How to Improve Job Satisfaction by Improving the Job

The key is to make your employees feel that you value them

In the work we do surveying employees in many different types of organizations and industries, we often see that a lack of advancement opportunities not only brings down the level of overall job satisfaction but is also a major contributor to employee turnover.

Although job advancement opportunities may be limited for certain employees, organizations should be looking for ways to enhance or enrich the work that these employees are doing. Here are five effective guidelines that can be used in almost any organization:

Include a variety of skills within each job type.

Incorporate significant responsibilities that have a recognizable impact on others.

Ensure that individual employees can take some tasks through to completion.

Give your employees autonomy, freedom, independence and discretion in scheduling the work they do and the procedures they use to carry it out.

Build some type of feedback mechanism into all job responsibilities.

There is substantial evidence that employees who have work that follows these guidelines demonstrate higher levels of self-motivation, productivity, customer service, commitment and retention and job satisfaction.

From our experience, here are some specific recommendations that have improved job enrichment:

Combine several tasks currently performed by separate people into a single, more fulfilling job.

Put employees into teams or work units that are organized by the types of clients, industries or geographies to encourage greater collaboration and sense of teamwork.

Give more autonomy gradually by first delegating one task and then another from higher level jobs to those employees at lower levels.

Establish more direct contact between customers and employees so that these employees can see the direct impact of the work they do.

Create task forces with the power to solve problems or to create new products or services.

Allow employees who are doing stand-alone tasks in different locations to connect with those doing similar work so they can learn from each other and share best practices.

The opportunities to enrich jobs are there if you choose to take them. But since jobs cannot be enhanced without management and employees working together to make it happen, you also need to make sure that both managers and employees have the tools, training and systems necessary to carry out the work improvements.

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Tips for Enhancing Any Job

The key is to make your employees feel that you value them