How to Measure Employee Satisfaction: A Comprehensive Guide

“Our employee satisfaction rate is high (90% of our people are happy and feel valued in their job).” — BioClever.

This rate was 86.2% at Risen Energy in 2023, and the DenizBank team maintains it at 70%.

What is your employee satisfaction rate currently, and what does it signify? What if your team members are totally dissatisfied and disengaged at work?

Let’s size it up. This article will start with the basics. We’ll first dwell on the essence of job satisfaction. Then, we’ll showcase the most accurate methods and metrics (and tools!) to measure employee satisfaction and reveal the best strategies to boost it once you’ve finished estimating and analyzing results.

Jump in and get going!

Employee Satisfaction Explained

Synonymously called job/work satisfaction, employee satisfaction is the level of contentment and fulfillment employees experience toward their jobs and workplaces. It may be influenced by the following aspects:

• Responsibilities and workload
• Salary
• Manager’s attitude and recognition
• Work-life balance
• Professional training and development opportunities
• And many others.

Naturally, job satisfaction rates may fluctuate year to year and country to country. For instance, in 2020, Japan had the lowest number (48%), whereas India had the highest (91%).

Image Source

Today, only 51% of US employees are “extremely” or “very satisfied” with their jobs, compared to 80% in 2020.

Top 5 Methods and Tools for Measuring Employee Satisfaction

As many as 82% of organizations gauge employee satisfaction annually. Here’s a list of the most effective approaches and instruments they use.

Employee satisfaction survey

Standing head and shoulders above the rest, employee satisfaction surveys are the most precise numerical methods for evaluating workplace happiness.

The employee satisfaction rate (aka ESAT score) depends on a single question traditionally formulated in these surveys: “On a scale of one to five, how satisfied are you with your job?”

After collecting the results, apply this formula to calculate the ESAT score:

ESAT% = (Number of positive answers ÷ Total sum of responses) x 100

Let’s say 12 of 20 workers gave 4s (“satisfied”) and 5s (“very satisfied”) on a one-to-five scale.

Then →

(12 ÷ 20) x 100 = 60%

Acceptable job satisfaction rates are between 60% and 70%, above 70% are high, and 80%+ levels are very high.

Employee satisfaction survey tools: We360.ai, Sogolytics, SurveySparrow, InputKit.io

In-person or virtual meeting

Do you often meet with your workers in person or virtually to discuss their pains and gains?
If not, you should consider this method to measure job satisfaction in your company.

For example:

Genesis workers meet with their HR manager one-on-one once every six weeks. They discuss team relationships, career prospects, and each worker’s physical and mental health individually.

Tools for virtual meetings: GoToMeeting, Zoom, Slack

Feedback form in the intranet

If you have a company’s intranet, you may use feedback forms to understand whether your employees are content with everything in the workplace.

For example:

Look at this employee feedback form template by Jotform.

Image Source

You can also build an employee feedback loop by regularly using such forms in your intranet. This will allow you to capture your employees’ thoughts and needs nonstop.

Corporate intranets with feedback collection features: LumApps, MyHub, Happeo, Connecteam

Performance and nonverbal signals

Thomas Medlin, Co-Founder at JumpMD, believes you can effortlessly tell unhappy workers from happy ones by their productivity levels and behavioral patterns. “The more dissatisfied employees are, the more unproductive they will be at work. Nonverbal indicators like body language and behaviors are no less crucial for measuring employee satisfaction.”

He mentions several nonverbal markers indicating employee’s dissatisfaction:

• Frowning, grimacing, or other negative facial expressions
• Distractions (frequently looking at the clock, phone, or out the window during meetings)
• Sluggish movements
• Minimal or zero eye contact
• Reluctance to participate in workplace activities or events

Thomas Medlin notes, “Discontent employees are more likely to ignite workplace conflicts and cause team turbulence.”

Suggestion box

How about installing a box for suggestions (physical or virtual) in the workplace?

