Putting the focus on retaining your team with engagement and job satisfaction.
Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace Report found that the majority of the world’s employees are “quiet quitting”, meaning that they are slowly disengaging from work.
Why?
Because. if they don’t know why their work matters or feel like they have any support from their co-workers, boss or the organisation as a whole … why bother?
How can you as an employer stop this?
Engage your team and focus on job satisfaction.
Having engaged and motivated people goes a long way towards the success of your organisation. Not only does it stop this quiet quitting, it encourages ‘discretionary efforts’ by employees – engaged employees won’t just be doing the bare minimum.
So how does an employer manage job satisfaction and effectively lead their teams, ultimately creating a productive and engaged workforce?
In this blog we’ll explore some insights to achieve individual and collective success. Strategies should include:
- Clear communication
- Recognition and rewards
- Learning and development
- Feedback
- Work-life balance
- Wellbeing
- Good managers!
Communication
Your employees want to know that their opinions and needs are valued and not ignored. Managers should be happy to communicate feedback and set clear expectations, whilst listening to what their staff have to say. Involving your employees in decision-making will engage them and improve job satisfaction. Employees who feel they have been part of finding the solution will have a greater sense of pride in what they do which ultimately helps you to retain your great team.
Creating an environment with open dialogue is a great way to learn what equals job satisfaction for your people. Gallup’s Q12 survey questions can help you measure employee engagement and see if there are any areas where your staff might feel neglected.
Setting Clear Expectations
As much as you want people to enjoy their jobs, this doesn’t mean them doing whatever they want! Your employees need to be aware of the rules and policies that govern the business. Having clear systems for booking holidays and dealing with holiday clashes, for example, helps to quell frustrations. Be reasonable, show employees they are valued by being flexible when you can, but fair to everyone.
Defining each employee’s role and setting realistic targets, such as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) is key (ha!) to increasing job satisfaction. If employees know what’s expected of them, they are far more likely to stay engaged. Additionally, that sense of achievement when clear targets are met is great for job satisfaction.
Recognition and Rewards
Managers should be comfortable in regularly recognising those who work hard, meet targets and are an asset to the company.
Superficial rewards however don’t make staff feel valued. Yes, sure, it’s great to have a meal out from time to time or order in pizza on a Friday – this can certainly help build relationships and demonstrates that you want staff to enjoy being at work. However, these kinds of rewards need to go alongside good management and a culture which consistently acknowledges the hard work of the team, cares for their wellbeing, and promotes continual learning and development.
Some good ways to recognise and reward your staff are:
- Showing recognition publicly – and in a timely fashion
- Hosting events to celebrate milestones
- Giving financial bonuses
- Offering additional skills training
- Running peer recognition programmes
- Allowing extra annual leave – can people have their birthday off if it falls on a workday?
- Being reasonable about flexible working requests – some leeway around start and finish times can make life a lot easier for working parents with school runs.
Feedback
To learn more about what your staff need to feel satisfied in their work, ask them! Value their feedback and act upon any good ideas which come from it.
An Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is a scoring system to help employers measure employee satisfaction and loyalty. A good eNPS will ensure anonymity for staff so that they feel comfortable providing honest feedback. If you haven’t done one before, let us know and we can help.
Learning and Development (L&D)
Successful employee engagement strategies will utilise excellent L&D practices. Having opportunities to learn new skills, gain more qualifications, understand more about the industry, attend interesting events – because all these things can help to motivate, inspire, and ultimately retain good staff.
Could you put on some ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions? What about bringing in an external speaker for a day? What opportunities can you offer for more training and progression? Do your staff actually know what’s available?
Promoting Work-Life Balance
Employees who constantly feel they are not doing enough will not feel valued. Employees who have clear boundaries and know they are doing well won’t feel the need to work more than their contracted hours … and they shouldn’t! Healthy and happy employees have a good work-life balance. Overworked employees will usually either burn out or leave! (Or stay and be miserable, which isn’t great either!) And an employee who is unsure of themselves and receiving no real feedback will soon lose the desire to work hard.
It’s a manager’s job to set boundaries about taking breaks and working reasonable hours, alongside regular feedback and making sure that employees know what’s expected of them. There is no point telling staff it’s fine to turn off work phones in the evening, that they don’t have to be available 24/7, if managers totally ignore that and send them emails or texts at all times of day!
Managers who motivate, empower and support will have engaged employees who feel valued and will also want to give of their best.
Wellbeing
Wellbeing means organisations supporting their staff’s mental, physical, emotional and economic health. Staff wellbeing can hugely affect workplace performance and employee engagement. It’s a whole blog in itself!
Employers have a duty of care to look after their employee’s wellbeing and are required by law to deal with work-related stress. You should treat mental health in the workplace the same as first aid requirements. In 2024, HSE guidance introduced the inclusion of mental health with first aid needs assessments to identify additional training needs. Have you got a Mental Health First Aider? Does everyone know who they are and how to contact them?
NB: If you don’t, there are FREE government-funded courses available online – take a look here. Training your employees in Mental Health First Aid allows people to be aware of the signs and symptoms that somebody may be struggling.
Staff should feel able to speak to their managers about difficulties – both personal and professional – without fear of judgement or criticism.
WIIFM – What’s In It For Me?
Ok, so all this sounds great, all these happy employees, but what about the business case?
WIIFM isn’t selfish, it’s about being realistic and relevant. How do changes that benefit your staff benefit your organisation? Will it improve the bottom line, help you hit your targets, take the business to the next level? The good news is probably yes, to all of those!
If your staff don’t feel that reaching a goal will benefit them in any way, they won’t be as motivated to work towards it. As your organisation evolves and grows, there will be changes you all have to navigate, so always focus on the benefits of changes to keep your people engaged and on board with the company vision.
Individuals will thrive if they feel supported and this will ALWAYS have a positive impact on the business as a whole.
Don’t let your staff quiet quit! Show people that you value them, help them to progress, offer flexibility where you can, set clear boundaries, ask for feedback and learn from it and reap the rewards! Simples!
Talk to us about how to engage your employees and ensure great job satisfaction. vivoHR can offer advice and support on everything you need to look after your staff. Contact us on 01252 757359 or drop us an email at [email protected].