Understanding & Monitoring Employee Satisfaction/Commitment
Introduction:
In
today’s rapidly changing employment market, enlightened and progressive
management more clearly recognizes the association between employee
satisfaction and its impact on customer/end user satisfaction. A
satisfied workforce is more productive, takes pride in its work,
minimizes internal conflicts with enhanced teamwork, and has higher
levels of loyalty/retention. The key to understanding employee
satisfaction is complex, involving a number of factors that are
dependent upon employee perceptions of:
• The effectiveness and fairness of management.
• The quality of overall communications.
• Compensation and incentives.
• Work relationships with management and between
employees.
• The degree employees support and understand
corporate initiatives.
• The perceived quality and confidence in leadership.
• Other.
The
monitoring system should be undertaken from the top down to cover the
entire organization to be most effective. All levels of
employment relate/interface with others in some fashion and therefore
need to be assessed to promote the optimum harmony and efficiency of
operation.
The
CME approach to evaluating employee satisfaction consists of a number
of components that establish a critical baseline to “bench” the
linkages between satisfaction and commitment. CME views the data
base as dynamic with the initial efforts directed at establishing a
baseline to be used to:
• Gauge the effectiveness of new employee
programs/benefits.
• Establish the impacts of changes in corporate
initiatives on the labor force.
• Identify primary strengths and weaknesses of
current management practices.
• Provide an important data set for modeling and
understanding the primary “drivers” that define the highly committed
and most satisfied employees.
In
the final analysis, the degree of employee commitment is the result of
his/her perceived satisfaction. In progressive organizations, the
realization that employees may be the most important resource is the
driving force to continuously stay abreast of the their needs and
desires. The prevention of employee defection should be considered job
#1.
Critical
Elements in Employee Satisfaction Monitoring
1)
A critical element in monitoring employee satisfaction is the degree
that the agency responsible for collecting and analyzing the data is
viewed as being objective and independent of current management
controls.
2)
High participation rates by employees are essential and are likely to
occur only when employees perceive that management is truly committed
to listening to concerns and willing to act on those concerns that have
been discovered.
3)
The assessment process must be a comprehensive assessment of the
multi-dimensional elements of the values that the corporation
holds central to its’ mission. For example, issues of job
performance, customer focus, respect, integrity, diversity, teamwork,
and quality of life are assessed in understanding the roots that build
commitment and loyalty to the organization.
4)
Actionable information must be developed from the analysis and
monitoring process to provide implementation strategies to correct
weaknesses and to maintain strengths. It is essential that this
information be provided (communicated) at the level where direct
implementation and improvement can take place.
The
bottom line, employees must view the monitoring process as an objective
“benefit” provided by the organization. Participation in the
assessment process along with implemented changes that are on “target”
with employee needs is an integral part of the process of defection
prevention.
Key Content Areas
Assessed in CME’s
Approach to
Employee Satisfaction Monitoring:
In assessing employee satisfaction and commitment, CME collects data on
employee perceptions in the following areas:
• Performance on key corporate values
• Compensation relative to internal and external
comparisons
• Eligibility for incentives and perceptions of
current incentives
• Performance of senior management
• Performance of local management
• Performance of the immediate supervisor
• Effectiveness of corporate communications
• Understanding and degree of support for business
realignments/restructuring
• Loyalty with the corporation
• Employee commitment to the corporation
• Overall satisfaction
Analysis and
Presentation of Findings:
A
key component of CME’s approach to employee retention is to provide
supporting analysis that will give management a clear indication of
where problems and concerns are centered. Profiling by specific
department/ business area, job type, geographic location when
applicable, and by general demographic attributes (gender, age,
race/ethnicity, tenure in position, tenure in the corporation, etc.)
supports efforts to target the areas where problems are most
serious. Multivariate analysis complements the profiling by
providing insights into the key “drivers” that define the more
committed from the less committed employees. Reporting formats for the
research and analysis findings utilize simple yet informative
PowerPoint slide presentations.
The evaluation process needs to be continuous from year to year to
permit an assessment of progress that can be shared with the employee.
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