WHAT IS EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?
Employee satisfaction is the attitude of an employee to the opportunities and services he receives in return for his work. If the giver receives less than he gives, dissatisfaction occurs; The same applies to the receiving party. For this reason, in order to ensure satisfaction, the work offered should be paid properly. Employee loyalty, on the other hand, is the feeling that occurs as a result of the harmony between the values of the employee and the core values of the company.
The way to increase a company's efficiency by 100% depends on employee satisfaction. The first important factor that comes to the fore in employee satisfaction is time. The actions taken by the companies for the satisfaction of their employees should be sustainable because employee satisfaction is not a concept that can be achieved with a single move. Rather, it is a process that requires constant attention. Strategies that are not considered and made permanent lose their effect on employees quickly. This is how it is in our daily life. When a bad event occurs after a very good day, that happy day is not remembered. Companies should also consider this in their studies on employee satisfaction.
Another important element is subjectivity. Not every employee may present the same requests and be dissatisfied with the same situation. Everyone's expectations are different. In companies, the human resources department should listen to the employees individually and determine their expectations before taking action on behalf of employee satisfaction, because when trying to please employees with assumptions, the situation can backfire and deteriorate.
How is Employee Satisfaction Achieved?
Employees are an important building block that determines the direction of the company's business. Accordingly, their satisfaction and dissatisfaction should be asked sincerely. In this way, both trust and a healthy communication environment can be established. Employee satisfaction is not only achieved in monetary terms. This is a misunderstood attitude. In order to please an employee, opportunities that can affect his social life can be given, and trainings for his career can also be offered. If a longer-term high motivation and satisfaction is desired, methods should be applied that will not immediately affect the employees. Temporary solutions always bring temporary positive feedback. Implementing temporary solutions specific to employee motivation can reduce employee trust and loyalty. At this point, companies should be aware that employee satisfaction is not a stable situation and is a dynamic structure.
The first step in ensuring employee satisfaction is to ask employees about their expectations and wishes. Although this responsibility seems to belong only to the human resources department; Managers, directors and managers also have responsibilities at the core of work. The human resources department is a support mechanism in this process. In order for the process to be concluded in the most smooth way without getting complicated, the expectations reports created as a result of the researches of the employees, should be activated by the human resources departments and actions should be taken towards employee satisfaction.
The 6 basic ways to ensure employee satisfaction are as follows:
1- Make Your Employees Feel That You Value.
A company should make its employees feel valued. Knowing and feeling a situation are very different concepts. If the employee feels that he or she is cared for in the company, he will work to be more helpful because that way he knows that every job he does is valued. There are many ways companies can make employees feel valued. For example; employees can be made to feel that their ideas are valued by asking their opinions, or employees who create value can be appreciated and included in the system in a more motivated way.
As the loyalty of an employee who feels worthless to the company will decrease, the quality of work he will produce will also be low. For this reason, companies should be made to feel aware of their values by showing the necessary care and sensitivity to their employees.
2- Communicate transparently and openly with your employees.
Transparent and open communication is an important condition for resolving the problem between people, consolidating the developing intimacy and doing the work efficiently. In the company, transparent and open communication while expressing ideas and wishes about the positive or negative work to be done or done will make the employee's direction even more evident. It is inevitable that an employee who does not know what to do will make a mistake, and this is a situation that reduces employee satisfaction as well as lowering the motivation of the employee. In order to strengthen the trust between the employee and the company, the criticisms should be constructive, the requests should be stated clearly and the evaluations should be transparent.
To put it from another point of view; the worker is a sailboat, and the employer is the wind. The more moderate, gentle and distinct the wind, the more confidently the sailboat sails. On the contrary, if the wind blows unevenly and hard, the sailboat will be blown as much. As a result, healthy communication; It prevents misunderstandings between the company and the employee and the negative consequences arising from this situation. It not only increases the value of the work done, but also keeps the motivation of the employees dynamic.
3- Listen to Your Employees and Take Action.
