Importance of Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction entails a positive feeling about one’s job. It is one of the most studied aspects of job attitudes. This is because it drives on-the-job behavior and has a strong correlation with actual job performance. A satisfied employee is more likely to walk the extra mile for the organization. He or she is also far more likely to stick to the job despite the unavoidable ups and downs in one’s professional life.

Real-life reports by several dissatisfied employees reveal two crucial factors that prompt them to quit the job:

1. Opportunity for a better job
2. Irrational demands by managers and bosses in the current organization.

Research suggests that the latter is a far stronger predictor of actual turnover than the former. Therefore, the importance of job satisfaction and the advantages of having a satisfied employee can never be underestimated.

What leads to job satisfaction?

Think about it. What would you like to change in your current job to feel happier? For a person struggling with finances, pay would be the first answer. It has been found that pay increases satisfaction but only up to a point. For instance, if a person’s income keeps rising after a point, it does not provide incremental satisfaction anymore. Thus, pay or salary has a diminishing utility when it comes to job satisfaction.

Far more important factors include training, variety of tasks, independence or autonomy, control, and good co-workers. In reality, job satisfaction is not strictly related to the job. Personality factors also drive one’s level of satisfaction. Cynical individuals are likely to be skeptical of even positive job conditions and end up feeling dissatisfied. Research has shown that individuals with a positive core self-evaluation are more likely to be satisfied. In other words, individuals who believe in their inner potentials and competence are likely to experience job satisfaction.

What happens with employees are not satisfied?

Robins et al(2013) developed the following framework for describing responses to dissatisfaction:

	Constructive	Destructive
Active	Voice	Exit
Passive	Loyalty	Neglect

1. Exit: This involves leaving the organization. Exit is often directed by new job opportunities or opting for higher studies. New job opportunities may be in the form of switching to a different organization or starting one’s own enterprise. Higher education may be in the form of obtaining a diploma to continue in the same career or pursuing courses like MBA or PhD to change the course of one’s career.
2. Voice: This involves an active effort to change the existing and frustrating job conditions. It involves taking action in the form of discussing with co-workers and supervisors to accept the problem and find solutions for the same. Voice is often perceived in a negative fashion by top management, especially in high power distance cultures, where employees are expected to carry out orders. However, research evidence suggests that it is a better option to hear out employee grievances rather than ignoring them at face value.
3. Loyalty: It involves optimistically yet passively waiting for job conditions to improve. Loyalty also involves defending the organization in cases of external criticisms, therefore, not acknowledging the problem directly. Such employees have high levels of trust in the top management and believe that the organizational leaders will make things right. Hence, it is the passive version of employee voice.
4. Neglect: This involves chronic absenteeism, low productivity, loss of motivation in employees. Yet there is no attempt by employees to make conditions better. It is like accepting fate and finding a way to deal with it. Therefore, conditions are likely to worsen.

What happens when employees are satisfied?

1. Performance: Happy workers are likely to do more work and perform better. Based on a study published in Science Daily, higher levels of job satisfaction predicted better organizational performance about 6 months later. This study also found that job satisfaction gives rise to a virtuous cycle. Satisfied employees perform better, thereby increasing output. Profitable firms, in return, create conditions where employees are more satisfied. In general satisfied employees are more motivated and empowered.
2. OCB: Satisfied employees are more likely to talk positively about the organization, assist others and go beyond their job descriptions to contribute to the organization. Perceptions of organizational justice also moderate this relationship. When employees perceive that they have received rewards consistent with their efforts in the organization, they are more likely to walk the extra mile.
3. Customer satisfaction: Employees in front line jobs have to interact with customers on a daily basis in a pleasant and soothing tone. Satisfied employees are more likely to be naturals at it, whereas, dissatisfied employees have to put up a façade which is both emotionally taxing and robotic. Therefore, satisfied employees are more likely to enhance customer satisfaction as well.
4. Absenteeism and Turnover: There is a moderate yet consistent negative relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism. However, dissatisfied employees are more likely to show up for the job and be less productive. Absence of job satisfaction often serves as a pushing force that prompts employees to quit the organization despite not having a lucrative job offer at hand.
5. Workplace deviance: When employees feel exploited in the workplace, they are likely to show deviant behavior, like social withdrawal, substance abuse in the work place, extreme levels of aggression, unionized attempts and many more. Therefore, perceptions of justice and job satisfaction often go hand in hand.

Conclusion

Thus, we see that job satisfaction is correlated with positive on-the-job behavior, whereas low satisfaction is related to negative on-the-job behaviors. Therefore, organizations need to make attempts to enhance job satisfaction in employees.

Sharing is caring!