Employees perform at their best when they are happy at work and feel like their feedback is being met with action and accountability. Learn about the benefits of employee satisfaction for both the business and the individual.
Blaise Radley
Editorial Strategist
Workday
Ever since the phrase “the customer is always right” was popularized by retailers such as Selfridges and Wanamaker’s in the early 20th century, customers have often been referred to as a company’s most significant stakeholder. In turn, customer satisfaction has often been seen as a strong success marker for business outcomes. But what about employee satisfaction?
When employees are satisfied at their company, they are more likely to perform at a higher level, contribute positively to business outcomes, and be engaged at work. Crucially, a recent Gallup survey found that highly engaged organizations achieve a 10% difference in customer ratings and an 18% difference in sales. In the new world of work, understanding the relationship between employee satisfaction, engagement, and business results is critical.
As the world of human resource management continues to evolve, businesses must pay closer attention to their employees’ thoughts and feelings. That’s where employee satisfaction surveys can prove decisive. This article explores the fundamentals of employee satisfaction before outlining the major business benefits satisfaction provides and how surveys can help organizations take action.
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Employee satisfaction refers to how happy and fulfilled an employee is at their job. A satisfied employee is content with their role and their work-life balance, often being more punctual, productive, and engaged as a result. Employee satisfaction covers a majority of the employee experience, including:
One of the fastest ways to improve customer satisfaction (particularly in a company with a high number of customer-facing roles) is to improve employee satisfaction.
The importance of each factor differs depending on the individual. Understanding personal preferences, as well as generational and occupational, is important in any modern workplace. By regularly surveying people, employers can better respond to each person’s needs.
You’ll often hear employee engagement and employee satisfaction spoken about in the same sentence. However, the two terms aren’t synonymous. Employee satisfaction is a strong corollary for engagement, often being understood as the emotional component of employee engagement. But it’s possible for an employee to be satisfied without being engaged.
Employee satisfaction surveys are questionnaires designed to measure how happy your employees are. The questions provide actionable insights around various workplace factors and your employees’ sentiment toward the overall company. Responses are measured either through rating scales or checkboxes and often include the option to leave written comments.
The purpose of these surveys is to provide businesses with actionable insights to inform their wider employee experience strategy. By identifying areas where people aren’t satisfied with their jobs, managers can not only better support their teams but also ensure that the actions they take are informed and efficient.
82% of employees believed a key productivity driver was feeling happy and engaged at work.
Employee satisfaction can be a decisive factor in a company’s success, but without the right data it can be difficult to track. A properly implemented survey can enable your company to gather data across a number of business variables, including:
By asking how your employees feel, you can then approach your overall strategy with those sentiments in mind. In doing so, your business can unlock five major benefits.
One of the fastest ways to improve customer satisfaction (particularly in a company with a high number of customer-facing roles) is to improve employee satisfaction. Satisfied employees are more likely to greet potential customers warmly while also providing a smoother, more considered level of service. On the flip side, a dissatisfied employee will likely be more difficult to deal with, worsening the customer experience in the process.
This dynamic pertains to almost every industry, whether you are working with customers directly or not. Any company with customer-facing roles, either in a store or through customer service channels, can be impacted if employees are not being treated fairly.
Recommended action: The likelihood of a positive user experience goes up when employees feel emotionally supported by their workplace. Survey your employees, acknowledge consistent problem areas, and outline how you’re going to tackle those problems moving forward. Higher customer satisfaction directly impacts brand perception in the marketplace.
Individuals tend to leave companies due to factors such as a lack of growth opportunities, friction with colleagues, and not feeling seen or heard by the company. People spend a significant amount of their time at work, so they want to feel like they can enjoy what they do in a supportive environment. If employees are asked for their feedback, they want to feel that sharing it will encourage or result in change.
