Happy, satisfied and motivated employees have a significant impact on productivity, profitability and brand reputation. They like going to work, they know they can make a difference, and they care about your results. When you want to inspire extra effort to achieve a particular business objective, it’s easier to motivate employees who are satisfied with their work life.

Motivate employee output by focusing on the basics of employee satisfaction

While the factors that contribute to job satisfaction vary from one person to another, the most common things employees are looking for include:

Working for an employer with a good reputation
A safe and healthy work environment
Understanding how their job is part of the big picture
Opportunities to learn new skills and advance their career
A work culture that values kindness, respect and loyalty
Job security in an organisation with a strong future
Good pay and extra benefits, like the Boost programme
Having fun when there’s something to celebrate
The flexibility to get their work done where and when they choose

Illustration of three large yellow stars

Run a survey to discover your eNPS (employee net promoter score)

Before you can make plans to change how you do things, with a view to lifting productivity, it’s important to know where you stand right now. To calculate employee satisfaction, many organisations use an employee survey to ask these questions:

On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this organisation as a good place to work?
Why?
On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our products or services to a friend or colleague?
Why?

An employee giving a score of 9 or 10 is considered a promoter, 7 or 8 is neutral and 0 to 6 is a detractor. To calculate your eNPS (employee net promoter score), subtract the percentage of promoters from the percentage who are detractors. Then drop the % from the answer to leave a simple number. A normal eNPS is anywhere between -10 and +20. Any positive number is good and 10 to 30 is excellent.