A meaningful vision of the future, a sense of meaning and great relationships.
All this seems like reasonable expectations of employee satisfaction. And with all three met, there is no doubt that you will have a full team of engaged employees.
Unfortunately, according to Gallup’s U.S. Department of State, only 33 percent of U.S. employees are employed in their jobs. Even more surprisingly, the vast 91 percent say they last changed jobs to explore “greener grass.”
The same report also found that just over half (51 percent) of employees are actively looking for a new job. This means that it is more important than ever to focus not only on employee satisfaction, but on the measure of staying ahead of changing employee thinking.
Here’s how you can measure employee satisfaction and exceed their career expectations:
Assess working relationships
Effectively measuring employee satisfaction means looking at everyone individually and as a team. Therefore, overall happiness is crucial to the success of your business. If one coworker is unhappy, their actions, negative attitudes, and lack of productivity can permeate your entire team.
First, find out what employee satisfaction and engagement looks like in your company. What does your team need from their work relationships to collaborate on an idea, improve business processes, and create successful results?
If you’re not sure, sit down and brainstorm with your team. Employees will feel empowered when they come up with solutions to improve employee satisfaction and will be charged with positive energy.
Once you’ve figured out what your team needs, you’ll be able to better assess where employees are having problems in their work relationships. Keep communication channels open by encouraging your team to come to you with any issues or issues they couldn’t solve on their own.
Seeing your consciousness towardswith their happiness with co-workers will motivate employees to stay up to date with you so that you can continue to measure their satisfaction.
Measure the employee’s sense of purpose
An employee of a new age does not appear just to come and go. Instead, they want to know that they contribute to the overall greater good of society. When an employee is dissatisfied, his sense of purpose quickly decreases – along with his interest and passion.
This is where the poisonous detachment begins, and employees begin to look for work elsewhere.
If your team already feels unhappy, they are in a vulnerable place. Use anonymous measurement methods to persuade them to speak honestly about the satisfaction of their employees. For example, create anonymous open-ended surveys to give employees room to expand their feelings, opinions, and expectations.
Do not be afraid to put yourself and other leaders of the company in vulnerable positions. Like Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb explained his process of measuring employee satisfaction in The Airbnb Story.
Gebbia and the Airbnb team organize meetings called Elephants, Dead Fish, and Vomit. Every person on the team is welcome at a monthly meeting, where they can freely spread great truths that no one wants to talk about, grievances that they simply cannot get rid of, and time to express concerns without judging or interrupting.
Undoubtedly, these meetings are extremely useful for employees to get things out of their heads. But they also allow company leaders to measure where employee satisfaction is and what they can do to proactively solve these issues.
Understand their vision of the future
Optimism in the workplace radiates through the entire organization when it is part of its culture. However, optimism for the future is a challenging feat if you are not aware of where employee satisfaction is.
To find out how satisfied your team is with their future in your company, ask them to discuss how their personal goals are aligned with those of the organization. Seeing how they relate to the future will help you measure how excited they are to move forward with you.
If you find that some team members are having trouble connecting with the future of the company, offer a solution. Perhaps they would be motivated by updated tools or learning processes, or, if possible, offer a new position within the company where you think they would stand out.
No matter where your employee satisfaction currently lies, this may change tomorrow. The job market is incredibly competitive, and keeping up with your team’s emotions, happiness, and passions is extremely difficult. Always keep the conversation fluid to proactively address your team’s satisfaction.
