The success of a company depends on two fundamental pillars for any organization: the commitment and satisfaction of its workforce, the main ingredients of talent retention. Many companies essentially focus on building a work climate that ensures the first factor, completely forgetting how to measure employee satisfaction.
This is a common mistake that, in the best of cases, will make your efforts to retain talent totally unsuccessful. In fact, according to a recent study carried out by the prestigious consulting firm McKinsey & Co.: 40% of employees are willing to leave their jobs due to job dissatisfaction.
So, measuring this metric will help you discover what is causing job dissatisfaction and build solutions before it’s too late for the organization.
Why is it important to measure and monitor employee satisfaction?
Job satisfaction is a cornerstone for optimal employee performance. Employees who are satisfied with their work and with the organization maintain a positive attitude that helps create an energetic and motivating environment that foster the desire to work and achieve goals.
If you know how to measure employee satisfaction, you will be able to know the state of your teams and what dimensions are those that bring them the most happiness. In this sense, you will be sure about where to invest the resources for better results.
And what are those results?
- More retention and less turnover. Employees who are satisfied with their jobs are less likely to go elsewhere, even when economic conditions are better.
- Productivity increase. Happy employees align their personal goals with corporate ones, so they will be more focused on achieving positive results and offering better services.
- A better place to work. Companies that are concerned about the well-being of their collaborators integrate measures into their day-to-day activities that favor a pleasant and safe working environment, which, in turn, empower the employer branding.
Focusing on employees can seem like a difficult task to solve, especially for larger companies whose HR departments already work a mile a minute.
But there is no reason to panic: measuring employee satisfaction is easier than it seems. In this article we show you 5 ways in which you can carry out this mission and not to die trying it.
5 ways to measure employee satisfaction
1. Employee Net Promoter Score ( eNPS )
The eNPS is a metric that measures employee satisfaction using a single question:
“How likely are you to recommend your workplace to other people?”
Employees answer this question in a scale from 1 to 10 and, depending on the score, they will fall into one of three classifications:
- Promoters (9-10).
- Passive (7-8).
- Detractors (6-1).
The formula to calculate eNPS is: number of promoters, minus number of detractors, then you divide the result by the total number of employees and multiply it by 100.
eNPS = [( # of promoters – # of detractors) ÷ total # of employees] x 100
The eNPS obtained will be a number that can vary between –100 and 100. A result above 20 implies that the company is doing well. If your eNPS is over 40, you’re doing very, very well.
But if the eNPS is below -10, it means that urgent measures are needed to alleviate job dissatisfaction.
Team Insights has a built-in feature to measure eNPS in a fully automated way.
2. Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI)
The ESI metric is very similar to the eNPS, with the difference that it not only assess employee satisfaction, but also explores if their job expectations are met.
In this case, the questions to be answered are three:
- How satisfied are you with your current job?
- To what extent does your current job meet your expectations?
- How close is your current job to your ideal job?
To calculate the ESI, the following formula is used:
ESI= (Question mean value ÷ 3) x 100
The higher the result obtained, the more satisfied the employees will be.
3. Pulse surveys
Pulse surveys are an excellent resource to get reliable and relevant information. These are short and frequent questionnaires through which you can transform the opinions of employees into actionable data.
With Teams Insights you can create pulse surveys to measure any metric in just a few easy steps. As each area has its own needs, you can adapt the surveys depending on the department that will receive it, varying the questions or the response requirements. This way you make sure you always have quality insights!
Of course, for a better performance of the pulse surveys, keep in mind the following:
- Frequency. It is recommended to send the surveys every two weeks.
- Few questions. For higher engagement, please make sure submitted surveys do not contain more than 10 questions.
- Easy answer. Avoid complex answers. Whenever it is not essential, use numerical scales!
- Anonymity. Employees must be sure that their answers will not have any negative repercussions, so anonymity is a must.
4. One to One meetings
1:1 meetings are individual and frequent meetings between managers and collaborators.
These meetings are the perfect space to enhance powerful dialogues and conversations to reach very valuable information that would otherwise be totally inaccessible.
1:1 are an ideal complement to pulse surveys, since we must not forget that a company is made up of people and there are issues, especially the most sensitive ones, that it is always better to deal with face to face.
In addition, they represent the perfect opportunity to discuss topics that the surveys have not covered, as well as a scenario in which to directly address the problems suffered by the most dissatisfied employees.
5. Use specialized software
Measuring employee satisfaction does not have to be a complicated, time-consuming, or expensive task. It’s best to use specialized software that brings together all the above methods in one place, and Team Insights is the perfect tool for this.
With a simple and easy to use interface, you can send pulse surveys, measure eNPS, create an ESI survey, and receive direct and anonymous feedback through an integrated chat system.
But, what if instead of reading it, you see it for yourself? Click on this link and try a 1h demo (without having to enter your credit card).
What are you waiting for to discover everything that Team Insights can offer you?
