Implementing A Staff Satisfaction Survey and Tips to Improve Satisfaction

What do you find most rewarding about your job? What gets you excited to come to work each day? Our happiness in our jobs is critical to our overall sense of well-being. When an employee is highly satisfied with their job, they are more productive and loyal. Additionally, absenteeism and turnover are reduced. In the long-term care space higher rates of job satisfaction can even be associated with lower rates of resident injury and higher satisfaction with care.  This month we’ll share some practical tips to help you implement a staff satisfaction survey, analyze the results, and apply strategies to increase job satisfaction.

Implementing a Staff Satisfaction Tool

If you are not currently using a staff satisfaction tool, consider testing out our NO COST digital survey inspired by the CMS Employee Satisfaction Survey. The CMS survey has been redesigned into a fully digital format allowing for easy distribution, automatically calculated results, and a personalized dashboard with your organization’s results. Click here for more information about our free Workforce Toolkit and to sign up.

Here are some other tips for successful implementation from Business News Daily.

1. Involve the staff – From start to finish, involve staff members in the planning and action phases of a survey allowing them to share their insights on building solutions.
2. Share the “Why” – Ensure that team members understand the purpose of the survey including the goals, timeline, and actionable changes that can be implemented based on the results.
3. Encourage participation – Focus on the objectives of the survey and communicate those frequently. When appropriate utilize incentives to boost participation.
4. Guarantee Anonymity – Employees should feel safe sharing their views, utilizing a 3^rd party provider allows for increase anonymity.
5. Share key insights – Ensure that employees are aware of the key findings, good, bad, or indifferent.

Analyzing Results

In their article “A Complete Guide to Employee Engagement Survey Analysis,” The Academy to Innovate HR shares useful tips for survey analysis including:

1. Quantify the data – present the data using a score or percentage
2. Segment the data – Group data according in multiple ways (i.e. teams, job position, demographics)
3.  Identify patterns and trends – Look at the data across different employee groups, years of service, and demographics and identify any trends among each group.
4. Don’t forget about qualitative data – Allow opportunities for additional feedback as to why someone gave a certain score. Engage an employee focus group to better understand the needs of staff members.
5. Connect the results to organization outcomes – Compare survey results to other HR metrics, such as staff turnover, to understand how employee satisfaction is impacting the organization as a whole.
6. Benchmark results – Compare your results to national and/or industry standards. How do you compare? You can also use internal benchmarking to identify internal trends over time.  

Strategies to Increase Job Satisfaction

1) Clear Communication and Expectations

1. Ensure job descriptions and performance metrics are clear
2. Schedule regular meetings to provide updates and feedback
3. Utilize multiple communication tools to ensure everyone has access to the message

2) Collaboration and Teamwork

1. Establish a safe and inclusive environment where employees feel their thoughts, ideas, and concerns are valued.
2. Create cross-functional teams
3. Bring fun into the workday by adding activities or games (i.e. team lunch, scavenger hunts, trivia)
   

3) Growth and Development

According to recent research 70% of direct care staff indicated that they want more training and 94% of employees indicated they would have stayed longer at a company if it invested in their career development. Potential changes to implement to support growth and development include

1. Establishing career ladders and latices
2. Incorporate new training initiatives

4) Maintain healthy work-life balance

1. If possible, allow for flexible scheduling
2. Encourage employees to utilize their time off
3. Establish clear policies and procedures for after-hours availability and expectations

5) Appreciation and Recognition

1. Learn how employees like to be recognized. Check out the book The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace to learn about specific appreciation techniques and how to instill them in your company culture.

“Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.” —Simon Sinek

Resources and references:

Appreciation at Work. (2024, August 16). The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace – Appreciation at work. Appreciation at Work – Making Work Relationships Work With Authentic Appreciation. https://www.appreciationatwork.com/5-languages-appreciation-workplace-improve-employee-engagement/

Hagwood, M. (2023, July 31). The importance of job satisfaction. Charleston Southern University. https://www.charlestonsouthern.edu/blog/the-importance-of-job-satisfaction/#:~:text=Job%20satisfaction%20also%20helps%20with,are%20satisfied%20with%20their%20roles.

Herrity, J. (2024, June 28). Defining job satisfaction. Indeed.com. Retrieved August 22, 2024, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/what-is-job-satisfaction

How to increase employee job satisfaction. (n.d.). Career Charge | USF CTPE Blog. https://corporatetraining.usf.edu/blog/how-to-increase-employee-job-satisfaction

Jay, S. (2024, January 8). A complete guide to employee Engagement survey analysis. AIHR. https://www.aihr.com/blog/employee-engagement-survey-analysis/

Johnson, J. (2023, January 26). How to increase employee satisfaction. CO- by US Chamber of Commerce. https://www.uschamber.com/co/run/human-resources/how-to-increase-employee-satisfaction

LinkedIn. (2018). 2018 Workplace Learning Report. https://learning.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/learning/en-us/pdfs/linkedin-learning-workplace-learning-report-2018.pdf

Plaku-Alakbarova, B., Punnett, L., J Gore, R., & Procare Research Team. (2018). Nursing Home Employee and Resident Satisfaction and Resident Care Outcomes. Saf Health Work, 9(4), 408–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2017.12.002

Schooley, S. (2023, October 23). How to develop and conduct employee surveys. Business News Daily. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15860-conduct-employee-surveys.html