Employee dissatisfaction is a major factor in leaving a job. Employees don’t want to work for a place they don’t enjoy.
Unfortunately, we’re not doing a good job of surveying the workplace environment to see how employees are feeling.
Because of this, we see large numbers of employees come and go. That’s not good for business. And that’s not good for leadership either.
Leaders should desire to create a workplace that attracts top talent. We should also make sure our talent wants to stay with us.
We can’t help keep our top talent if we’re not aware of how satisfied they are.
Areas Of Employee Satisfaction
When thinking about surveying your employees, you need to decide which metrics actually matter to your team. Does your team want better pay, more recognition, autonomy, flexible hours?
Each of these areas matter to different employees.
Let’s look at a few areas you want to consider when looking at employee satisfaction:
Pay: Studies have shown, or so they say, that people don’t leave organizations because of pay. They leave because of other reasons.
I have to disagree. Plenty of top talent will leave a job with mediocre pay for a job that pays better.
Survey your employee’s satisfaction on pay.
Culture: Another area often overlooked is culture. If we forgot how our team interacts with each other and how the organization treats employees as a whole, we have a massive missing piece to the puzzle.
People love working with those they like. I mean, who wants to work with people they can’t get along with? Not many.
Ask your employees how satisfied they are with the culture.
Value: More important than pay, though not by much, is how valued an employee feels. By making your team members feel like the organization truly values their creative inputs and their efforts, you create loyaly.
Your team wants to feel like they’re making a valuable contribution. They want to know their voice is heard.
They don’t want to feel like they’re easily replaceable.
Find out how valued they’re feeling. Also, be sure to ask them what makes them feel valued.
Balance: I’ve written in the past on how the 40-hour workweek is dead. Our team is constantly connected to the workplace.
They have company provided cell phones. They have company provided laptops. They may have a company provided vehicle.
All of this keeps your team connected more than ever.
Your team is checking email when they go to bed, when they wake up, and while they’re spending time with family. This makes balance hard.
You need to find out what balance looks like for your people. What do they want and how can you give them balance?
Your people are looking to have their voice heard. Are you willing to listen?
Be bold and ask your team how you’re doing. You might be surprised with the answers you get.
Question: How do you gauge employee satisfaction within your organization? What do you do with the feedback? Share your story in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.