If you were asked: What makes employees happy and engaged? You’d initially think of money. It is common speculation among employers that the employees’ salary is equivalent to their satisfaction. However, considering that the financial aspect plays a primary role in an employee’s happiness with their job is a false belief. To be fair, other elements include providing the best benefits, improving work-life balance, and offering gratitude, some of which translate to a happier workplace.
What Is Employee Satisfaction?
Employee satisfaction refers to a person’s work experience. It covers the company the employee works for, the key responsibilities, and their overall work experience. Moreover, the company’s Human Resources (HR) department must know how to evaluate employee satisfaction. This is essential as it can help the management improve their relationship with their employees and the overall status of the company, especially for a growing business. They can conduct surveys to assess such and determine its trends as time passes.
For employees, being satisfied with one’s job translates to general happiness outside the workplace. It also translates to being more creative and productive. Likewise, there are some benefits of employee satisfaction to employers. For one, there will be less chance of turnover. And second, employees may act as promoters of the company. Similar to word-of-mouth in marketing.
Employees who’ll promote the company through word-of-mouth are individuals who are motivated about their job and the company they’re part of. As such, they can be publicly available about their experiences and more likely to share this over social media. Once they share their positive experiences about your company, there’s a higher chance that you can attract top performers and promising newcomers.
Because of the benefits of employee satisfaction, you should know that you can attain it without giving a salary increase or raise. Besides, increasing their salary can be an added cost to your company. That said, this article has provided you with some ways of achieving this if you’re ever wondering how. Read on.
1. Strengthen Workplace Connections
Colleagues who genuinely want and respect one another will probably be more satisfied in the workplace. They are more likely to motivate each other when they encounter work-related problems. Also, a solid social connection at work means attaining a sense of belonging.
As social connections at work definitely help, their opposite can have effects that a company should consider. For one, a lack of friendship at work can affect how long they stay on the job. According to a 2020 United States Report by Cigna, employees with no friends at work are twice as likely to find another company compared to non-lonely employees.
If you’re wondering how to promote social connections in the workplace, one way to do so is to conduct a corporate virtual happy hour. This type of online event is the same as face-to-face company events. Video meeting platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Webex are often avenues for this type of company activity. It usually consists of games, icebreakers, drinks, and activities.
Likewise, other ways to promote social connection in the workplace are:
- Offer an employee wellness program that fosters a community centered around health.
- Hold team building to build rapport.
- Allow regular face-to-face meetings that offer a way for open communication. This way, trust can grow among employees.
- Encourage Employees to show gratitude to colleagues through one-to-one online thank-you notes.
- Encourage more face-to-face interactions among the workers.
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2. Prioritize Wellness
Many employers emphasize health benefits concerning their employees’ wellness. Yet, an employee’s wellness and health go beyond being physically healthy. Employees’ health covers their mental health status in and outside the work environment. It takes note of a worker’s habits, medical and behavioral issues, mood, energy, and degree of motivation. Considering employees’ well-being first is vital to maintain their high job satisfaction.
Decades ago, employee wellness wasn’t a thing. However, today, several companies are concluding that employees are human beings in the first place. And so they initiated things that promote their workers’ overall wellness.
To promote employee wellness, some things that you can consider are:
- Provide Paid Fitness Memberships: Incentives, rewards, and benefits—like spa, gym, and yoga—are beneficial for improving their motivation to work and promoting their wellness at the company.
- Assess Office Ergonomics: This can be done by making the physical workplace ideal for safety, ease of use, and well-being.
- Offer Healthy Snacks: Another step in promoting employee wellness is to allow them to eat healthily. An example is replacing sodas and junk foods in the vending machine with water and granola bars.
- Allow Workers To Rest: Encourage them to sleep properly, take breaks, and rest on weekends. Doing this allows them to be more creative, productive, and energetic.
3. Aim To Provide Work-Life Balance
One way to promote employee satisfaction without increasing their salary is to support their work-life balance. It’s crucial as many employees struggle to balance their personal and professional life. Although employees have some responsibilities to alter their perspective concerning home and work life, companies can do something to offer this type of balance.
Some ways in which you can promote work-life balance are:
- Offer Flexible Work: Flexible work is where an employee decides when to work. It’s a substitute for the typical nine to-five hours a day, 40-hours-a-week job schedule. Flexible work schedules can lower stress and burnout, which, if not addressed, may lead to a lack of concentration and underperformance for employees.
- Encourage Breaks: Allow your employees to have breaks. Encourage them to eat lunch, take a walk, or even do their tasks in a different office area. Sitting to do a job for eight hours without taking breaks can harm their health.
- Educate Them About Work-Life Balance: Invite a work-life coach to provide a seminar for employees. This can allow them to become aware that their individual needs are vital to the organization.
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Takeaway
There are many benefits to generating more satisfied employees. For one, it may mean more productivity and creativity for them. They can also be happier outside of their jobs. For employers, this translates to higher employee retention. Also, employees may promote the company through word-of-mouth when they’re more satisfied with their work. Here, they’ll more likely to share their positive thoughts about your organization on social media, leading to more chances to attract new talents.
As employee satisfaction is beneficial, you can do it without having to raise your income. Some ways in which you can do that are in this article. Consider these ways and see what’ll work for your organization.