Business owners are prioritising the importance of job satisfaction amongst their employees more than ever. It’s no secret that a happy and cohesive workforce has a direct correlation with motivation and performance levels. Not only is it important to business owners, but your employees too.

 

After all, they’re the ones who are directly affected by it. Nobody wants to work in a place that they don’t enjoy or don’t feel comfortable at. So, what can you do to improve your staff job satisfaction? And what are the major effects that low employee job satisfaction can have on your business?

 

We’ll cover:

 

• The Importance of Job Satisfaction
• Factors of Job Satisfaction
• The Impact Low Job Satisfaction Can Have On Employees
• The Impact Low Job Satisfaction Can Have On Your Business

The Importance of Job Satisfaction

 

The aim of HR departments within businesses is that all employees are safe and happy within their roles, right? That’s because not only is a satisfied employee one who is likely to stay with the business but they’re also an ambassador of the wider brand, both internally and externally.

 

Your employees are your number one asset as a business – without them, you wouldn’t be able to achieve any of your goals. Keeping your workforce satisfied in their roles means a lot more than just keeping them happy. This includes presenting them with opportunities for growth, developing their career and future as well as rewarding them with the right salary and benefits package.

 

Keeping your employees satisfied in their job can result in:

 

• Lower staff turnover. Turnover can be one of the highest costs involved with the HR department. Not only that, but staff coming and going can cause unrest within the wider team – which isn’t ideal for businesses. Satisfied employees are much less likely to leave.

• Higher productivity. If people are satisfied at work, they’re more likely to be motivated, which results in an increase in productivity and work rate.

• Increased profits. Employees working harder is likely to lead to an improved standard of work, which means more leads and sales. And ultimately more profit.

• Loyalty. Loyal employees share the same values as the business and are determined to help the company drive towards their goals and objectives.

Factors of Job Satisfaction

 

Keeping your employees satisfied will differ from worker to worker. There’s no one size fits all approach that will be effective for all of your workforce, so you need to make sure that you hamper to each individual’s needs. Below we’ve listed the main areas that we feel need tending to for your employees to be happy within their roles in the business.

 

• Respect. If your employee feels like they’re not treated with respect, or as if their opinion doesn’t matter, the chances are that they’re not going to be satisfied in their role. Being treated with respect by your employer and peers is the minimum expectation in the workplace.

• Trust. If employees feel like their every working move is being watched, it could feel like they’re not trusted to carry out their allocated role. This won’t sit well with employees and may demotivate them. Obviously, trust has to be gained but you should allow employees a degree of independence to showcase what they can do.

• Job security. Nobody wants to go to work every day uncertain whether they’re going to be out of a job by 5pm, do they? Job insecurity is one of the biggest causes of job dissatisfaction. Honest and transparent communication is a good way of proving job security.

• Culture. You have to make the workplace an enjoyable environment for people to come and work. Workplaces that are free from stress are perfect for creating the idea in working culture.

• Career path. Employees want progression and don’t want to feel like they’re stagnating in a dead-end job. Workers are more likely to be motivated and dedicated to a job that shows a clear career path.

• Pay and benefits. Competitive pay makes everybody feel valued. If your employees feel as though they’re underpaid, it gives them the motivation to look elsewhere for a different role.

The Impact Low Job Satisfaction Can Have On Employees

 

Itchy Feet

If an employee isn’t satisfied in the workplace, it might lead them to get itchy feet. By this, we mean that they might feel desperate to get out of your firm and move onto another to further their career. Obviously, you don’t want to make employees feel like they can’t wait to get out of your organisation, otherwise, you’ll inevitably fail as a business.

Unmotivated

Not being satisfied with work can leave people feeling like they don’t want to go in. Not just this, it can leave them feeling particularly unmotivated when they get there too. If an employee is unmotivated, you’ll see that they start to idle more. Whether it’s going on their phone or longer and more frequent breaks, you’ll find them doing everything they can to avoid doing their work.

An unmotivated employee can have a knock-on effect on the rest of your team. Therefore, one unmotivated staff member can quickly turn into two or three. Which means that your production levels will suffer as a business too, therefore, you’ll lose out on potential profit.

Unhealthy Culture

If you have a staff member that is unsatisfied, it’s likely that there are others too. People who feel that they’re out of favour usually tend to voice their opinions more. And they’re often negative ones too.

 

Frequent outbursts of negativity can impede team morale. Teams don’t want to hear negativity all the time, it will lead to demotivation and an unhealthy working environment. If an unhealthy working environment is created, you run the risk of losing employees or frequent arguments in the workplace.

 

You want to build a culture where people love coming to work – not one that they dread. An unhealthy working culture is bad news for a business. Not only will it affect job satisfaction levels but the quality of work will no doubt take a hit too. People perform best when they’re relaxed and calm, not scared to make mistakes or step out of the box.

The Impact Low Job Satisfaction Can Have On Your Business

 

Loss of Clients and Overall Profit

As we’ve mentioned, demotivated employees can hinder their overall progress. And when you have clients relying on the quality of your work to be consistently high. After all, they’re paying for your service, so if it’s not good enough, you’re going to know about it indefinitely.

 

If your clients receive work that they’re not happy with, you’ll be expected to alter the work so that’s it’s up to scratch. This is work that won’t be billed, so you’ll have lost out a little already here. If your staff continue to provide them with low standard work, the chances are that your client will get sick of this and leave. Resulting in you losing a client and the income that they provide.

Bad Reputation

As a business, your reputation is everything. You don’t want to become well-known for being the company that no one wants to work at, do you? Reputations are hard to turnaround once you’ve got them, so you should always aim to satisfy your employees.

 

If somebody left your business, they’ll have to give reason at their interview why they left. News travels fast and you’d be surprised at what power word of mouth has to destroy or make a reputation.

 

Not only will it put people off working for your business but clients may be put off too because on the surface you won’t seem like an easy company to form a partnership with. If you can’t delight your own staff members, how can you expect clients to believe that you’re going to delight them?

Keep Your Staff Satisfied with the Right Salary

 

As you’ve just read, as an employer, the importance of job satisfaction should be high on your priority list. As money is a big motivation tool, you can take a big step towards keeping your employees satisfied by paying them the right wage. But how do you know what a competitive wage is in your industry?

 

Well, that’s where we can help. Luckily for you, we’ve created a free guide that you can use to compare your salaries to industry standards and location-based averages too. Grab your copy today and take the first step towards ultimate job satisfaction for your employees.