Satisfaction surveys should be conducted at regular intervals in the company in order to learn about the wishes and expectations of the employees. It is almost impossible to find the answer without asking the employees what they want. When a human resources employee satisfaction survey is conducted in a company with a large number of employees, many different requests and expectations can be encountered. While some of these are necessary, some may be non-majority and individual requests. A suggestion or request that will create value on some side may result in a negative impact on others. Based on these, companies should evaluate every expectation and request. They should choose the ones that can work and put them into practice. The company may not be able to meet the demands and expectations, but still, the maximum possible action should be taken. Companies that do employee satisfaction surveys and do not take action will double the current employee dissatisfaction and break employee trust.
Another positive aspect of employee satisfaction surveys is that if they are done anonymously, employees can give more honest answers and reveal the company's shortcomings more transparently. While the strategies to be determined and the actions to be taken in line with the results are clearer, the satisfaction of the employees also increases.
4- Make Applications to Increase Employee Loyalty.
Employee loyalty is an element that embodies the value that the employee wants to add to the company. As the harmony between the goals of the company and the employee increases, employee engagement also increases. Commitment is the instinctive tendency in humans to do the best work. Therefore, the values that the employees add to the company as a result of their commitment to the company will be at the maximum level. Employee engagement is one step ahead of employee satisfaction because employee satisfaction may change from day to day, but employee engagement is temporally continuous. While the employee is satisfied one day, he may not be satisfied the next day, but the decrease or increase in company loyalty is a result of a process. Companies should take actions to increase company loyalty in order to make work quality sustainable and to ensure long-term employee satisfaction.
5- Be fair and principled in Human Resources Management.
Justice not only fosters a sense of trust in employees, but also increases the awareness of responsibilities in business practices. While an employee may not be bothered by a low salary, they may be uncomfortable being wronged because they have instinctively developed a self-protective reflex. If he does not see a monetary improvement in return for his labor and if he is not made aware of his labor, he may feel that he is in an unfair environment and walk away from the company. Therefore, the principles and justice systems of the companies should be determined within the framework of morality and reflected to the employees in this direction. Necessary care should be given to the employee by making a fair evaluation in return for the work done, the effort given and the common sense shown. Every company has certain principles. If these principles are not acted upon, employee satisfaction and respect for the company decrease. At this point, the element that companies should pay attention to in human resources management is to act in line with its principles and to offer a fair management to the employees.
What is Employee Engagement?
Employee loyalty is a feeling that emerges as a result of the harmony between the personal values of the employee and the core values of the company. Employee engagement does not mean how long the employee stays with the company. How much the employee is willing to add value to the company, that is, the dedication of the employee is the most important parameter of employee loyalty. If there is a company environment where employees can take initiative, do not hesitate to contribute and express their opinions, and if your company is constantly developing with the ideas and feedback from the employees, it can be said that your company has a high employee engagement.
Another factor that is more important than employee loyalty is whether they recommend your company to your friends who are looking for a job. Employees in a company with high employee loyalty, because they embrace their company, recommend the company they work for to their friends they know and trust.
What is the Difference Between Employee Satisfaction and Employee Engagement?
Employee satisfaction can change rapidly over time. For example; An employee who is very satisfied with his job one week may be dissatisfied the next. Emotions are variable in employee satisfaction. Employee engagement, on the other hand, covers a wider moment in terms of time. Since commitment is not an easily attainable emotion in humans, it does not disappear quickly. Employee loyalty is a feeling that is more sustainable and can be maintained in the long run compared to employee satisfaction.
Employee engagement is more of an emotional and value-oriented element, rather than something that can be earned with money or a tangible reward. Since employee satisfaction has a constantly changing emotional graph, it needs to be fed financially or morally at certain intervals.
It is often thought that employee engagement and employee satisfaction go hand in hand, but an employee may work for years in a job they are not satisfied with because of their commitment to the company. This is an attitude that is acquired entirely because of the abstract concepts received in return, namely value, vision and mission. While employee engagement is measured by employee engagement survey; employee satisfaction is measured with an employee satisfaction survey.
