Boosting job satisfaction is a fundamental goal of an employer or manager in a company because satisfied employees are real assets. So, if you are wondering how to boost the satisfaction of employees, then you need to walk through with me and understand the concept of job satisfaction. After that, I will explain factors that let you add a little or big boost to employee satisfaction on a job.

Introduction of Job Satisfaction

Term job satisfaction is crystal clear for most of us; there is no rocket science behind it. For a manager who needs to deal with, people should know the full concept of it. 

I defined job satisfaction as a feeling of contentment or a sense of accomplishment that an employee can get from his job. If an employee is satisfied with his career, that means he likes his post and vice versa.

Sometimes, job satisfaction is defined as the difference between an employee’s expectations from a job and experience he drives from the job. The wider the gap, the more dissatisfied a person will be from his job. 

In other words, we can say that if a job meets the needs and expectations of an employee, then he feels satisfied.                          

Job Satisfaction Facets

An employee’s job satisfaction is dependent on many different facets, such as his roles, workplace, salary, corporate culture, etc.

Job Content Facets are pay an employee gets from his job, his work, and Work characteristics.

Job Context Facets means people a person worked with his supervisors, co-workers, colleagues, workplace, policies, and rules of his organization and growth and advancement opportunities. 

What must you know?

If an employee has concern and issues with one facet, then it would affect another facet. For example, if your employee doesn’t like to work with his team members, then no matter how much increment you do in his pay, he won’t feel satisfied.

Leading Causes of Job Satisfaction

A manager must understand what causes job satisfaction, so he would create some strategies to make a difference in the life of his employees.

Good Experience:

Positive experience in job boost job satisfaction. Different components of work make and break the overall job experience of an employee. For example, if a job is tedious and the employee doesn’t feel any interest in it, then he will have a negative experience of employment.

A manager can deal with this issue by implementing a significant concept of job redesigning, such as job enlargement, job enrichment, or job rotation. The goal is to make the job more challenging and exciting for an employee.

Complete Association

It is a significant cause of employee satisfaction regarding his job. Association is when an employee feels that his current job characteristics, duties, and roles are precisely similar to his old one. This thing that makes him feel more contented.

A manager can deal with this situation from the very start, even when an employee wasn’t an employee. In other words, make sure to conduct an interview in a way that you can evaluate the experience and relevance of a job for every employee.

Social Learning

Interaction of an employee with other employees also contributes to job satisfaction. When employees work together, they used to communicate about their roles. People who handle the same kind of work can develop similar feelings regarding their assigned tasks. For example, an employee from the customer care center can better understand the problems and issues faced by another employee from the same department. 

This sense of learning and feeling of being related helps an employee to feel more satisfied with his job. Because he understands that he is not alone in a problem, many others feel the same way. 

Heredity

Your genetic plays an essential role in your job satisfaction. 

According to Biometric behavioral genetics, 31.2 percent variation in job satisfaction is caused by genetic influences.

Factors of Job Satisfaction

If a manager works on five elements that he can boost his employee job satisfaction. Let’s unwrap each element one by one. 

Engagement

For better performance on work, an employee should feel more engaged in his job. If he doesn’t feel that way, then it is nothing but a problem.

So, why employees don’t get engaged in their work? It happens when an employee thinks that he thinks that his job is not using his skills and abilities at its fullest. There are frequent cases that you feel that your talent is not best utilized yet. In that case, you don’t find some meaning in your job, and the outcome is job dissatisfaction.

It is the responsibility of an HR manager to choose the right talent for a job. For example, when you ask bank interview questions from a candidate, make sure to ask about his expertise and skills. Don’t just hire an overqualified person for a job, else he would always feel a sense of underutilizing his talent.

If you have picked the right talent, but he doesn’t get fully engaged in job, then try to clear the purpose and meaning of the post. He must know that his career is a part of the big goal your company has in mind. 

2. Respect, Praise, and Appreciation

No matter what job he has to do, an employee always likes to get respect, admiration, and gratitude. If you don’t appreciate his little effort and on-time task completion, then he feels demotivated. 

Supervisors tend to be quite vocal when employees make mistakes since they want to keep them on track. However, it is essential to acknowledge their excellent work publicly. I appreciate them in front of others.

 Sometimes, phrases like “Thank you,” “Keep up the good work,” “Good work, man!” work like magic. 

As a manager or employer, make sure that your employee doesn’t feel undervalued, disrespected, and underappreciated; else, job dissatisfaction or resignation is coming your way.

3. Fair Compensation

Everyone wants to get fair pay for the work they do. It is the fundamental right of every employee on earth. So, if an employee feels that he is doing more work and his salary is low, then he doesn’t feel motivated; and all this contributes to his attitude toward the job. He starts disliking it and always searches for another job where his efforts are rewarded fairly.

In short, working a job where you feel disrespected, undervalued, and underappreciated will likely cause you to feel dissatisfied with your work.  

4. Motivation

It is among those job satisfaction factors whose remote control is in the hand of an employee. For better job performance, an employee needs to know whether he is motivated for the job or not. He can ask questions to get a clear picture. For example, why I’m doing this job, what was my motivation behind accepting that role. In case there is no inspiration and motivation, it is better to switch your job.

5. Life Satisfaction

No matter how much you control other factors of job satisfaction, if your employee is dissatisfied with his life, then you are back to square one i.e., job dissatisfaction. There is a direct link between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Check this British Psychology Society analysis, which makes that connection very clear.