9 PRACTICES
FOR INCREASING EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION
How should companies work to increase employee satisfaction??? Here is a
summary of my findings both through my consulting assignment as well as my
academic research. The work best if applied in a low profile but genuine
manner... quite unusual since a lot of HR best practices are lost in media hype
and not sustained in the long-term
Here is a summary of my ideas:
1.BALANCE WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE
I have place it first not by accident but by intent...Balance work and personal life - HR professionals are battling to the challenges of a transforming workforce reality the need to be aware of certain trends which impacts efforts to attract and retain talented employees. Work-life balance application to a person's effective work-life and personal life wasn't as important in the past as it is today because, in the past, people often are able to attend easily to every major role in their life. Family is very important to all of us, when work begins to put a significant strain on one's family no amount of money will keep an employee around. So a small gestures of allowing an employee to take an extended leave once a month to watch with his daughter's or son's schools activity will likely be repaid with loyalty and extended employment with an organization.
2.WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY
Be flexible whether that means specifically giving your workers the option to work flexible hours, do some customize schedule rotations or a self-scheduling thru coordinating with some other staffs in-charge are good ways to promote positive employee morale or you could allow your staff to leave work early for a personal matter when appropriate. Workplace flexibility is hard to manage, because you need to meet operational demands. But it has to manage so the flexibility policy should be well defined and be implemented accordingly so its' good intent will not be lost.
3. TREAT EACH EMPLOYEE WITH RESPECT AND AS AN INDIVIDUAL
Treat each employee with respect and as an individual, recognize the team member's contribution in front of members of management. This can reduce the tendency for employees to feel that their supervisors take all the credits. Know how to recognize your staff, not all employees want to be singled out at a gathering of hundreds of peers. The approach to recognizing team members can vary greatly by generational group. You might humiliate unintentionally a baby boomer by having them stand up in front of their colleagues while discussing their recent achievements conversely a Young Gen will appreciate the opportunity. A simple "thank you" or "nice job" or a pat in a back given in regular basis or frequency can significantly boost employee morale. Often times a team member will greatly appreciate the time you spent to find him at his desk and deliver the message personally.
4.POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT
While compensation, benefits are important, the primary reasons workers leave a company are unorganized work environment, toxic workplaces, bad bosses and difficult co-workers. Every employees want is a clean, organized work environment in which they have the necessary equipment to perform well. When people and resources are not organized, physical barriers are stand in the way of being able to work efficiently, obviously it causes stress. Try to arrange things so that people have easy access to the people and resources they need. This normally works best by organizing workspaces around the people operating the process, or the types of work that they do. The idea is to make it as easy as possible for people to do their jobs. Some employee need a personal space but none is available, try blocking off areas with furniture, screens or blinds.
If noise is an issue, plants can help to soften it. Make sure that you
explain to your workers why you are doing this emphasize the benefits of making
the change. The quality of supervision and mentorship, by a "bad
bosses" has been said so often that, people leaves people, not their jobs.
Supervisors play the largest role in a team member's development and
organization successes. All employees want to have Boss who's respectful,
courteous, and friendly. Workers are more likely to remain with a company if
they have a good and positive work environment.
5. ERADICATE FAVORITISM
The better person can see a question from all sides without bias-Cunfucius" The so-called "inner circle club or good ole boys" can create unpleasant organization culture and can promote bitterness among team members, which can results devastating effect on some valued team members. The results of employee favoritism are destructive in natures because the following idea are unavoidable (Why should I perform if It will get me nowhere? Why do this if others will not? Why put in the effort if I will not be recognized? Why trust the boss if they are not fair?)
As a result, employees' morale, productivity, and relationship with the
manager will diminished thus creating a disengaged employees which eventually
create disengage customers. So equally treat all employees and avoid favoritism
at all costs. Individuals want a perception that each employee is treated
equivalently. Device or create a policy, a behavioral guidelines, or methods
for requesting time off, and on any other work related decisions you can think
about.
6. COMMUNICATION AND AVAILABILITY
The Human Resource department needs to be very responsive to employee questions and concerns. In many companies, the HR department is perceived as the policy making arm of management. In fact, in forward thinking HR departments, responsiveness to employee needs is one of the cornerstones. You can easily do this by actively listening to your Employee's. Give them honest feedback, both positive and negative. Clearly communicate expectations, goals, and new rules to be followed.
Let them know what is expected of them. Get them involved and keep them
informed - give them any information that tells them how their work fits into
the overall company effort. Let's face it. Employees really want is to have a
face-to-face communication time with both their supervisors and managers. This
communication helps them feel recognized and important. For the managers; You
may have a lot of things to do and attend to and surely your time maybe full.
But, a manager's main job is to support your peers towards the success of
organization. With this act managers' leads and magnifies organization success.
7. EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT
Empowered personnel have a sense of responsibility and a sense of ownership, and their ideas are often recognized. So a workplaces that promote employee empowerment, power over what and how things are done, and the knowledge that they are important to the organization have enormous productivity results and less complaints. When employees think that they need their organization as much as the organization needs them, that need became best appreciated more than a paycheck and all benefit package that made them to stayed and remained at the company longer.
8. PLACING THE RIGHT TALENT FOR THE RIGHT JOB
Placing the Right Talent in the Right Job dramatically increases Employees retention and enhances the organization success by reducing costs in many business aspects. Discover the way in which you can improve your employees, place them in environment that they can be truly useful. A new car behind glass is just a mass of metal plastic and glass, but a car being driven is truly what a car should be. The same goes for people once developed, one should use what they have learnt so that they can make the world around them a better place for themselves and others. And with this you shall not forget to provide them training, show them advancement opportunities and help them turn a job into a career.
9. CELEBRATE SUCCESSES, BIG AND LITTLE AND MAKE THE WORKPLACE FUN.
Sharing small successes with your Employees' is a great way of making the workplace fun, not only by a small office party of coke & cakes … do anything novel so long as it is good enough, but you have to do what works best for you, If your immune system has taken a hit then maybe you can celebrate successes with a cup of coffee or hot tea with a loaf bread, it warms you up and still sets the tone of the celebration or maybe celebrating positive momentum for some time by just whistling a happy tune or tapping out as affirmation of an enhanced gratitude.
I am preparing a research paper on what makes the Model
Workplace and the Employer-of-first choice in Indian companies .... You could
share with me your findings and observations... I am looking for not just
hollow jargon but authenticated case experiences
which have brought about marked improvement in
your company.
With best compliments
Dr Wilfred Monteiro
MUMBAI- INDIA
www.synergymanager.net
