Employee morale is crucial to company success. It is the sum of overall outlook, attitude, confidence and the satisfaction employees feel at work.
When employees feel positive about their workplace environment and feel they are meeting their career and personal needs, employee satisfaction is said to be high.
As an employer, you can help nurture a positive culture in the workplace and control components which contribute to overall employee satisfaction.
In this article, we’ll be looking at ways you can effectively improve employee satisfaction, which is a key contributor to a happier, more productive workplace.
1. Ease the stress of commuting
Bad commutes are a source of frustration and stress, and it isn’t ideal to start and end your working day feeling this way. Employers should explore ways to reduce the stress of commuting, for example, by staggering work times to avoid heavy traffic. Late arrival policies should also be reviewed, as severely reprimanding late employees will make them more stressed during bad commutes and they will not be happy upon arriving in the office.
2. Encourage workplace socialisation
A key component of employee satisfaction is the ability to socialise with peers. Employers should explore ways to ‘open up’ the office to make it easy to communicate, with workstations arranged so employees can see each other.
Employers should also be encouraged to socialise outside of the office, this gives employees the opportunity to develop better relationships whilst positively promoting the company. Encouraging community service is a great opportunity to not only increase employee satisfaction but to show your company in a good light too.
3. Promote healthy lifestyle choices
Businesses pay a heavy cost for both physical and stress-related illnesses and the absences that come along with them. Employee productivity is also linked to health, so all employers should be encouraging their workforce to exercise, reduce stress and improve overall health.
Exercise releases serotonin and dopamine, the ‘feel-good’ hormones. Release of these hormones slows down dramatically during stressful periods, so exercise after work can be a great way of clearing the mind and feeling better at the end of the day.
One way you can encourage employees to get active is by offering our gym and health club discounts. Also, ensure your office has access to a refrigerator and microwave to help encourage employees to prepare healthy food.
4. Create a growth environment
Companies should be encouraging their employees to grow and learn. In a survey about employee motivation, employees were ask to rank job characteristics that motivated them. Quite surprisingly, promotions and high wages were not in the top three. Employee’s number one desire was “Full appreciation of work being done”.
Employers can help encourage growth by providing training, acknowledging company benchmarks and celebrating individual employee successes and accomplishments. Employees should be encouraged to take plenty of risks, and learn new ways of tackling problems. If not given opportunities to expand skill sets and responsibilities, employees will likely become bored and lose motivation at work.
5. Create a clear set of company values
Creating a clear set of company values can help employees feel more motivated at work as it makes them aware that they are fulfilling a bigger, more important purpose. As a leader, you should ensure the company is consistently abiding by these values, even through times of stress and turmoil. Employees will respect the company for this and value their roles in it more.
Implementing these and similar techniques in the workplace can help increase employee retention and increase overall workplace productivity.
Employers can easily improve employee satisfaction by offering our range of incredible employee savings and discounts.
If you’re ready to be the workplace hero, get in touch with us here or call 0800 652 4745 / email:hello@perkpal.co.uk