Your Power to Increase Worker Job Satisfaction

 

According to a survey by Cornerstone OnDemand and research firm Kelton, about half of employees do not have plans to make a long-term career at their employer. Some are planning to leave soon, others in the mid-term.

The Bad News:  When a worker leaves, replacement is costly and time consuming and you have  a potential resource gap in your project. That increases your stress level.

The Good News:  It turns out that you as a project manager have control over factors that will keep workers in place.

The Bad News:  You are not sure of what these factors are.

The Good News:  The aforesaid survey can help.

Rank these four items that responding workers say  motivates them from most to least. (That means put the biggest motivator at the top.)

1. Receiving regular performance feedback to help succeed in role
2. Opportunity to develop skills
3. Promotion or new title
4. A good manager

Now don't look for an answer right away, follow your gut and rank the items first.

These motivational factors are actually ranked in reverse order. Aside from compensation and benefits, then, you can most strongly motivate employees to stay in their current position by simply being a good manager.

By implication, you should be able to state the key behaviors you need to exhibit to be a good manager right now. Go.

Can't do it? Then you have a little research to do. To make this easier, we humbly offer this blog with information from the latest studies and surveys, ideas proven to work in your workforce.

Case in point:  Here are the highest motivators (to keep workers engaged and in their position) found in the survey.

• A good manager who I enjoy working for (48%)
• Feeling appreciated by my supervisor or employer  (46%)
• The opportunity to advance my career  (39%)
• A promotion or new title  (38%)
• Liking and respecting my co-workers  (36%)
• Recognition for my accomplishments, such as my supervisor or co-workers expressing congratulations  (35%)

Look at the top two motivators. You have so much control over these factors that it should be clear just from this survey that you have significant leverage to increase worker satisfaction.

If you are not doing so already, then start showing your appreciation for the specific things your workers are doing to drive your project ahead. Be more likable by listening better, showing empathy for worker's situations and giving individuals specific feedback that will help them succeed in their role.

You may not be able to promote a worker or give a new title (except perhaps something temporary for your project such as Grand Poobah of Technical Design), but you can certainly provide recognition for accomplishments and collaboration. And you can make time for your project workers to provide recognition to each other. Remember this in your project meetings.

With these simple steps, you as a project manager can improve worker job satisfaction and reduce expensive turnover and, finally, keep your best workers cranking away in your project.

More on this survey and the importance of performance reviews in my next post.

Here's a bonus heat map so that you can see how your state stands up as far as recognition. Stay equal or better than employers competing for the same workers in your state.