4 Ways to Gauge Employee Satisfaction in Remote Workers

The advent of remote work, which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has turned many workplaces on their heads. Employees now face completely new forms of challenges to their productivity, and as a result, are demanding new types of responses from employers in order to cope with this “new normal.”

Transitioning to remote work can put a lot of strain on the employee-employer relationship, as the lack of physical presence might lead to your workers feeling neglected. Therefore, you need to take deliberate steps to make sure they are satisfied with their work situation.

What is employee satisfaction?

the pandemic has shown us how essential it is to keep your workers satisfied too.

In simple words, employee satisfaction refers to how pleased a person is with their job and working environment. Employee happiness is influenced by a variety of elements — including salary, stress, leadership, management, teamwork, employee experience, business culture, and work-life balance, to name a few.

Working from home has its own set of obstacles. Many employees are suffering from stress, burnout, and various mental health difficulties that have arisen due to the pandemic. Organizations, on the other hand, must recognize the value of their personnel.

Traditionally, a lot of businesses prioritize the happiness of their customers over the needs of their employees, which is not inherently a bad thing. However, the pandemic has shown us how essential it is to keep your workers satisfied too. Many people have quit their jobs over the last year and more give notice every day. If you don’t want to lose your best performers, then you need to know when they are feeling unsatisfied with their work conditions.

Why is it important to track employee satisfaction?

Employee satisfaction is not just to make your workers happy, it will have direct impacts on your business. According to a report from ConferenceBoard, the correlated score between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction is 0.51 — which means that as employee satisfaction increases there is a possibility they will deliver improved customer service. Here are a few more reasons why you need to track employee satisfaction.

A satisfied employee is a productive employee

As an organization, the goal is to get the best out of your employees at any time. Working remotely has made it harder to monitor employees the old-fashioned way. Managers must ensure that staff is motivated to work and that tasks are completed with minimum supervision. The simplest method to accomplish this is to ensure staff satisfaction and happiness.

Reduce turnover rates

Companies need to retain their best hands. Happy employees are less likely to leave than dissatisfied ones. Companies must provide unprecedented levels of support, flexibility, and opportunity if they want to attract and keep top talent.

Improved customer satisfaction

Your employees are largely responsible for the quality of service your customers receive. Ensuring employee happiness can go a long way toward keeping your customers satisfied.

4 ways to track and measure employee satisfaction

After understanding the importance of employee satisfaction, it is imperative to find ways to figure out whether employees are satisfied or not. There are several approaches to gauging employee satisfaction when they work remotely:

1. Conduct surveys

Never underestimate the power of surveys. It is often difficult for employees to express themselves to their bosses, especially if they are worried about how the other person might react. As a result, polls — particularly anonymous ones — can be useful instruments. Surveys also enable you to obtain quantitative facts rather than merely gather a collection of opinions and suggestions.

If you ask employees if they are typically content with their employment, you will immediately receive a percentage of those who say yes and a percentage that says no. These percentages will allow you to assess your organization’s performance quickly.

There are several survey tools available online. Many of them are easy to set up and provide all the statistical data you need immediately after responses start coming in, or read more about how to approach an engagement survey.

Surveys also enable you to obtain quantitative facts rather than merely gather a collection of opinions and suggestions.

2. Have one-on-one meetings

While anonymity can be a great tool in ensuring that employees are honest, nothing beats one-on-one encounters. Private meetings allow you a better grasp of the requirements and problems each employee experiences. It could be over a conference call or via chat, but what is most important is that both parties civilly communicate their feelings. Employees also need a safe space to speak up about issues that may be impeding their success, as well as a platform to air any HR or employment issues.

Consider discussing the following topics during these meetings:

• The current emotional state of your employee
• Their performance and advancement toward their objectives
• Any impediments that may be hindering them from achieving their goals

3. Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI)

The Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI) assesses how pleased employees are with their jobs. To achieve this, ESI seeks to answer 3 questions:

• How happy are you with your current job?
• How well does your workplace perform in comparison to your expectations?
• Is your current job similar to your ideal job? If yes, how so?

All of the questions are graded on a scale of 1 to 10. The ESI will yield a score ranging from 0 to 100. The greater the number, the happier the staff. This is a metric you can use to track progress over time.

4. Be observant

One very important trait to have when managing people is the ability to read between the lines. Even if you mean well, one-on-one interactions aren’t always fruitful, as employees may feel intimidated by your leadership position.

Check to see if your company is paying as well as your immediate competitors. Talk to acquaintances working at other companies and ask them what the top issues at their workplace are. This might give you some insight into general issues remote employees as a whole are facing. Check in with other company executives to see what they think. Look at your customer satisfaction ratings as well. This data will give a clear indication of how satisfied your employees are.

Conclusion

Ultimately, keeping your employees happy and satisfied is beneficial to you and your business, even more so in this era of the “new normal.” Monitor satisfaction levels and improve staff happiness to the best of your abilities, and then be sure to address discontent as quickly as possible.