Although it doesn’t measure employee satisfaction directly, it is an easy-to-implement, anonymous channel for workers to voice their ideas and spotlight areas where they feel dissatisfied.

For example:

Here’s a physical suggestion box at Sobeys Namao Centre.

Image Source

Alternatively, “install” a virtual suggestion box like Velocitii. The company named it “Tell Us What Is on Your Mind.” All reflections and suggestions come right to the CEO/COO, Heather Smith.

Virtual suggestion boxes: Free Suggestion Box, Vetter, Suggestion Ox

Additional Employee Satisfaction Metrics to Monitor

You might also want to set and track other metrics or KPIs for measuring job satisfaction, such as:

• Employee pulse check
• Engagement rate
• Absenteeism rate
• eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score)
• Churn or turnover rate

These are particularly vital to monitor after drastic workplace changes or during rough times.

For example:

In 2020, Coca-Cola conducted two pulse surveys in addition to the annual employee engagement survey to better understand the staff’s concerns and needs amid the pandemic.

BONUS: Universal Tips to Raise Your Employee Satisfaction

Offer fair, competitive pay.

How does job satisfaction relate to salary?

Here’s how: 82% of employees confess they are more engaged and fulfilled if paid fairly.

That is why Jeffrey Zhou, CEO and Founder of Fig Loans, advises, “Keep fair pay at the top of the list if you want to elevate your employee satisfaction rate. Constantly scan the market to ensure salary competitiveness, conduct pay equity audits, and watch out against the gender pay gap.”

Give freedom to choose perks.

Morgan Taylor, Co-Founder of Jolly SEO, puts it quite bluntly and simply, “It’s unbelievable to me that so few companies do this to improve job satisfaction! It’s as straightforward as it gets: offer personalized perks, not random ones.”

You may prepare a list of satisfaction-boosting perks at work for your employees to pick depending on their tastes and preferences:

• Employee discount
• Pet insurance
• Gym membership
• Monthly stipend on books
• Professional course or certification
• And so on.

Alternatively, your staff members may earn money bonuses and purchase their preferred gifts with them.

Commit to employee wellness.

When striving for higher job satisfaction rates, you should beware of burnout, the most dangerous and frequent of all employee well-being and happiness killers. Take a moment to chew on this: 76% of people experienced burnout at least once in the workplace. And it correlated with unhappiness.

Then, there may be specific, industry-driven saboteurs of employee wellness and satisfaction.

For instance, let’s consider workplace injuries or accidents. You can’t argue against the importance of safety in construction or other related niches. Alan Parkes, Owner of Denver Roofing & Colorado Springs Roofing, shares, “Caring about roofers’ health and wellness at work starts with prioritizing their safety. So, the first question goes like this: How safe are our roofing specialists at their job sites? And then: How satisfied are they?”

Work hard. Play harder.

You’ve probably heard that a million times.

But do you actually know how to make it fun when gathering for team or company-wide celebrations? Or are those ‘play’ times as entertaining and exciting as watching paint dry?

Sergey Taver, Marketing Manager at Precision Watches, remarks, “Employees aren’t starved for the celebration time itself; they starve for the entertainment part. Companies that truly want to increase employee satisfaction and engagement should focus less on events for the sake of formalities and more on adding a real ‘fun’ element to them.”

For example:

Why do you think Microsoft, Amazon, Deloitte, and others picked The Amazing Chase as their team-building activity? And why did the PlentyOfFish team keep choosing it as their retreat four years in a row?

Because it’s energetic, it’s creative. And it’s so much fun!

Image Source

Keep Your Workers Satisfied with Outback

Whether you want to promote team development or experience a roller-coaster ride of excitement and burn off steam in an engaging team-building event, Outback Team Building can help you turn your ideas into actionable plans and walk you through the details of process organization.

Get in touch and make sure your employees’ happiness barometer shows the highest results.

Author Bio

Catherine Schwartz is an author who specializes in employee well-being and engagement.