WHAT HELPS IMPROVE JOB SATISFACTION: JUST ASK
The best way to know what keeps employees from leaving is to ask, and yet many companies don’t take the time to find out what gives their workers the greatest job satisfaction.
Instead of beating your head against a wall trying to figure out what works, just ask. This may seem like a strange concept, but it works. Okay, so now you’re probably thinking: how do I ask about job satisfaction in a way that will enable me to get meaningful information?
Bluntness may not work, especially if it’s not a subject that’s been broached before. You might be looked upon with skepticism. Instead try these ideas:
- During an employee’s performance evaluation, ask about his goals and find out how the assigned work aligns with those goals. Find out what a subordinate isn’t getting from the job that she would like to be getting. Delve into what kind of challenges or responsibilities he would like to take on.
- Working together as a team can sometimes make the conversation flow easier, so during a team meeting, brainstorm a list of the top five or ten reasons why they think employees stay with a company. This job satisfaction list can then be your jumping off point on what you need to do as a supervisor.
- Suggestion boxes are a great confidential way of garnering ideas from employees to improve processes and procedures, but don’t forget to ask for tips on how to make your company a better place to work.
The act of asking itself helps to create job satisfaction. Of course, that can quickly fade if the responses are ignored. So be sure that when you set out to identify and define job satisfaction for your particular employee population, you do it with the intent of implementing change or improving upon what you already have.
Explore posts in the same categories: Employee Retention, Teamwork, Job Satisfaction
Sometimes it seems like the simplest tasks can be the most challenging or difficult to accomplish. How to just ask your employees what you can do, as a company, to create a more satisfying environment?
You offer easy suggestions and valid points on how to create employee satisfaction. Thank you for your insight.
Your ideas are so simple yet so valid. Why don’t more supervisors figure out that the only way they are going to get any feedback is to ask!
Right, just ask! Thanks for the suggestions on how to go about getting that much needed feedback from my employees.