Employee Satisfaction Misses the Mark

For twenty-six years, we have conducted Employee Opinion and Employee Engagement Surveys. We have never conducted an Employee Satisfaction Survey. Why? We learned early on that you can have satisfied and happy employees and lead a company right out of business.

What would make an employee satisfied? High wages, good benefits, predictability, a kind boss, an absence of any stress and job security would probably lead to an employee’s satisfaction. What this all adds up to is employees who are really comfortable. And, this violates one of our theorems of great leadership. Great leaders keep people uncomfortable.  By uncomfortable, we mean out of their comfort zone and constantly learning and improving – not complacent.

We define engagement as employees who are connected both at the head and the heart…and are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Contrast this definition of engagement with “Employee Satisfaction,” which only measures employee satisfaction and happiness. It does not measure their level of passion, motivation or willingness to get the job done.

So, how do you build an environment where employees find it easier to be fully engaged? Following the seven tips below will help you be an even more successful organization and engaged employees.

1. Ensure the Employee is Crystal Clear on Their Goals, Outcomes and Expected Results: The clearer an employee is on their goals and expected outcomes, and how their goals relate to the goals of the overall organization, the easier it is for an employee to feel connected to the organization. As well as, understand how their works makes a significant difference. 
2. Empower employees to make the decisions that are within their area of influence. If you do not trust employees to make the right decision, then you do not have the right employees. When people feel trusted, they usually go out of their way to do the right thing and make the right decisions because they do not want to undermine the bonds of trust that someone has in them. 
3. Include employees in decisions that impact their job. People who do the job are the experts. Great leaders know that to not involve the employees in the decisions that impact them and do the work usually leads to bad results. 
4. Provide ample recognition and appreciation. When people are willing to provide discretionary effort and are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, leaders need to provide a lot of recognition, appreciation and rewards where appropriate. Without an ample dose of praise and recognition, people begin to feel like they are taken for granted…which leads employees to ask the question, “Why should I go out of my way to do whatever it takes to get the job done when it is not even appreciated?” 
5. Hire engaged employees. We have talked about this point in past blogs. You can tell in an interview whether people are engaged and even whether they love life. Engaged people take more actions to seek out the ideal job opportunity than people who are not engaged. People who are engaged are much more proactive in taking action to get their goals accomplished. Great leaders are not threatened by people who take action…they are invigorated by the opportunity to work with people who also want to raise the bar and improve the organization’s condition. 
6. Fire people who suck. My good friends, Kevin and Jackie Freiberg, bestselling authors, speakers and consultants coined this phrase. It is such good advice. There are some people that even when you put them in the middle of an engaged culture, will never find it within themselves to become engaged. They are much more content going through their employment life playing the victim and waiting for someone to tell them what to do. Unfortunately, it is some of these same people that not only lack engagement, they also lack satisfaction and happiness in life. Our Engagement Survey data tells us that 4 percent of the employee population believes that their current employer is below average or well below average to other previous employers. What is amazing is that 4 percent seldom changes, regardless of the companies who are surveyed. 
7. Conduct an Employee Engagement Survey Every 18 Months: By asking the right questions, you can determine an employees’ level of engagement and their relationship with their immediate supervisor. Why is the relationship with the supervisor so important? The old adage is true, employees join a company when they come to work, but they leave a company because of their relationship with their immediate supervisor and co-workers.

Broadly speaking, there are two key benefits to increasing engagement. First, is an increase in performance (i.e. discretionary effort). Second is a higher retention rate (reduced turnover) among staff. These benefits are high priorities for any organization, regardless of the organization’s purpose.