Job Satisfaction
The happiness of employees toward their job indicates the term “Job Satisfaction”. Satisfied employees are the assets for any organization. As per Stephen P. Robbins, “Job satisfaction is an individual’s general attitude towards his/her job.” Arnold and Fieldman defined job satisfaction as the amount of overall positive feelings that individuals have toward their jobs. It is determined by the discrepancy between what individual expect to get out of their job and what the job actually offers. In fact, job satisfaction is the degree of contentment or pleasure that a person feels by performing a job. When employees are satisfied with their job then they will be self-motivated for better performance and better results. Professional relationships will strengthen when employees are satisfied with their job. Employees who are satisfied with their job are more dedicated to achieving the organizational goal and they show their loyalty to increase the overall productivity. Several financial and nonfinancial factors influence the degree of employee job satisfaction. Financial rewards, bonuses, pay scale increment, compensation, opportunities for professional growth, favorable work environments and work culture has a direct impact on employee job satisfaction.
Job Satisfaction and Motivation
Motivation is the willingness to expand energy to achieve a goal or reward. It is the inner desire of an individual to accomplish something more. According to David A. Decenzo and S. P. Robbins: “Motivation is an individual willingness to exert effort to achieve the organization’s goals, conditioned by this effort’s ability to satisfy individual needs.” In the word of Richard Steers, “Motivation energizes, directs and sustains human behavior, a force that causes people to behave in certain ways and that is goal directed.” Job satisfaction and motivation are positively related with each other. That is higher job satisfaction leads for higher motivation and vice versa. Satisfied employees tend to be more productive, motivated, and more engaged in organizational activities. Studies have shown that employee job satisfaction has a large impact on motivation, which in turn affects productivity and organizational performance (Aziri 2011). Additionally, employees who are committed to the organization are less likely to leave their job (Ćulibrk et al. 2018). Thus, to retain talented employees, contemporary organizations need to build a workplace where people feel satisfied and are committed to the organization (Bayona, Caballer & Peiró 2020). The satisfied workers are motivated workers and the motivated worker becomes more productive worker. Job satisfaction is not only related with motivational factors but it is also a major determinant of an employee’s organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).
Adversely, dissatisfied employees express their discontent to others both inside and outside the organization. Such “bad-mouthing” leads to the depreciation, the goodwill and popularity of the organization. Dharma (2005), organizations that are successful in achieving their goals, one of them is because the organization can meet the job satisfaction of its employees.
Job Satisfaction and its Psychological Aspect
Satisfied employees seem to be happier and can balance their professional and personal life. They can tactfully handle the stress, settle the hurdles and forward towards professional growth with more dedication and confidence. Job satisfaction is important for psychological adjustment and the happy life of a person. In fact, job satisfaction is nothing more than the positive emotional response of the employees regarding their job responsibility, co-workers’ behavior, organizational policies and overall work environment & culture. It directly influences at physical and mental health of the employees. To be healthy and wealthy, an employee should be satisfied with its job. Job satisfaction is the best remedy for resistance to change. Change is making things different. Self-motivated staff with a higher degree of job satisfaction is regarded as the change agents in any organization. They can easily adjust the environmental adaptation and implement the change wholeheartedly.
Why Employee Job Satisfaction is Important for Employers Too
Not only for employees, job satisfaction is beneficial for employers too. If we think in a broad sense, the employer him/herself is also the employee of the organization. This is because an organization is an artificial person created by law having a separate entity from its owner/proprietor. A satisfied workforce is one of the factors that differs successful organizations from the rest (Ćulibrk et al. 2018). Understanding which factors impact employee job satisfaction provides important information for organizations regarding motivation and retention of the workforce as well as for recruiting activities (Wegman, Hoffman, Carter, Twenge & Guenole 2018). As already mentioned, there exists a positive relationship between job satisfaction and motivation. Highly motivated with less skilled employees can give better output than the less motivated with highly skilled employees. Employee job satisfaction is the source of better output, better productivity, and overall better results for the organization. It reduces employee turnover and enhances employee retention which reduces HR costs dramatically in the long run. Employees who are happy with their jobs speak favorably about their organization, products, and services which directly impacts the goodwill and publicity. Job satisfaction is equally important to foster better industrial relations (labor relations). When employees are satisfied at their jobs, the friction between workers and management will be reduced which ultimately leads to better labor relations. In this note, all organizations should focus on creating a satisfied workforce adopting a participating management approach and two-way communication. Handling of employee grievances timely, adopting reward and punishment mechanisms, fair and unbiased performance appraisal are the basis for creating an overall positive working environment where employees feel supported and appreciated.
References
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