Happy, engaged employees who are satisfied with their jobs are more productive. In case this premise wasn’t self-evident, the findings of two recent major studies into employee productivity have the data to prove it.
Slack’s latest annual survey, The State of Work 2023, found that more than eight in 10 respondents (82%) said the key driver of their productivity was feeling happy and engaged at work.
Conversely, Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index report found that feeling uninspired and lacking clear goals were among the top five obstacles to productivity in the workplace.
Past research has drawn similar conclusions. An extensive 2019 study by the University of Oxford’s Said Business School found happy workers to be 13% more productive, while a similar University of Warwick study in 2022 put the figure at 12%.
But are employees happy? A number of other studies would suggest that they’re not.
Employee engagement levels plummeted to a seven-year low in 2022, according to Gallup, with almost a fifth of the workforce (18%) claiming to feel “actively disengaged” by their jobs.
A separate Gallup report, also from 2022, found that–globally–60% of people reported feeling emotionally detached at work, while almost a fifth (19%) claimed to be miserable.
Employers are feeling the strain too, reporting the top challenge they face is to keep their team motivated, according to the aforementioned Slack study.
Clearly, more needs to be done to make employees feel happy and engaged. But how? What is the secret to job satisfaction? And is it really as elusive and intangible as it sounds?
How to find job satisfaction
Ken Coleman, career expert and bestselling author of the book From Paycheck to Purpose, says: “Being satisfied is when you see your ‘why’ in the work. It’s when your talent (what I do best), passion (what I love to do), and mission (the result of the work) all come together.”
Clearly someone’s interests and values will have a large part to play in how satisfied they feel at work. But more practical and pedestrian considerations also factor highly: pay, flexibility, options to work from home, commute and workload volume.
Satisfaction also comes from what we do each day and how we do it. Chas Cooper, CEO of Luminos, which publishes the career development website Acendance, says: “Some employees get a great sense of satisfaction from feeling like they have autonomous control over the work they do. Other employees have the greatest satisfaction when they consistently overcome challenges to accomplish important goals. Others feel the most satisfaction when they have rich social interactions with customers, team members, management, and others.”
Trying to pin down a “one-size-fits-all” approach to job satisfaction, then, clearly isn’t smart.
But employers should want to boost happiness levels among their staff, and the evidence suggests that they are trying: around three quarters of employers (76%) want to improve employee engagement, found a poll by Employee Benefits.
Understanding that job satisfaction is made up of a number of key factors is the first step.
Gallup’s Q12 Survey for measuring employee engagement–which we use at my company–is made up of 12 assertions which workers are told to rank.
These range from the practical (I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right) to the emotional (my supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person), with an emphasis on professional development too (this last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow).
Measuring these different factors and noting which areas could do with improvement will paint a clear picture of what employers need to focus on. Ryan Culkin, chief counseling officer at national mental health company Thriveworks, agrees that “regularly requesting feedback” is a vital step.
“We regularly survey our team on their satisfaction levels across a variety of areas including pay and benefits, training and development, how valued they feel and more,” he says.
He adds: “Managers work together to either maintain or improve scores as we’re aware a happy team is a more productive team.”
Boosting engagement and satisfaction levels evidently requires a multi-pronged approach, and it won’t happen overnight. It may even require a personalized approach for different employees. But doing so is worthwhile, because the knock-on effect on productivity can be significant.
As Patrick Manzo, a workplace expert and the CEO of employee experience platform WorkTango, says, engaged and satisfied employees are more willing to go the extra mile to contribute to the success of the company.
“Employees who feel valued and appreciated tend to take pride in their work and are more likely to pay attention to detail and deliver quality outcomes,” he says.
They have a positive impact on the wider organization too, according to Michele Rau, director of HR at Vaco, a global professional services firm. She says: “If you feel ‘seen’ or like you belong at work, if you feel like you have ownership, if you feel like what you do matters, these don’t just drive you to do the next thing on your task list, but they also make you want to bring other people along with you. Individual productivity goes up, yes, but it also drives organizational productivity as well.”
So take the time to talk to your employees, whether in person or via a survey, start taking action, and prepare to see productivity levels rise.
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