Therefore, although employee loyalty and satisfaction seem like two elements that move on the same plane, they are actually very different. Companies need to keep both values at high levels in order to increase the quality of the work done. In cases where one of them is missing, it is an inevitable result to experience a decrease in job quality and employee happiness. The more satisfied and committed the employees are, the more they add value to the company and improve themselves.
The Importance of Employee Engagement
In companies with high employee engagement, the turnover rate, that is, employee turnover and employee turnover rates, is low. This ensures that the company's knowledge does not decrease and continues to increase. Employee turnover is high in companies with low employee engagement. Considering that the orientation and adaptation processes of the new employee do not create much value until they get used to the job and the workplace, efficiency and productivity are low in companies with high employee turnover. In addition, this circulation may adversely affect other employees. In companies with high employee engagement and low circulation, know-how accumulation occurs faster and more effectively. There is no loss of information.
Employees with high employee loyalty do not hesitate to express their opinions, do their best and take extra responsibility. This moves both the employee, his colleagues and the company forward.
How to Increase Employee Engagement?
The main factors of employee loyalty are the company vision and culture, the fairness and impartiality of the managers and the value given to the employee. So what should be done to increase employee loyalty? Here are ways to increase Employee Engagement:
Strengthen Internal Communication
Try to get to know your colleagues both at work and outside of work. Getting to know your employees helps you give them the most appropriate support when they need moral support. Small conversations with employees during breaks and at the beginning of the meeting will help you get to know them. These conversations will also help you convey your company vision and culture directly to your employees.
Celebrating and remembering special events such as birthdays and anniversaries; Factors such as sharing the pain of happiness with the employee in cases outside of work, for example, when the employee becomes a mother or father, or when he/she loses a relative, are the factors that strengthen internal communication. Employee engagement is high in companies with strong internal communication.
Involve Your Employees in Decision Making Processes
This situation should be shared with the employees before a change is made in the company. The opinions of the employees should be listened carefully, feedback should be given about their suggestions if necessary, and thanks should be given at the end of the meeting. Getting their ideas and applying them in the company or getting feedback on why they can't be implemented even if they are not implemented will increase the loyalty of the employees.
Appreciate Your Employees
We are all happy when our work is seen as valuable and important by others. Appreciating your employees for a task they've accomplished will increase their commitment to your business.
Don't Take Side
Employees feel more peaceful and safe in an impartial, transparent, fair and egalitarian working environment. As in all areas of life, there may be disagreements and minor arguments at work. It is the manager's job to resolve these discussions. While doing this, the manager should not offend both sides and should approach the event impartially and fairly. In this way, the trust of the employees, who are the actors of the event, in their managers and their loyalty to their workplaces continue.
Fairness and impartiality are not only in discussion situations; promotion, bonus and authorization should be carried out at the maximum level, leaving no room for doubt.
Do Not Allow Uncertainties
By nature, people are afraid of what they do not know, situations that are not known what will happen, that is, uncertainties increase stress. We cannot expect stressed employees to be happy and therefore committed to their workplace and their work. Therefore, uncertainties in the workplace should be removed. There should be no room for ambiguity, especially in terms of job descriptions, business processes, and organizational structure.
Drive Workplace Adoption
The first condition for increasing employee loyalty is that the employee feels himself/herself belonging to and a part of that business. Activities such as non-work activities with colleagues, dinner and entertainment organizations, and quarterly parties will increase the employee's commitment to the workplace while at the same time. For example, a few hours of competition can be played one day a week, small games with a sweet level of competition can be played, playgrounds such as table tennis can be set up in the office, and sports events can be organized.
Continuously Monitor Employee Engagement
By constantly observing employee loyalty within the company, observe in which situations it increases or decreases, how employees react to which events, and create your future plans in line with these observations.
Factors by which you can observe employee engagement,
Benefit from the Experiences of Others
Employee engagement is a very important issue in today's business world. You can contact us to initiate employee engagement practices in your business, to measure the level of commitment and to see what your company means to your employees, and to perform Employee Satisfaction and Employer Brand Analysis in your company.