Low job satisfaction has been associated with increased levels of turnover, absenteeism and decreased productivity. To help gauge current trends, SHRM’s 2007 Job Satisfaction Survey Report offers insights that can help employers better understand employee preferences when developing programmes and policies.
Among the key survey findings:
- The top five aspects of job satisfaction, according to employees themselves, were compensation, benefits, job security, work/life balance and communication between employees and senior management.
- The top five aspects of employee job satisfaction predicted by employers were relationship with immediate supervisor, compensation, management recognition of employee job performance, benefits, and communication between employees and senior management.
Nearly six out of 10 employees indicated that compensation was very important to them, making it and benefits the most important of 22 aspects listed.
Benefits Mix
Employee benefits can serve as a powerful tool for increasing not only employee satisfaction but also loyalty, productivity, and recruitment and retention efforts. But employers face the dilemma of balancing the right mix of employee benefits while taking into consideration the increasing costs of offering benefits.
A Secure Job
Job security, which was rated as the top component of job satisfaction by employees in 2002, placed third for employees in 2007. This aspect was less important for employees with two years or less of job tenure compared with employees having six to 10 years of tenure. Job security is perhaps less of a concern for younger employees because the employer-employee relationship is no longer characterised as a lifetime commitment. But for women, the study found, this job aspect was even more important than for male employees.
Overall, these findings suggest that job security will continue to be on the minds of employees as global competition encourages organisations to outsource and offshore jobs, restructure and lay off employees even as the economy strengthens.
Better Balance
Employees are having more difficulty achieving work/life balance because of rapid changes in the workplace and an expanding global marketplace. The trend toward more atypical and unpredictable work hours is having a powerful effect on employees and employers.
The good news is that there are a number of ways to improve job satisfaction outside of benefits and compensation, and work/life balance practices, such as flexitime, telecommuting and compressed work weeks, are low-cost alternatives. Studies have reported that telecommuting, for example, increases job satisfaction, productivity, amount of hours worked and commitment to job, and lowers stress levels.
But while studies show that increases in work/life balance can improve organisational results, many organisations still do not appear to offer these benefits.
Let’s Communicate
Effective communication about an organisation’s business goals, policies and vision, from the senior management team to the workforce, provides direction, actively engages employees, and fosters trust and respect. Most employees are seeking two-way communication—they want their opinions to be considered as much as they want their supervisors and organisation to communicate important matters to them.
Lack of communication can be interpreted by employees as a feeling that they or their opinions do not matter, which might also be interpreted as a lack of respect. Another unfortunate consequence to a lack of or poor communication is that the rumour mill becomes the main channel of employee communication.
The upshot: It’s important that employers be aware of the most immediate concerns of employees. If these are overlooked, it will be more difficult to keep employees onboard and productive. Employers can make a concentrated effort to solicit feedback on a regular basis from employees and encourage open lines of communication.