When employees realize that their feedback is not only listened to but also acted upon, their satisfaction and loyalty naturally increase. A Total Economic Impact™ study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Workday estimated that frontline worker attrition was reduced by 4% after 3 years of using Workday Peakon Employee Voice. When individuals feel valued and heard in the workplace, they are more likely to believe in the company mission statement and become long-term employees.
Recommended action: Make sure your employees are aware of how you’re acting on their feedback throughout the process. Knowing that you’re taking direct steps to improve employee experience will have a positive impact on overall employee retention.
Employee satisfaction is also premised on the ability of individuals to contribute freely. When an employee feels psychological safety in the workplace, they will be more comfortable voicing their opinions and concerns. Without psychological safety, employees often cannot express themselves, whether out of lack of support or fear of repercussions.
Employee surveys provide a great opportunity for your employees to express their opinions openly and enable you to assess the company’s level of psychological safety. In order to receive honest feedback, employees need to be reassured that:
Recommended action: Emphasize to your employees that all feedback, whether positive or negative, is welcome. Reassure employees that their responses are confidential so they feel comfortable expressing themselves truthfully. Taking the time to review and respond to these surveys is crucial to improving psychological safety.
For a business to continue evolving and moving forward, employee productivity is essential. However, dissatisfaction can be a direct roadblock to this productivity. As part of an annual survey, the communications software company Slack found that a massive 82% of employees believed a key driver of productivity was feeling happy and engaged at work.
A person’s happiness at work can come from practical factors such as benefits, pay, and opportunities for progression, as well as more emotive factors, such as satisfaction with day-to-day tasks and interpersonal relationships with people leaders. Satisfaction and productivity will be highest when a manager supports an employee in doing work that aligns with their passions.
Recommended action: Encourage employees to follow their passions and find work that is meaningful to them. Foster conversations around the type of work your employees are doing while also providing clear pathways for internal mobility, whether that’s a gig opportunity or a lateral move to another role.
What some business leaders may not realize is that there is a direct correlation between employee satisfaction and the marketplace value of a company or business. Companies that are willing to invest time in improving employee satisfaction in a sustained and nonperformative way not only attract top talent but also receive stronger financial investment.
A study of 28 years of data from a Harvard Business Review contributor found that firms with high employee satisfaction outperform their peers by 2.3% to 3.8% per year in stock returns. When top-tier employees are happy and doing their best work, satisfaction acts as a clear corollary for potential profitability.
Recommended action: Encourage your employees to be brand ambassadors. If individuals at work are more inclined to talk about their experiences outside of work, you can make employee satisfaction a main aspect of your brand identity. In turn, your potential value as a business will increase.
The University of Warwick found that workplace satisfaction led to a 12% increase in productivity
Creating a survey to measure employee satisfaction can be difficult. Fortunately, our engagement solution, Workday Peakon Employee Voice, does the hard work for you, with a robust set of 45 survey questions, real-time analytics, and employee and manager dashboards.
Your employee survey should align with your company’s mission and outline a clear, overarching goal for employees to assess. Here are 5 straightforward measures that will improve your employee surveys:
As employee expectations continue to evolve, it’s essential that businesses understand what their employees think and how they feel. In a recent study of 700 participants across 4 experiments, the University of Warwick found that workplace satisfaction led to a 12% productivity increase. The companies that will benefit most in the new world of work are those that make employee satisfaction a major business priority.
To ensure that satisfaction remains consistent, it’s critical that you connect your satisfaction data to your overall business strategy. Employee surveys can offer priceless insights into the actions that will make the most impact in providing the best-possible employee experience. Improving the employee experience requires a dedicated strategy, and that strategy requires your people leaders to listen to their team members. Only then can you create a productive and positive company culture.
Without high-quality employee sentiment data, any strategy that impacts employee experience is destined to hit major difficulties. For more information on how our employee survey platform can assist in gathering confidential, trusted satisfaction responses, learn more about Workday Peakon Employee Voice.
This article has been updated since it was first published in September 2020.
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