Employee Satisfaction

“Whose job is it to keep you motivated?”

When employees are asked this question, you might think the response would be “It’s my job to keep myself motivated.” But, in reality, the most frequent and correct answer is, “It’s my boss’s job.”

Surprised? Don’t be. In an ideal world, motivation would come exclusively from within. The reality is that it’s up to management to make sure there are high levels of motivation and employee satisfaction in their company. The reasons are obvious – higher productivity, less turnover, improved teamwork, increased idea sharing, and more. One of the biggest reasons to make sure your company has a high level of employee satisfaction is that it is one of the best ways to obtain the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Numerous studies and books have been written on how employee satisfaction is directly related to customer satisfaction.

Here’s a smart formula to apply:

Employee Satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction =
Long Term Profitability

The Bad News

Recent research has revealed that employee satisfaction has dramatically declined over the last twenty years. No one needs a lesson on why this has occurred, but it is alarming. No organization can create and sustain success in today’s world of fierce competition and a volatile economy without high levels of employee satisfaction.  Your employees will be the ones who will or will not help carry your organization into a more successful future.

Ambassadors or Assassins?

Your employees develop the reputation of your company. If there is a high level of employee satisfaction, your employees can be your ambassadors. If there are not high levels of employee satisfaction and even one shows indifference to a customer or behaves in an unprofessional manner, they can be your assassins.

What You Can Do to Increase Employee Satisfaction

There are many ways to increase employee satisfaction in your company. A few are:

• Improve employee relationships between employees and their immediate boss
• Increase management recognition and reward for employee job performance
• Direct all leaders to say “thank you” and express appreciation every week
• Improve communication between employees and senior management to ensure employees understand your company’s values, vision, mission, and competitive strategy
• Ask for and listen to employees’ ideas to improve productivity, customer service and employee satisfaction and implement those that will work
• Keep employees informed of what is going on in the business. Tell them what you know, and what you don’t know.
• Create a culture of excellence – where dynamic leadership, open communication, teamwork, internal customer service excellence and employee involvement exist
• Establish a Zero-Tolerance for Bad Bosses
• Weed your garden. Get rid of Under-performers. Your high performing employees are probably wondering why you are putting up with them.
• Make sure an employee’s immediate boss displays care and concern for the health, safety, and well being of those they lead.
• Implement ways to help employees manage stress and avoid job-burnout
• Make people feel they are working WITH you, and not FOR you.