Satisfaction. Involvement. Commitment.
Three important properties for a successful employee. Yet it is often not clear what this properties exactly. The terms employee satisfaction, commitment and engagement are therefore sometimes used interchangeably. And that while they are indeed different concepts. A satisfied employee is in fact not yet immediately involved. An involved employee does not necessarily have to be engaged. to be. And engagement does not always automatically go hand in hand with satisfaction.
employee satisfaction,
As the name suggests, it goes to employee satisfaction to the degree of satisfaction with the current work situation. This concept can roughly be divided into four facets:
Work content
It's at Employee satisfaction is important to ensure that the content of the work is as desired. is. Do you enjoy carrying out the work? Provides the function enough variation, and are the capacities being used?
Working conditions
Second, it is it is essential that the physical and mental conditions under which work is carried out are okay. Isn't the workload too high? The workplace meets all requirements in order to carry out the work safely and successfully?
Collaboration & Communication
The most important The social climate in the workplace is a factor for employee satisfaction. Is there a nice atmosphere within the team? Is the right guidance provided? Are conflicts prevented and resolved?
Compensation & Remuneration
Not even the rewards that come with the work are unimportant. Is the salary for example, correct and in line with the market? Will there be sufficient growth and offered training opportunities?
Measuring employee satisfaction
In the ideal situation, a employee is only positive about each of these four facets. In practice However, it appears that there is often enough room for improvement. The advantage of Employee satisfaction is that it is relatively easy to improve the quality of ...to bring. By means of an employee satisfaction survey, it is possible to identify concrete areas for improvement within the organisation. It's up to the employer to act on this and thus increase employee satisfaction.
employee satisfaction, is not only desirable for the employee himself. The organisation also benefits from a high level of satisfaction on the shop floor. Research shows that employee satisfaction goes hand in hand with, among other things:
- Higher customer satisfaction (even in the absence of direct customer contact)1, 2
- Higher productivity1, 3
- More profitability1
- Reduced staff turnover1
Employee engagement
Besides satisfaction plays involvement a major role in the work experience. A committed employee has a heart for the organisation. He is proud to work for the organisation and is willing to take extra steps to help the organisation. This is largely due to an agreement between the personal values of the employee and the core values of the organisation. A committed employee can therefore identify with the organisation.
Involvement goes one step at a time beyond satisfaction. Imagine an organization in which you have exactly has the same function as now, and where exactly the same satisfaction factors are present. A high level of commitment ensures that you wouldn't consider switching to the other organization. One The employee concerned attaches great importance to the connection with the organisation. stand.
Measuring employee engagement
Because the degree of involvement depends to a large extent on personal values, it can be used by the employer seem difficult to increase involvement. However, it is certainly possible to to bring about an improvement. An engagement survey can be used to map out are brought to the attention of the public with regard to points for improvement. Suppose, for example, that the results show that employees do not feel involved in decisions that are made within the organization. The employer can then choose between in order to facilitate greater participation or to make changes clearer. communicating and managing.
As with employee satisfaction, employee involvement also has a positive effect on issues such as customer satisfaction, performance and retention of staff.4. In addition, research shows that involvement goes hand in hand with innovation. Not only that, but non-affected workers even act as a handbrake on both innovation and productivity. By conducting engagement research, it becomes clear what the level of engagement of the organisation, department or team is. And how it can be increased. In this way, it is possible to prevent efforts to innovate from being thwarted by a lack of involvement in the workplace.
Commitment
The term 'engagement' is often used to refer to used as a direct translation of involvement. This is not right! Where we having involvement at the heart of the organisation, it goes to commitment to heart for work. An engaged employee experiences the following three characteristics:
Energy
When a engaged employee gets up in the morning, he feels like going to work. He feels strong and vital and does not allow himself to be knocked off the field by a occasional setback.
Dedication
Someone who is dedicated, feels a high degree of enthusiasm and pride in his work. His work inspires him, which he then uses to further develop. He sees his work as useful and challenging.
