Dedicating time and resources to making employees feel satisfied isn’t just a nice thing for employers to do. It’s actually a smart business decision.
Study after study shows a direct relationship between employee satisfaction levels and a number of business metrics, including productivity and employee retention. Keeping employees from leaving is particularly crucial right now as the amount of open jobs far outweighs the number of job seekers.
The good news for cash-strapped companies is boosting employee satisfaction doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Some of the most effective ways to increase satisfaction levels simply involve engaging employees on a deeper level. Having managers lead by example, hear employee concerns, hold regular one-on-one meetings, focus on employee development and provide constructive feedback are all low-cost ways of engaging employees and making them feel more satisfied with their jobs as a result.
If your company is looking to make more of an investment in boosting the job satisfaction of your employees, consider the following benefits.
Higher productivity
A 2015 study by researchers at the University of Warwick in England found that happy workers are around 12 percent more productive than workers who aren’t happy with their jobs. The study used four different experiments and the same pattern emerged in each one: happiness = more productivity. The study team found happy workers appear to use their time more wisely than unhappy workers.
Psychological researchers have also found feelings of happiness make us better at collaboration and problem solving.
Higher quality
When staff members are satisfied and engaged, they are more prone to take pride in their work, which leads to a higher work quality and greater organizational success. Companies staffed with engaged employees are twice as successful as companies with few engaged workers, according to research from Harvard Business Review. The same study looked at healthcare organizations and found higher worker engagement was related to 48 percent fewer accidents and 41 percent fewer safety incidents involving patients.
Lower turnover
Worker happiness not only leads to greater productivity levels, it also helps reduce turnover and its associated costs. According to research from Gallup, worker turnover could cost a 100-person company between $438,000 and $4 million annually.
Low worker satisfaction is closely associated with high turnover rates. Some supervisors may suspect turnover is mostly associated with pay, and Gallup found workers are far more prone to think they are paid appropriately (43%) if they are happy, as opposed to employees who are disengaged (15%) or actively disengaged (13%).
The Gallup study also revealed when employees feel their co-workers aren’t happy, compensation takes on a greater importance to them as they feel they are picking up others’ slack. Hence, employee satisfaction helps staff members feel happy with their pay in two different ways.
At Action Group Staffing, we support all of the employee engagement efforts of our clients because everybody wins when employees are satisfied. Please contact us today to find out the many ways we can support your company.
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