Methods to measure job satisfaction

It is very important for companies that their employees are satisfied and happy with their job, because this leads to a higher working morale. This again leads to a higher output and performance of the workers as well as lower overall costs, which is profitable for the company. So everybody benefits from a positive working atmosphere. There are a various number of ways how employers can measure the job satisfaction of their employees. The most common ways are: * Rating Scales (Single Global Rating) * Summation Score * Interviews * Action Tendencies Monitoring of Performance Targets * VisualObservationWhen a company uses rating scales to measure the job satisfaction of their employees, these will be asked various questions, <> through which they report their thoughts and concerns of their jobs. These questions can be about responsibilities in the job, supervision, security, wages, alternation in tasks and how they keep them motivated, future in the company and promotion prospects, of course how the work itself keeps them motivated and also a very important point, their colleagues.

In some surveys they only have to answer yes-or-no questions while in other methods the tested person has to rate its satisfaction via a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 means the lowest satisfaction and 5 represents the highest satisfaction rate. It is better to keep the names of the employees anonymous, because then they will be much more honest since they don’t have to fear any consequences. When using a summation score, employees will be asked about the same different aspects of their job.

The difference this time is, that they will have to rate their satisfaction in the various fields instead of just answering yes or no questions. At the end of the test, the scores will be summated, which leads to the final results. Another method is tointerviewemployees. This is a much more personal method than the ones explained before, because this time the workers will be face to face with their supervisor. The advantage is, that the interviewed person can tell the interviewer exactly what’s on their mind and if they have any requests.

It can be used better in order to solve existing problems in the workenvironment. Every participant should be asked the same questions to analyze the answers in a comparable way. In the case of action tendencies, employees have to avoid or allow certain things, concerning their work, to happen. They have to run through a specific situation and the behavior is crucial for the test results. With this method the employer can test theloyaltyof an employee towards the company. If an employee is not satisfied with his or her job, they don’t show as much commitment to the well-being of the company. S K Srivastava, 2005) It is also possible to review the satisfaction of the staff by monitoring performance targets. This is done by observing if the employees participate in optional programs or if they are motivated to earn various bonuses. It doesn’t reflect the job satisfaction directly but in combination with a rating scale or interviews it is possible to retain more accurate data about themotivationof the staff. The satisfaction of the employees can also be detected by simply watching them. A satisfied colleague is happy and smiles more often.