| 02 February 2010
The Conference Board published a research article this past January detailing the dissatisfaction of American workers. This news, covered by major outlets like Time Magazine and MPR 's "Today's Question Segment", delved into research that a mere 45% of us are satisfied with our jobs; 45% being the lowest job satisfaction rate, ever.
This is not a new trend; job satisfaction has been on a downward trend for the past two decades. The survey theorizes that though the downward trend is related to current economic distress, it is more connected to workers' interest in their jobs. In 1987, 70% of surveyed employees said they were interested in their jobs; today that number has dropped to 51%.
Less alarming numbers come from the "2009 Job Satisfaction Survey" published by SHRM, (Society of Human Resource Management). This survey cites "86% of employees indicated overall satisfaction with their current position, with 41% of employees reporting they were very satisfied."
The SHRM report, based on a survey conducted since 2002, cites job security as today's primary reason for job satisfaction. Benefits, compensation/pay, opportunities to use skills and abilities and feeling safe in the work environment were the other top contributors to satisfaction on the job.
Why is job satisfaction important for your company? Dissatisfied employees are less productive, have higher absenteeism and are more likely to leave the company resulting in the expense and business interruption of replacing employees. If the vague dollar correlations of low productivity and higher absenteeism are not enough to get your attention, the SHRM survey points to an expected trend that 31% of surveyed workers will look for new jobs once the economy and the job market improves.
In order to put a number on this, I would point to my own business experience. Red Seat is in the hiring business - we help small businesses through the process of hiring employees. Though we don't charge the 30% of our competitors, we know the time it takes to hire and the time hiring takes away from the core business of our clients. If there is a compelling business reason to address employee satisfaction, we think reducing turnover is at the top of the list. Replacing employees is expensive. Hiring costs can range from 10% of the employee's salary plus expenses, to 30% or more of an employee's salary. Losing a top performer making $50,000 can cost your business from $5,000 to $15,000 extra.
Here are some ideas to put to use in your business to increase employee satisfaction:
#1 Define. The top five factors of the SHRM survey are a good place to start to understand your team's satisfaction with their jobs. Before implementing any new strategy it is a good idea to know what your team values. Ways of doing this range from talking to your staff one-on-one, holding round table discussions, or even conducting a company or enterprise-wide satisfaction survey. The objective here is to define what employee's value in their work and to identify what they would like to see in their jobs or at their workplace to improve satisfaction.
#2 Engage. Time and again we hear job applicants express deep satisfaction in the work they have done at companies where they have made a difference. Engaging employees in addressing employee satisfaction - as well as engaging teams - to defining and resolving other business issues, has advantages that go beyond resolving the issue at hand. Manufacturing organizations that use Kaizen events or similar process review strategies are an excellent model for employee engagement. Bring a cross-function, perhaps even an untraditional team, within your organization to be the lead in defining, making recommendations and implementing ideas to improve employee satisfaction.
#3 Be Creative and implement. If employees ask for more meaningful work, could this desire to contribute take the form of a charitable effort such as a food drive or collecting business clothing to donate to a homeless shelter? Many employees we speak with seek recognition in their work. Recognition can be something as simple and as inexpensive as a $5.00 gift card to Caribou presented at a company meeting for contribution on a project. What employees ask for will likely reflect the stage they are at in their career- Gen Y increasingly seeks flexibility while mature employees seek ways to assist saving for retirement. Pick up "1001 Ways to Reward Employees" by Bob Nelson for more easy ideas. Additionally tap the resources of the employee benefit, legal and financial advisors to your business - their wealth of knowledge may hold a cost-effective solution. Once you come up with an idea, assign a stakeholder and implement it!
Red Seat is a full-service hiring resource for small and medium-sized businesses. If you would like more information on either employee satisfaction survey, please contact Talley Flora at
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or call (952) 893-0020.