Absorption
Absorption is the feeling like you're totally immersed in what you're doing. You experience a strong concentration and you forget the time and the world around you. A working day flies so it's over soon.
An engaged employee is therefore someone who gets a lot of satisfaction out of his work, is energetic and dedicated, and is fascinated by work. This is largely determined by personality. Is an employee of naturally optimistic and energetic? Is it someone who can easily concentrate? As an employer, there is of course little you can do about this. Still there are plenty of external factors that influence the level of engagement. Factors that have a negative influence on engagement become stressors or work demands ...mentioned. Factors with a positive effect on engagement are energy sources.
Stressors are things that are part of the job, but will not necessarily be considered fun. Think of the difficult task that has been on your to-do list for days, or the administrative work that comes with your job. These things take effort and energy. This is related to psychological costs, such as fatigue and irritation. No problem, as long as there are enough energy sources on top of it.5. In the case of energy sources, these are aspects of the work that are experienced as pleasant. Examples of energy sources are a nice atmosphere within the team, the space to plan your own time and performance feedback. Energy sources have a motivating effect. When work gives more energy than it takes, employees will experience a higher level of commitment and be more willing to make an effort to take their performance to a higher level.
Measuring engagement
The degree of commitment to the The work floor can be determined by means of an engagement survey. This will be used in The following sections describe the steps that can be taken in each case. By commitment to combine research with the aforementioned employee satisfaction survey stressors and energy sources can be identified.
Case study
In the ideal situation, a employee is satisfied, involved and engaged. The employee feels happy, relaxed and competent. The employer has a valuable strength in which can be built on. All's well, all's well.
But what if one of the three parts fog?
"This is Tim. Tim has an office job at a nice location in Amsterdam. He works in a nice team and receives a nice salary in his bank account every month. The personal values that are important to Tim are reflected in the organisation. On birthdays he proudly talks about the projects for which the organization is committed. However, he always adds that the work he does is not exactly what he was looking for and that it is a little below his level. Still, he doesn't care about this. He is happy that he does not have to put too much effort into his work and that it is easy for him to do so. He is already quite tired after a long day of work."
The situation described above is not necessarily problematic. Tim is doing his job well and is satisfied with his situation. Yet one of the three ingredients for this is missing the optimal work experience: Engagement. Tim has no heart for his work. It risk is that Tim will soon settle for the work he's doing. and that he won't be inclined to take steps to get his work to a to lift and develop a higher level. When the level of commitment is Tim can live up to his potential and be more valuable to the organization.
A complete picture of work experience
Satisfaction, commitment and commitment are therefore all important for the work experience of employees. Employees who score high on all three factors are happy, are willing to take additional steps, perform optimally and are the least inclined to do so to leave the organization.
It is therefore no surprise that it is valuable for employers to gain insight into satisfaction, commitment and commitment. In this way, insight is given into both the strengths within the organization, as well as the points that require a little extra attention. ...need. These insights provide the opportunity to explore the work experience, and The Committee believes that it is important to ensure that the Optimize. In addition, a higher degree of involvement and commitment is accompanied by innovation, which leads to a competitive advantage.
What is your vision on the impact of employee satisfaction, involvement and commitment on the success of the organisation? Please let us know by commenting below.
Sources
1. Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 87(2), 268.
2. Wangenheim, F. V., Evanschitzky, H., & Wunderlich, M. (2007). Does the employee-customer satisfaction link hold for all employee groups?. Journal of Business research, 60(7), 690-697.
3. Halkos, G., & Bousinakis, D. (2010). The effect of stress and satisfaction on productivity. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 59(5), 415-431.
4. Hays (2019). Why committed staff is important to your organisation. www.hayes.nl
5. Schaufeli, W. B. (2015). From burnout to enthusiasm. Work and well-being in the Netherlands. M & O, 69, 15-31.
1 October 2019