Investing In Job Satisfaction To Increase Employee Retention
One of the main issues that businesses all over the world face is staff retention. Every employee is an investment and the hope is that the investment is one in the future of the company, rather than an investment in another company. Businesses have various tools in place to make sure their investment is safeguarded, with some charging employees for their training if they leave within a certain period of completion.
However, these types of measures don’t seem to have a tremendous effect. If anything, it makes the employee feel as if there is an expectancy that they would leave and aren’t committed to the organization in the first place. According to experts, a far more pressing issue is to make sure each individual member of the staff has high levels of job satisfaction.
Why People Leave Companies
There are numerous reasons as to why employees choose to leave a company. Sometimes, these reasons are personal: family expansion, an illness and so on. Sometimes, they have to do with the company or the job.
Using a DiSC Profile when a company brings new employees in is a proven method to increase employee job satisfaction and overall retention within the company. These assessments can accurately assess personality traits such as communication style, contributions to a team, workplace style, and leadership among other behavioral traits. DiSC also offers reports for the areas of Sales, Management, Leadership and Workplace, which deliver specific insight into the strengths and needs of potential and current employees that fill those roles.
“Compensation and career progression concerns are typically at top of the list of reasons to bail out, but there are plenty of underlying issues that affect job satisfaction. Sometimes the smallest things can have a disproportionate impact on how people feel about where they work. These minor beefs can push people over the edge if left unchecked.”
25 Ways to Boost Employee Satisfaction Levels and Staff Retention
Clearly, if people were satisfied with their jobs, if they feel they have plenty of internal progression opportunities, if they are respected for what they do and if they are compensated appropriately for their work, they will be less inclined to leave. People want to have security in their work. They would prefer to find a single company and stay with them forever, if they know they are respected and that the grass is indeed not greener on the other side.
Improving Job Satisfaction
In order to improve levels of retention, a company has to work hard at improving the job satisfaction their employees have. This can be an expensive thing to do, although not all efforts need to cost money. Additionally, the cost of staff that leave and replacements are incredibly high as well, which have to be weighed up against the investment in retention. The key to increasing job satisfaction is to have excellent methods of communication in place.
“Opening communication lines between employees and their supervisors or between supervisors and their managers is one of the most effective ways to improve job satisfaction. When employees aren’t privy to information they believe will help them perform their job duties or are kept in the dark about organizational changes, they can feel that the employer doesn’t value them enough to share critical information.” Employee Retention & Satisfaction
This means managers should organize regular staff briefings and share information as and when it arrives. Not just that, they should have a firm open door policy as well. It is also about being fully consistent in both communication and behavior. Rules have to be consistently applied, both in terms of consequences for bad actions and consequences for good actions.
One of the most important parts of this is training. Employees feel training is a real reward, as it is an investment in their own skills and a way to improve their career options in terms of progression. Unfortunately, every year when the new budget is released, which is almost always lower than the previous year, it is the training budget that gets slashed. This is a terrible course of action, because it demonstrates to employees that they are not valued, and they will soon start to look for work elsewhere.
About Steve Giles
Co-owner/Co-founder of Intesi! Resources. Educated as an architect I transitioned to technology during my career in architecture. Intesi! Resources was founded in 2004 and my focus is everything Web/eCommerce related from the design and development of our site to all the marketing activities involved. I also provide significant support for our clients on all our products and how they are used to deliver assessment-driven learning solutions that develop self-awareness and interpersonal skills.
