Written on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 4:20 pm by Christiane

What are the key factors that keep people happy in the workplace?

One would assume that this should be an easy question to research,

however studies about this topic yield different results. For one, researchers
use different questions in their surveys.  Another reason is that not all
studies analyze the results by age groups. Generally, younger workers tend
to be less satisfied with their jobs than older workers and they do have
different expectations.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) annually surveys

employees and HR professionals about job satisfaction.

The Top 5 Job Satisfaction Factors for Employees are according to the
2009 Survey report :

 Job Security
 Benefits
 Compensation/Pay
 Opportunities to use skills and abilities
 Feeling safe in the work environment

The HR professionals in this study agreed with ‘ Job Security’ as top priority,
and they also included ‘Benefit’s and ‘Opportunities to use skills and abilities’
among the top 5 factors. However, on rank 2 they put ‘Relationship with
immediate supervisor’ and on rank 4′Ccommunication between employees
and senior managemen’t.

Salary.com Inc.  found that employers overestimate the job satisfaction

levels of their employees.  According to the 2008/2009 Employee
Satisfaction and Retention Survey by salary.com, about 65 % of employees
said that they are somewhat satisfied with their jobs. Employers believed
this number to be 77%.  

Key Factors for staying in the job are according to the study: 

Good relationships with co-workers,  job security, desirable commute and

desirable hours.  Good relationships with managers and adequate
benefitswhere this time not among the top reasons why people remain in
their jobs.

Top reasons to leave a job are according to the survey inadequate pay,
insufficient recognition and not  enough development opportunities.
In my college classes, I usually give my students also a questionnaire about
important job satisfaction factors. Most of my students are in their 20s,
which means they belong to the group of the most unhappy workers in the
US – at least according to the results of most  major surveys.

The top 5 key factors for job satisfaction according to my students are:

 Pay
 Benefits
 Relationship with supervisor
 Relationship with co-
workers                              and,
normally not included in surveys
 Humor/ having fun at the workplace

Perhaps this is the difference between todays young people and the rest of
us workers. Young people want to enjoy the time they spend at work, while
previous generations are more achievement oriented or only work to make a
living.

Why do you work? What are the most important key factors for you? What
motivates you? What can you do to improve a dissatisfying job?

Find the answers in my new eWorkbook: Job Satisfaction – Learn to Love

Your Job!

This is not just another book to read. Activities like thought questions,
questionnaires and exercises will guide you to a better understanding of your
wishes and needs at the workplace. You will learn which aspects of your job
are gratifying and which aspects need improvement. I also offer you advice
and tips what you can do to improve your job situation.

Get the eWorkbook  ”Job Satisfaction – Learn to Love Your Job”  NOW!
So what makes up job satisfaction? An article a few years ago in the UK press said that workers
implicitly rated five elements within their workplace.

1) Job salary/wages/pay

It sounds obvious - and when many people think of why they chose a particular job or career,
pay will come out as a very important factor. However, what I find interesting is that it is only
one factor out of the five which make people feel happy in their work.

2) Status of your job

The second element of job satisfaction is related to status - how proud are you of your friends
and acquintances knowing you do a particular job for a particular company?

3) Daily structure provided by your job

I found this element of job satisfaction interesting - in fact it appears that what many refer to as
"the daily grind" is actually one of the key reasons we choose to work. Of course there is a
difference between tedious routine and simply providing structure. For instance, in my work, I
know roughly what I'll be doing for the next few days, and the overall shape of what I'll be doing
for the next year or so (but with almost no specifics). This is enough structure to allow me to
make sure that my day is productive.

4) Development and achievement

Being productive brings us on to our fourth element of job satisfaction. People like to feel that
they are going somewhere and getting stuff done. I find it interesting to look back on my
experiences to think where I have felt the highest levels of achievement or the greatese levels of
development - and it's not necessarily in the most obvious environments.

For instance, my best development experiences certainly have not occurred while on training
courses. They have occurred when someone has taken time out of their day to tell me what I've
been doing well recently and what I should consider changing to be more effective. It is worth
noting that this coaching can come from more senior people but equally (and sometimes more
importantly, particularly in the area of people leadership) from people less senior than you. If
you work in an environment which doesn't yet have an open and constructive feedback and
coaching culture (and this is NOT the same as evaulation) then you may need to carefully coach
these people on how to give useful feedback (see feedback article on the Careerfriend website)

5) Social interaction

Finally, the research from Aston suggests people like going to work so that they can meet, work
with and chat to. After all, given you willl be spending so much of your waking life there, why
surround yourself with people you don't like?

How you can use the five elements of job satisfaction

So, now that we know the five elements of job satisfaction, how can we use this?

Well I can think of three ways in particular:

Assessing your current job satisfaction

Perhaps you are currently feeling unhappy in your work but can't put your finger on why you feel
unhappy? Or you think your salary is too low? Well assessing your current job against these five
factors will allow you to see the benefits as well as the negatives from your current job. Perhaps
you're implicitly trading off a lower salary for working with a great bunch of people? If you're
scoring your job lowly on all aspects, however, perhaps it's time to do something about it...

