When you are a manager, one of your jobs is to motivate and develop your employees to improve job satisfaction. If you want to improve your own productivity, you should also be concerned with your own job satisfaction. There are ways in which managers can monitor activity and develop plans that will improve their own performance.
Goals
Employees are motivated by performance goals, and they find pride in achieving or exceeding their goals. Managers should also make goals designed to bring personal and professional satisfaction. For example, if as a sales manager you get a quarterly bonus based on revenue numbers, then set a goal to exceed those numbers and claim a larger bonus. A manager can also set a goal to increase departmental production to get the executive team to allow for necessary upgrades and changes to departmental equipment.
Get Subordinates Involved
Managers who feel the need to perform all of the administrative and managerial tasks for their departments on their own are adding to their own stress and alienating their staff. Learn to get your employees involved in making daily decisions by empowering employees to develop their own work methods. Have a weekly staff meeting where the employees give input on solving departmental issues. Your employees will feel a sense of involvement in the success of the department, and you will have reduced your stress and gained the satisfaction of improving employee development.
Take Breaks
The stress of being a manager can drain some of the sense of satisfaction you get from departmental and personal accomplishments. Taking breaks throughout the day is a simple but effective way to avoid overworking yourself and allow yourself time to collect your thoughts. Your job satisfaction improves because you are giving yourself a chance to relieve stress as opposed to constantly feeling the need to work.
Training
To get more out of yourself as a manager, you need to continue your educational and professional development. Industry training and advancing your educational background can help you to contribute more to your team. You can also improve your own career path by maintaining your own personal development.
Increasing job satisfaction makes great business sense. You end up with engaged employees and a better business.Recent workplace studies that have shown that encouraging management to focus on strategies that increase job satisfaction creates a more productive workforce and higher rates of business success.
By focusing on increasing job satisfaction, your organisation can:
- Lower employee turnover
- Create brand ambassadors
- Improve company productivity
- Increase bottom line profits
- Reduce recruitment costs
So how do you go about increasing job satisfaction?
Every organisation is different. What works with one team may not work as well with others. But there are a number of similar activities that work.
1. Ask employees about their personal motivations
Ask your team what they want. This can be as simple as team meetings where everyone openly discusses the issues they face in their roles, and looking for creative ways of easing them.
Using an employee survey system can highlight areas of concern, as well as employees who could do with additional mentoring.
2. Reduce micro-management
Nobody likes having a manager constantly peering over their shoulder. Reduced micro-management will make employees feel trusted. They will reward this trust.
By removing micro-management, a task goes from being something that they are expected to do to being something that is their responsibility.
3. Improve the work environment
Improving small things can have a huge impact on the satisfaction of your team. This doesn’t necessarily mean spending big on new equipment or office fit-outs. A new coffee machine or kitchen equipment or comfortable, ergonomic seating for employees makes a difference. Run a survey on what employees would like in their work areas.
4. Improve communication across all levels
Improving communication in the organisation, from leaders to workers and – importantly – workers to leaders, is credited with increasing job satisfaction in many organisations.
Staff should be allowed to be critical and to feel they can raise concerns in a non-threatening environment. If employees are afraid to speak out, they are unlikely to put much effort into the job and will probably want to leave as soon as possible.
5. Create an employee recognition program
An employee recognition program doesn’t mean sticking their name on a plaque in the reception area once a quarter. It could be as simple as managers making an effort to thank people individually.
6. Reduce time stress
Tight deadlines have been shown to be major sources of stress for many employees. Organisations can look for ways to ease this stress by scheduling projects and work further in advance, or freeing up time by having fewer meetings.
Encourage employees to keep a journal for a few weeks, and then ask them to highlight times they felt they didn’t need to spend energy on these tasks. Reducing these tasks through the use of better delegation can free up many employees for more relevant work.
‘True motivation comes from achievement, personal development, job satisfaction, and recognition’ – Frederick Herzberg
Armed with these six strategies, management can focus on improving employee satisfaction to the benefit of everyone.
How can manager increase job satisfaction?
10 Ways to improve employee satisfaction.Offer a competitive salary. ... .Ask for employees' suggestions. ... .Be transparent. ... .Get creative with benefits. ... .Listen to employee concerns. ... .Celebrate successes. ... .Prioritize mental and physical well-being. ... .Invest in employees' future..How can I improve my job satisfaction at work?
6 Ways to Improve Job Satisfaction.Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits. ... .Create a Culture of Transparency and Feedback. ... .Amp Up Employee Recognition Efforts. ... .Provide Ample Training and Career Development Opportunities. ... .Show Employees That You Care About Wellness. ... .Foster Workplace Relationships..What are some ways supervisors can increase the motivation and satisfaction of their employees?
7 Ways Managers Can Motivate Their Employees.Praise. People want to know if they've done a good job. ... .Encourage autonomy. ... .Treat them with respect. ... .Allow honest criticism and complaints. ... .Ensure a healthy work life balance. ... .Be fair. ... .Pay them more..