The importance of ensuring your employees are happy cannot be overemphasized. Employee satisfaction has a great impact on their job output.
It also has a huge impact on employee engagement.
As an employer, it falls on your shoulders to monitor employee satisfaction and create programs to help boost it.
Here are seven tips to help you improve employee satisfaction now!
1. Provide the Opportunity for Authentic Employee Interactions
Managers are typically very busy people, that are short on time. It's not uncommon for employees to think that their manager/employer is too busy for the "small stuff".
However, employees can have outstanding ideas that can significantly impact your business for the better. The challenge is they need opportunities to speak with their managers and not feel rushed or brushed off.
Designate time for your managers to have the ability to sit down with people one on one or in a group setting where employees can feel like they are truly being listened to.
Authentic interactions with employees will go a long way in making them feel heard and supported, which will translate into higher satisfaction.
2. Set Clearly Defined Goals
In order to get where you want to be, you must first establish where you want to go. Not setting goals is like driving around in your car without a set destination.
Not setting short and long-term goals for employees creates an environment where they may wander around aimlessly, doing their job, but not really sure where they are headed. This doesn't make anyone feel great.
Employees also need to know the short and long term goals of the company. In order to feel satisfied, it's important to know where the company is headed and what you hope to accomplish.
When employees know where they are headed and where the company is headed they tend to feel more secure and motivated to perform as part of the team.
3. Implement a Wellness Program
A healthy employee population contributes to the overall growth of any company. More and more companies are realizing the huge benefits of increasing wellness with their employees...better productivity, lower health care costs, and higher employee satisfaction.
This article, 5 Hallmarks of Successful Corporate Wellness Programs , is a great read to get more in depth information.
4. Concentrate On Growth
A growing company is a dynamic and exciting place to be. Employees can't help but be invested and excited to see where the company will go.
Contrast this with a stagnant company, or worse, a shrinking company where employees might feel uneasy and insecure about the future. It's incredibly difficult for anyone to feel satisfied in an environment like this.
Employees should also have opportunities for growth themselves. Do you offer them opportunities to learn, personally develop, and take on more responsibilities? Do employees that want to move up in your company have the opportunity to do so? If not, it's highly unlikely they will feel completely satisfied.
Focusing on growth for the company and all the individual employees will go a long way in creating high employee satisfaction.
5. Show You Care
Managers have to be great leaders and show their employees they care. After all, your employees are people first and foremost. If they are treated like another number there is no way to be satisfied at work.
Employees need to know you care about them...their welfare, their family, their goals, etc. Take the time to get to know them, be there to support them when they are in need and congratulate them on a job well done. It's the little things like this that will go a long way to increasing employee satisfaction.
A friend of mine just left a company where he worked for only a couple months. All the company wanted to do was squeeze out as much output from him as possible. He worked 10-12 hour days and there were consistent requests to complete work after hours and on weekends. There was no consideration for his personal life...they simply did not care.
Would you feel satisfied and positive in an environment like this? Me neither.
6. Training, Training, Training
The importance of training employees cannot be over emphasized when it comes to improving employee satisfaction. Training helps employees feel comfortable and confident in their job.
When employees can tap into their training and complete job duties in excellent fashion, it gives them satisfaction and keeps them committed to their job. Similar to number 4 above, proper training will also facilitate growth for your employees within their role and the company.
Who doesn't feel great with a job well done?
7. Celebrate And Reward Achievements
Recognition is huge for employees. Nobody feels happy or satisfied when they do a great job time and time again and nobody notices? Lack of recognition communicates a lack of caring, whether you intend it or not.
When your employees accomplish something, individually or as a team, make a big deal out of it. Celebrate the little wins because it is the culmination of all the little wins that lead to the big ones and it makes people feel great during the journey.
Some of these tips are harder than others to implement but get started today and you'll be headed in the right direction.
Real world examples can be extremely helpful. Check this out for some examples of what some of the best companies are doing to improve employee satisfaction and employee enagagement.
Did you find this helpful? Feel free to comment below and share.
Header Image Courtesy of Pixabay.
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