Job Satisfaction In The Workplace: Key Factors And Impacts On Employee Performance

Measuring Job Satisfaction

Discuss about the Job Satisfaction for Emotional and Behavioural Components.

Job satisfaction or employee satisfaction is one of the most criical point to decide in any organisation.  Job satisfaction can be measured through various facets and aspects. Job satisfaction can be measured in evaluative, emotional and behavioural components. Employee’s satisfaction is how content an employee is with his/her job. This type of satisfaction is measured through the surveys. These surveys address issues like workload, compensation, perceptions of management, flexibility, teamwork, resources. These things are important to companies who are willing to keep their employees contented and who wanted to reduce turnover (Koh, et al 2017).  Employee satisfaction covers the basic requirements of the employees.

According to Gallup research each employee needs six basic requirements in his workplace which can be discussed as follows. First can be expectation of the employees. The main and the most pivotal point to consider are the expectations. If the expectations are illustrated clearly to the employees the chances of individual performance rises. The targets associated with the tasks must be specified in a lucid manner. The expectations can be categorised according to current month, year, or quarterly or weekly. Second is the encouragement of the employees. The more the company encourages the employees the more they are motivated to work for the qualitative as well as quantitative goals.  Constant encouragement in a similar manner can inspire the employees to perform better in future. On the contrary under achievers should not be discouraged, they shall also be persuaded so they feel they are not being neglected due to bad performance (Kwon & Sohn, 2017). Equal quantity of work is given to the employees so they feel the concept of equality. Some employees have their scale of performance better. In these types of cases they must be recognised and rewarded. This feature has two benefits: First is the employees feel motivated to give their productivity and quality work to the organisation and at the same time they are also showcased as an idol for other employees to learn and grasp the knowledge and practical application. For an average if the target is not met they feel demotivated and there are certain employees who have achieved the target in the same time which gives a sense of accomplishment to them (Deery, Iverson & Walsh, 2018).

Next critical point to examine is the environment of the workplace. At times it happens that there are certain employees who are politically involved in other activities and the honest employees get involved in the same phase. Similarly in an organisation if co employees are not dedicated to the quality work in a team the other individual employees also feel discouraged and demotivated and fail to achieve the commitment. The environment matters more than the location of the workplace (Judge, et al 2017). Further, the feedback also plays a role in deciding the job satisfaction level of an employee. If the employee gets a positive feedback from his/her boss this gives him a sense of accomplishment. Every employee feels the quality of work he/she has done is remarkable but which is not true every time. In such a situation the employees cross check the level of performance with each other or with the respective benchmarks and standards. The opinion of other employees at times gives a true review about the performance. A true review will impact the employee and gives him/her an idea about where they are and where they want to reach in future.

Basic Requirements for Employee Satisfaction

Development of an employee also plays a role in contentment of the existing jobs. The capacity and ability to learn more and develop their career will also decide the relevance of the contentment (Boamah, et al 2018). Opportunities and different skill development and training programme must be organised to enhance their confidence and attitude. As a when the knowledge of a person increase the performance improves and the overall results result in the prosperity of the company. Thus if the basic requirements of an employees is satisfied in an organisation he she can stay for a longer period and this will also increase the goodwill of the firm or company (Irving & Montes, 2014). If the basic requirements of the employee are satisfied than they feels secured in the organisation and continues to work in a particular organisation.

After analysing the basic requirements how utilising these company has certain advantages is discussed. Increased job satisfaction helps to endure the business. It makes a sense and a platform for the company to operate and perform resulting in better business deals. This will help in minimising the employee turnover rate, the brand ambassadors will be created, the productivity of the company will be improved, and the level of efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved (Park, Chae & Kim, 2017).  The profits of the organisation will be robustly pacing and the recruitment and hiring costs will be reduced. The next advantage will be the increase in the goodwill of the company. The brand value of the company will increase a more and more employees will tend to enter the organisation. There is an inverse relationship between the job satisfaction and absenteeism which may be due to illness or emergency. It helps in development of unionisation of the entire organisation. It has been proved that those employees who are satisfied are generally not interested in unions and they do not perceive them as necessary. Job satisfaction tends to appear as the major cause of the unification. The employees join the union because they feel the individual voice in not heard in the organisation which would ultimately eliminate the causes of job satisfaction. The job satisfaction and the level of unification are related to each other in some or other way (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017).

Low level of dissatisfaction in job results in grievance from the employee side and high level of dissatisfaction results in employee having strikes. High job satisfaction may lead to improved productivity, decreased turnover, and improved attendance, reduced accidents, less job stress and less unionization (Deery, Iverson & Walsh, 2018). Employees that are happy in their work not only stay with the company and boost productivity; they also can help to maintain a happy customer base as well. Numerous studies have been carried out to look at the link between customer and employee satisfaction. There are certain research and surveys which have shown that the low level of job satisfaction can lead to a huge loss at the organisation level. Thus, job satisfaction or job dissatisfaction is an important concern of the management (Runeson-Broberg, et al 2017).

