The battle for the best candidates is bigger than ever. And once you’ve found that one good employee, how do you make sure it stays? In this blog you can read everything about measuring and improving employee satisfaction. And what the difference is between satisfaction and commitment.
Happy employees perform better
It has been scientifically proven that satisfied employees perform better. They are more productive and creative and can handle stress better. They are sick less often and are slightly more motivated than colleagues who are less satisfied. In addition, satisfied employees have more self-confidence, which means that they achieve more goals, are more hospitable and more focused on quality. As an organization this means: better results and a positive atmosphere in your company.
Happy employees make for happy customers
As simple as the online ordering process has been, if the person delivering the package is rude to the customer, it ruins that customer’s experience with your company. Happy employees are not only more productive and creative, but they are also more welcoming and treat your customers better. And that in turn leads to higher customer satisfaction!
The difference between employee satisfaction and employee engagement
A satisfied employee is not immediately involved. So what is the difference between employee satisfaction and employee engagement? Satisfaction refers to the content of the work, the working conditions and matters such as salary and other fringe benefits. An engaged employee is more emotionally involved with the company or organization, gets more satisfaction from the work and delivers better performance. However, a committed employee does not necessarily have to be satisfied.
Secondary conditions such as a good salary, pension and bonuses are not sufficient for creating committed employees. Self-development and contributing to company goals, that is what energizes employees and why they are loyal to a company.
Want to read more about employee engagement? Then download our e-book ‘Measuring and improving employee engagement in a customer-focused organization’.
How employees measure satisfaction
There are several ways to measure employee satisfaction. One of these is the ‘traditional’ employee satisfaction survey, with which you find out what you do well as an organization and what areas for improvement are. Below we give you 5 tips for researching employee satisfaction.
5 tips for measuring employee satisfaction
- Keep it short and simple! Provide a short questionnaire. Long questionnaires are intimidating and have a low response.
- Don’t forget to look for the cause. Why are employees not feeling well, what is going on? A score is of little use without context and explanation.
- Let go of hard factors such as salary and extras, which do not necessarily have a positive influence on employee satisfaction in the longer term.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel yourself. Save time by choosing a proven method and a standard program.
- Share insights with the organization and make sure that it is clear at a glance and in real time on which points you score well as an organization and where the points for improvement lie.
Employee satisfaction survey
However, there are more possibilities to investigate whether employees are satisfied than the ‘standard’ questionnaire that is sent out once or twice a year. Especially when it comes to asking for involvement, which is difficult to measure.
One method is the Employee Energy Pulse, which measures the energy level. If you feel ‘drained’ after a long boring day at work, it’s not a good sign. But if you love your job and you feel energized at the end of the day, that’s a good feeling. The energy level of your employees says a lot about the involvement within your organization.
Would you like to know more about the Employee Energy Pulse? Then download our white paper.
Another method is the Experience Culture Scan, with which you find out how employees think about your organizational culture. You can read more about organizational culture in the following blog ‘Everything about the relationship between organizational culture and happy customers’.
Improve employee satisfaction
If you want to improve employee satisfaction, doing research once or twice a year is not enough. It is important to set up your organization in such a way that you have continuous insight into employee satisfaction and that you can implement improvements on three levels: strategic, tactical, and operational.
Strategic
Make sure that the results of the research are on the agenda, not just once a year, but at every management meeting.
Tactical
Discover trends in your organization and implement improvements that directly affect every layer of the organization and specific departments. Guide managers and departments in this.
Operational
Get employees involved in their own development and give them what they need to improve satisfaction.
In addition, if you want to improve employee satisfaction, it is important to activate the organization by giving the right stakeholders access to the insights that are relevant to them at all times. And make sure that your reports are always up to date with the latest data.
Conclusion
Measuring and improving employee satisfaction is not easy. In this blog you were able to read about the possibilities and the conditions for improving satisfaction. Next week we will discuss the culture of your organization.
With the software from CYS you can continuously and automatically collect feedback from employees, so that you gain insight into employee satisfaction and what gives them energy. Knowing more? Download our eBook below.