Employee Job Satisfaction:  Five Questions to Which

         Your Employees Must Have the Answer

Linda Gravett, Ph.D., SPHR, December 1, 2002

For 25 years I’ve been in the Human Resource Management field.  For 25 years I’ve seen quality employees leave organizations because they couldn’t find anyone who would give them the answer to five easy questions.  In the job satisfaction surveys I’ve conducted across the country, a pattern has emerged as to the key questions on the minds of employees.  If you’re a Human Resources practitioner or manager in your organization, I hope you’ll ensure all your employees can answer these questions.

Question #1:              Do I understand what is expected of me?

Employees I’ve interviewed expressed a great deal of frustration because the objectives and goals they thought were critical for their position’s success weren’t the same objectives and goals their supervisor had in mind.  This disconnect between supervisor and employee can so easily be avoided, right from the beginning of an employee’s association with the organization.  The opportunities to express expectations and goals are numerous:

¨      During the interview process

¨      During employee orientation

¨      During on-the-job training

¨      Written into the position description

¨      Discussed during coaching sessions

¨      Discussed during the performance evaluation process

¨      Discussed immediately following critical incidents

If you want to guarantee that you and your direct reports are on the same page, please take any and all of these opportunities to frequently conduct a reality check on what is expected of each member of your team.

Question #2:              Do I have the resources to successfully complete my job?

The second most frustrating aspect of an employee’s job occurs when the expectations are clear enough but the resources aren’t provided to do the work! 

In my first HR job, a Sales Manager steamed into my office one day and demanded that I send his secretary to “a remedial typing course.”  He showed me samples of correspondence she’d recently typed that contained smudges and even typos.  I checked her personnel file and found that less than a year earlier she had tested at 80 wpm with no errors on her typing test and had excellent scores on spelling, grammar, and vocabulary!  It occurred to me that a remedial typing class wasn’t the answer, so I visited the secretary in her cubicle.  Within 10 minutes, I could see the problem.  Her cubicle walls (not soundproofed) were low enough so that people who came by waiting to see her boss were prone to lean on them and chat with her (whether she was interested in chatting or not).  All the department’s phone calls seemed to be coming to her phone, not just those for her supervisor.  Lastly, she had an old IBM Selectric typewriter with a broken erase feature.  No wonder she wasn’t able to type correspondence!  Once these problems were addressed, she was able to quickly reach peak performance.  If I’d told her I was sending her to a typing class, she probably would’ve resigned on the spot.

Do your direct reports have the software, office space, staff and other resources they really need to meet your expectations?

Question #3:              Does my boss care about me as a person?

You’ve undoubtedly read the 1999 survey results by Saratoga Institute where the most significant factor that kept employees with the company was the relationship they had with their direct supervisor.  If this respect and rapport wasn’t there, employees left their jobs even if the pay and other working conditions were positive.

Most people I’ve interviewed resent being treated like a number in society in general and they certainly don’t want to be treated this way at work.  I’m not talking about becoming best friends with all your direct reports.  I am talking about getting to know your team members on an individual basis:  their strengths, their interests, their aspirations, and their potential.  Discuss these important topics as frequently as possible, not just once a year during performance evaluation time.  The payback is enormous.

Question #4:              Does anyone listen to my opinion?

I conduct culture audits frequently as a part of diversity initiatives with client organizations.  One of the questions I always include on these surveys is, “Do you believe people in your organization listen to your opinion?”

When the answer to this question is “no”, I pretty much know the way the rest of the survey responses will go.  The perception that nobody is listening diminishes employees’ feelings of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and empowerment.  Each of these factors, in research study after research study, is directly correlated with productivity and turnover.

Soliciting employees’ opinions can be easily accomplished in so many ways:

¨      Employee opinion surveys

¨      Focus groups

¨      Staff meetings

¨      Suggestion box (physical or online)

¨      One-on-one meetings

¨      A quick discussion in the hallway

There’s a critical next step after getting employees’ opinions, however.  That step is actually implementing suggestions that are do-able and following up with employees for some discussion of those ideas that can’t be implemented now (or ever).  People generally understand when a suggestion can’t be implemented; they’re not no understanding when their input is apparently ignored.

Question #5:              Do I have the chance to learn and grow on this job?

Much of the research I’ve conducted in the past five years is with different generations in the workplace.  Employees I’ve interviewed who are in their 20’s and 30’s are keenly interested in this last question.  They want to be constantly challenged and stretched intellectually and have opportunities to learn state-of-the-art information.  I’ve talked with many people in this age group who’ve said that they don’t want to job hop every year or so; however, they’re forced to move if a company can’t provide role models, coaching, mentoring, and professional development.  Very few people these days expect lifetime employment at one company.  They do, however, expect their employers to help them achieve skills to have a lifetime of employability.

What are you doing to ensure your employees work in a learning environment?

If you’d like additional information on this topic or have any questions, please email me at Linda@gravett.com or call me at (513)753-8870 or complete my feedback form (click here).

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