Right Management recently ran a survey on job satisfaction. The survey took responses from workers in both the United States and Canada and found that only 19% of people were satisfied with their jobs. Another 16% were somewhat satisfied, but the remaining two thirds of respondents were not happy at work. Over 40% of people said they were unsatisfied with their jobs.
Another survey done by Mercer found that between 28 and 56% of employees in 17 different locations around the world wanted to leave their jobs. In the US, 32% of respondents said they wanted to find new employment.
Likewise, in Gallup‘s annual Work and Education poll, US employees were asked about their job satisfaction in thirteen different categories. In eight of those categories, less than 50% of respondents were completely satisfied with their job.
Clearly there’s an epidemic of employees struggling to find satisfaction in their work situations. Employee happiness is a huge part of company success, so this is a problem that needs to be addressed in every workplace.
If you’ve found that your workplace culture is suffering, here are a few simple tips that can help you promote positive culture change and improve your employee’s overall satisfaction with their work.
- Identify the biggest problems and take action.
Are your employees overworked? Is there a bad apple in the bunch that is bringing down your other employees? Are people not passionate about what they’re doing? Figure out what is causing problems in your company culture and work with your employees to find ways to fix them. Whether the answer is improving employee recognition, offering better work incentives, or reassigning unhappy employees to jobs better suited to their strengths, take the active steps you need to in order to promote positive change.
- Figure out what your employees enjoy.
The easiest way to figure out what motivates your employees is to ask them. Find out what types of rewards they’d be excited about. Listen when they bring up changes they’d like to see. Check in on a regular basis with your employees to make sure that they have what they need in order to succeed.
- Lead by example
If you come to work with a bad attitude every day, you can’t expect your employees to be any more chipper than you. Take a look at your own work situation and figure out what would make you happier. Work with leadership and your most trusted employees to find solutions that everyone can get on board with. Then set a good example by promoting positive relationships, communication, and behavior.
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