Achieving Employee Satisfaction

I am not happy. The printer has still not been fixed and now my chair is broken. The company is falling apart. The boss is okay but really doesn’t seem to have a clue as to what is really going on.

That new guy that started last week, who no one bothered to introduce, was given a job that he had no idea how to do; why didn’t they just ask me? I could have told them that a new set of drawings had been issued so even if he did know what he was doing the drawings he was using were obsolete anyway. I don’t know why I bother sometimes.

Some of the guys and I went for a drink last night after work. No one is happy and Sally from Accounts says that she has just about had enough and is thinking of asking for a rise and if they don’t give it to her she is going to quit.

The management don’t have a clue, we are losing money through our inefficiencies and all they do is issue memo’s telling us of new procedures for claiming expenses as though it is going to make a difference to how efficient we are – whoopee do.

I’m going to ask for a pay rise, if Sally can get one so should I.

And so it goes on.

These are the sort of thoughts that start to go through the minds of individuals when an organization loses touch with their personnel; the chair that is broken, no feeling of appreciation, blaming ‘management’ and for some even questioning the futility of what they are doing. Minor problems fester and it isn’t long before a cynical and destructive mindset develops. Can you be sure that it isn’t going on right now in your organisation?

Social events outside the office become nothing more than a forum for complaints and negativity grows among people who feel powerless to effect change. Dissatisfaction will often synthesise into a demand for an increase in remuneration, as though like a cheap fix more money will momentarily lessen the pain.

If ignored by management the concerns of this employee will inevitable find empathy with their colleagues own individual concerns, where the only common demand might well be a demand for an increase in remuneration, more paid holidays and a reduction in working hours, all of which will not fix the broken chair, ensure that new personnel are in future properly introduced, trained and managed nor help management identify areas of inefficiency.

Organisations have a habit of compartmentalising people, physically through offices, cubicles and workstations also in terms of responsibility. With effective and strong management to support this structure it can be productive, but as an organisation grows, and weak or inappropriate management infiltrates the management chain, it is perhaps inevitable that cracks will begin to appear.

From the top down all can appear rosy in the corporate garden as the weak and inappropriate manager reports that all is well in the engine room, oblivious to the fact that their coal stocks might be dwindling.

A very skewed view can be the result of relying on a limited number of indicators, just as a one eyed person finds judging distance difficult. By establishing procedures that sample the mood from different perspectives throughout the organisation good management will be able to form a rounded picture.

There are both direct and indirect benefits of establishing good, frequent and extensive communication channels.

A senior management team that is known to have their ear to the ground will command great respect and will keep middle managers from becoming complacent knowing that they can no longer dismiss the senior managers searching “How is everything going?” question with a glib “Fine”; In my book if someone says “fine” you have to ask if they really know what is going on.

Most principals of an organisation will not have the luxury of spending time walking the floor and discussing the issues of individuals but through online employee surveys they can achieve the same benefits and almost become omnipresent.

Online surveys provide an ideal method to establish effective communications between the employee and employer. Using a survey hosting service they can now be created and published with speed and ease.

Using the Internet and intranet surveys can be deployed in seconds, easily completed by employees and results can be displayed in real time allowing ‘problems’ and common themes of dissatisfaction to be identified early.

With their ability to get to the heart of an organization online employee satisfaction surveys can confirm that all is well in the engine room and that there is sufficient fuel to keep it running.

The benefits that online surveys bring are considerable, not only are the real issues identified, but employees feel that their voices are being heard and that their views, right or wrong, have a forum.

Online surveys will not in themselves resolve a problem but what they will do is give senior management the opportunity to address the problems and concerns of their employees, if people then leave the organisation they will at least hopefully be doing it for the right and not wrong reasons.

Although monetary concerns can often be cited as the main reason good people decide to leave a organization dig a little deeper and it is often found that it is more to do with one or more of the following:-

 

 

 

• the workplace environment;

 

 

• a lack of accomplishment

 

 

• insufficient training and feedback;

 

 

• lack of career growth;

 

 

• over work;

 

 

• lack of trust and respect with their senior managers.

 

 

 

A well planned employer/employee communications programme that can identify the individual and common concerns of employees will give senior management the opportunity to address root problems and not just the symptoms of employee dissatisfaction, allowing them to demonstrate to their employees that they are not viewed simply as interchangeable parts that can be used for any job at hand.

Each individual organisation needs to customised their own employee survey so that it is relevant for them. I invite you to put yourself in the place of an employee and complete the short sample employee survey, then view the results of the satisfaction questionnaire and just think of the benefits to management being able to measure so easily the heart beat of the organization.