Benefits of Job Satisfaction

After analysing the benefits and advantages of what job satisfaction can do to the company, there are certain demerits which are discussed below. The employees never want to leave the comfort zone of their work platform (Porter & Steers, 2014). One of the major limitations of job dissatisfaction is that the contentment resides in what the employees do originally. The employees begin to accept only those tasks or work which are already done and are not willing to try their hand on new tasks. Secondly it also leads to low competition among the co-employers (Valentine & Fleischman, 2018).  Employees who have immense job satisfaction and contentment never leave the organisation and constantly challenge themselves with tuff task. Secondly the second biggest hindrance is the increased quantity but no quality questions. Often in various surveys the main questions have been asked over how much an employee is satisfies and content with what he/she is working on. At times it happens that more than ten questions which ultimately reduce the interest of the employees lack of interest and eventually he/she just answers the particular questions even without reading. This eventually leads to the survey’s ending in vain.

At times unhappy employees can respond destructively to their job satisfaction because of the lower level of appreciation for the work done by the employees. The employee appreciation takes place yearly in many organisations which means that the employees can discuss their problems yearly and they have to wait (Robertson & Kee, 2017). The company also becomes rigid in making changes and they eventually end up doing what they want to do. This creates a set of negative impacts on the emotional state of the employees. The productivity is not achieved and the success eventually is a hindrance (Al?Hamdan, Manojlovich & Tanima, 2017). At times due to dissatisfaction from the job the existing employees do loose talks about the organisation and this creates a sense of fear among the other employees. This situation also creates negativity among the employees and meanwhile the employees loose the current opportunities. Further, the team members are not satisfied and they are not given proper attention (Wilson & Peel, 2016).  

The growth of the employee is hindered and restricted. The employees are not satisfied with what they have currently and on what they are working. The response rate becomes slow in the organisation and the employees tend to leave the organisation. The whole scenario changes into employee’s turnover or strikes at times. The hiring cost also increases for the organisation. Therefore, destructive response of employees often cease the growth of the company overall and also individual growth has a great impact of the same. Further, concerns of job dissatisfaction can be no stability and slow growth. For example if the employee’s satisfaction tends to reduce the individual gains are not achieved and often no results are found in terms of profits. When the basic needs are not satisfied and the profits are not derived the individual feels low and dissatisfies at times (Yousef, 2017).  The salary is not issued on time and proper holidays are not given than employee feels distracted and demotivated. This is one of the major reasons for job satisfaction. The growth of an individual depends upon the growth if the organisation an employee as well (Chattopahyay & George, 2017).

Detrimental Effects of Job Dissatisfaction

Therefore company shall adopt certain practices and policies through which the employees can regain their job satisfaction. These steps are discussed below. The first and the foremost policy can be to delegate the new tasks to the employees to develop the lost interest in the work. Taking on a new project will help in boosting the confidence and motivation of the employees as well as the entire organisation. The employees shall start this policy from the lower level by organizing a work-related celebration, before moving on to larger goals. Secondly the employees shall be given proper training and expertise to let them expand their skills. The employee shall be given the taste of the cross-training. This would not let the employees feel bored. If the company is launching a new project, the employees should be encouraged to volunteer for the team. Employees can also regain their satisfaction by becoming a mentor for a co-worker. Same kind of work becomes monotonous. Therefore, sharing of knowledge and expertise would give a completely new outlook and the employees will feel satisfied and also will find the task interesting. Helping a team member in enhancing his or her skills will definitely regain job satisfaction. Next step can be to stay positive (Irving & Montes, 2014). The company shall conduct the activities involving the positive thinking abilities of the employees to reframe the thoughts about the job. The employees shall be in presence of people who are positive and helps the employees in uplifting their lost confidence. The employees shall also learn from their mistakes. Instead of leaving any organisation the company shall counsel the employees. When the employees have a setback at work, they should learn from it and try to regain the energies and channelize them in right direction. At times gratitude helps shift the focus towards the positive side of the job.

After having analysed the pros and cons of the job satisfaction and the steps on how to regain the job satisfaction it can be concluded that for each individual the basic requirements shall be fulfilled.  If the job requirements are not met than the employees feel demotivated and this results into a huge loss for the organisation. It is the duty of the organisation to keep the employee satisfied through incentives and policies to reduce the employee turnover rate and avoid strikes or political disturbance. The employee satisfaction is one of the critical terms which decide the behaviour of the employees. The employees tend to work efficiently and effectively if and only if they are satisfied by all means. The constructive behaviour of the employees can be enhanced. On the other hand if the employees are not satisfied with the work culture, or environment than they tend to behave in a deconstructive manner which hampers the overall growth of the company. Henceforth, the company should devise the policies in such a manner which can keep the employees more motivated and engaged and timely appreciation is performed. The employees shall be encouraged to follow the steps to regain the job satisfaction and respond constructively.

References

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