Seeking ways to improve your satisfaction

So if your job really sucks, what can you do to change it (without moving). Look through the five
criteria and assess which ones you will be able to address with a bit of proactive action. For
instance, if your salary is too low, ask for a raise (and have your facts ready to back up that your
salary should be higher). If you're not feeling sufficiently stretched, seek out more responsibility.

Assessing new opportunities

You might come to the view, however, that there is little or nothing you can do to substantially
improve your job satisfaction at your current place of work and that the time has come to move
on. Before you jump for the first company to offer you a job, however, or only consider whether
you will receive a higher salary, run through these five criteria for job satisfaction to really find
out if you're likely to be happier in your new job.

Improving job satisfaction for employees

Managers have one additional way they can use these criteria - they can ask themselves if they
are doing everything they can to maximise the job satisfaction of their employees. I constantly
keep these factors in the back of my head to make sure my teams are having the best time
possible. There are some things I can't change such as salary - that is decided by someone else -
but I can, and do, do my best to maximise all of the others. And if you're a manager - you
should too! Not only will you get more out of your team, but you'll also reduce staff turnover,
retain skills on your team and, potentially, be able to attract talent for below market rates by
focussing on the non-salary aspects of job satisfaction!
Job satisfaction is a worker's sense of achievement and success on the job. It is generally
perceived to be directly linked to productivity as well as to personal well-being. Job satisfaction
implies doing a job one enjoys, doing it well, and being rewarded for one's efforts. Job
satisfaction further implies enthusiasm and happiness with one's work. Job satisfaction is the key
ingredient that leads to recognition, income, promotion, and the achievement of other goals that
lead to a feeling of fulfillment.

WHAT WORKERS NEED IN JOB SATISFACTION

Major specifics of what workers need in job satisfaction include self-esteem and identity. A
significant portion of job satisfaction often comes just from the sheer fact of being employed. If
work creates positive features about being employed, unemployment almost invariably lowers
self-worth. Genuine job satisfaction comes from a feeling of security whereby one's performance
is judged objectively by the quality of work performance rather than artificial criteria such as
being related to highly placed executives or to relatives in the firm. Yet at the same time,
monotonous jobs can almost shatter a worker's initiative and enthusiasm. Employees have
definite needs that they feel are essential to activate as they spend their working hours and years
expending their efforts on behalf of their employers.

IMPORTANCE TO BOTH WORKER AND ORGANIZATION

For the organization, high levels of job satisfaction of its workers strongly suggest a workforce
that is motivated and committed to high-quality performance. Increased productivity—quantity
and quality of output per hour worked—would seem to be almost an automatic by-product of
improved quality of workmanship. It is important to note, however, that the literature on the
relationship between job satisfaction and productivity is neither conclusive nor consistent.
Studies dating back to Frederick Herzberg's (1957) have shown surprisingly only a low
correlation between high morale and high productivity. But this is contrary to easily formed logic
that satisfied workers tend to add more value to an organization.

Unhappy employees, motivated by fear of job loss, will give 100 percent of their effort for a
while, but not for very long. Though fear is a powerful motivator, it is also a temporary one. As
soon the threat is lifted, the performance declines.

Tangible ways in which job satisfaction benefits the organization include reduction in complaints
and grievances, absenteeism, turnover, and termination, as well as improved punctuality and
worker morale. Job satisfaction also appears to be linked to a healthier workforce and has been
found to be quite a good indicator of longevity. Although only low correlation has been found
between job satisfaction and productivity, some employers have found that satisfying or
"delighting" employees is a prerequisite to satisfying or delighting customers, thus protecting the
"bottom line." No wonder Andrew Carnegie is quoted as saying: "Take away my people and
soon grass will grow on the factory floors. Take away my factories, but leave my people, and
soon we will have a new and better factory" (quoted in Brown, 1996, p. 123). Job satisfaction
and occupational success can result not only in job satisfaction but also in complete personal
satisfaction.
PROMOTING JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction does not come automatically to business organizations. In a broad sense, the job
satisfaction program needs to exist and should have activities carefully designed to achieve the
intended job satisfaction goals. It must be an action program. And it should be carefully
monitored to ensure that changes are periodically made as needed.

Most large organizations now include human resource departments within their management
structure. At one time human resource departments were limited to handling the acquisition of
new workers. Today, however, many human resource programs take the worthwhile initiative of
helping to develop complete programs of personnel practices, such as conducting research on
current wage structures.

A primary reason for the emergence of labor unions during the early 1920s was to develop safety
measures for working conditions and equipment. Throughout the years labor unions appear to
have played an uncertain role in achieving job satisfaction. In some cases, employees join labor
unions primarily because they are the only organizations that bring health insurance benefits and
increased legal benefits. Sometimes union members get better vacation and retirement benefits
than do nonunion members.

ADDITIONAL FACTORS RELATING TO JOB SATISFACTION

When considering job satisfaction, probably the most important point to bear in mind is that
many factors that affect it. What makes workers happy with their jobs varies from worker to
worker and from day to day. Apart from the factors previously mentioned, job satisfaction is
influenced by the employee's personal characteristics, the manager's personal characteristics and
management style, and the nature of the work itself. Managers who want to maintain high levels
of satisfaction in the workforce must understand the needs of each member of the workforce.