18 Critical Factors to Improve Employee Satisfaction and Engagement

Before you can improve employee satisfaction and employee engagement, you need to
know what to improve. The annual Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Survey identifies the factors that are
important in employee job satisfaction and employee engagement as perceived by
employees.
The surveys purpose is to assist employers to develop the right programs and practices
when they seek to have an impact on these two factors that are critical to employee
morale and motivation. Understanding employee preferences provides guidance for the
knowledgeable allocation of resources.
The survey explored 35 aspects of employee job satisfaction, divided into four topic
areascareer development, relationship with management, compensation and benefits,
and work environment. Added in 2011, the survey also explored employee engagement.
Satisfaction Survey Results
According to this study, 83% of U.S. employees reported overall satisfaction with their
current job, with 41% of employees indicating they were very satisfied and 42%
somewhat satisfied. Despite this high percentage of satisfied employees, the level of
overall satisfaction has been trending downward since 2009.
Employees in organizations that had fewer than 100 employees expressed satisfaction
more frequently than employers in larger organizations with 2500 or more employees.
SHRM found no significant differences in overall job satisfaction by employee industry,
job tenure, race or gender.
Engagement, however, is a different story. The U.S. has a problem with employee
engagement. In this years SHRM survey, employees were only moderately engaged (3.6)
on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is highly engaged. Findings by the Gallup organization

about disengaged employees were highlighted in the Wall Street Journal. Gallup found
19% of 1,000 people interviewed "actively disengaged" at work. These workers complain
that they don't have the tools they need to do their jobs. They don't know what is
expected of them. Their bosses don't listen to them.
Top 10 Contributors to Employee Job Satisfaction
Employees identified these factors as their top 10 most important contributors to their
job satisfaction.

Job security: 63%, for the fourth consecutive year, as the top most important
determinant of job satisfaction. (67% of employees are very satisfied or satisfied
with their job security.)

Opportunities to Use Skills and Abilities: 62%. (74% are satisfied or very satisfied
in their workplace.)

Organizations Financial Stability: 55%. (63% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

Relationship with Immediate Supervisor: 55%. (73% are satisfied or very

satisfied.)

Compensation: 54%. (61% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

Benefits: 53%. (65% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

Communication between Employees and Senior Management: 53% (54% are

satisfied or very satisfied.)

The Work Itself: 53%. (76% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

Autonomy and independence: 52%. (69% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

Managements Recognition of Employee Performance: 49%. (57% are satisfied or

very satisfied.)

Feeling Safe at Work: 48%. (78% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

Overall Corporate Culture: 46%. (60% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

Flexibility for Work-Life Balance: 38%. (65% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

Relationships with Coworkers: 38%. (76% are satisfied or very satisfied.)

SHRM Reports that Benefits which had been in the top two contributors to job
satisfaction since 2002, slipped to fifth place. Relationship with immediate supervisor is
new this year to the list of top five most important job satisfaction contributors. Among
SHRMs other results: Chance for career advancement (36%) has been declining since
2002. Coaching, mentoring, and succession planning are less important in companies
with less than 100 employees.
18 Employee Engagement Conditions
Employee engagement, according to the SHRM report, is more likely to occur when
certain conditions exist. Employers can maximize employee engagement via improving
these factors. The percentages indicate the overall satisfaction of employees with the
listed condition of engagement. The items are listed in order from the employee survey
results: most satisfied to least satisfied with the condition in their organization.

The work itself: 76%

Relationships with co-workers: 76%

Opportunities to use skills and abilities: 74%

Relationship with immediate supervisor: 73%

Contribution of work to organizations business goals: 71%

Autonomy and independence: 69%

Meaningfulness of job: 69%

Variety of work: 68%

Organizations financial stability: 63%

Overall corporate culture: 60%

Managements recognition of employee job performance: 57%

Job-specific training: 55%

Communication between employees and senior management: 54%

Organizations commitment to professional development: 54%

Networking: 49%

Organizations commitment to corporate social responsibility: 49%

Career development opportunities: 48%

Career advancement opportunities: 42%

With the percentages noted in both the satisfaction portion of the survey results and the
engagement aspects of the survey, employers have some work to do to fully satisfy and,
especially, engage employees. Note that four aspects of employee career and
professional development fall in the bottom seven for employee satisfaction:

Job-specific training

Organization's committment to professional development

Career development opportunities

Career advancement opportunities