appreciate it let them cool it on company time.

That way the leaders can make the institute a better place to work for the employees & ultimately it at will help to create positive change within the institute to improve the employee workplace engagement.

References

Built In. (2020). How To Successfully Measure Employee Engagement. [online] Available at: https://builtin.com/employee-engagement/how-to-measure-employee-engagement

 [Accessed 21 June 2020].

Bernard M. (2020). Measuring Staff Satisfaction: 7 Reasons Why Your Staff Survey Is Not Giving You Anything Useful. [online] Available at: https://bernardmarr.com/default.asp?contentID=1404

[Accessed 21 June 2020].

When I Work (2020). How To Measure & Boost Employee Satisfaction | When I Work. [online] Available at: https://wheniwork.com/blog/how-to-measure-boost-employee-satisfaction

[Accessed 21 June 2020].