Do What You Love, Love What You Do

One of my favourite past-times is searching for fossilised shark teeth along a very special bit of the coast near to where I live. My partner and I have spent many a day scouring the beach for them and have found a few hundred or so just in the last year. But the one we have always wanted to find was the ‘big one’ and last Friday afternoon, we did! (well, my partner did!).

It was a great feeling, all that searching had finally paid off. Spurred on by this fantastic find, we continued looking for another couple of hours, and found a further thirty-plus shark teeth, albeit, much smaller ones. It was a fruitful and rewarding day, and we left for home feeling rather pleased and looking forward to the next time.

It got me thinking about other things I enjoy doing and how it makes me feel. Especially at work.

There’s absolutely no doubt, that if you ‘do what you love, and love what you do’, you’re probably going to have high levels of job satisfaction.

Increasing employees’ satisfaction in their roles not only has benefits for the individual, but also has benefits for the organisation too.

A happy employee is a productive employee. Employees with high job satisfaction levels are likely to be more productive and if performing well in their roles will be rewarded with great results leading to further job satisfaction.

Organisations that have satisfied employees will see less absenteeism and a reduction in staff turn-over. The balance sheet will look healthy as this will save costs in relation to providing cover for those employees who are absent and costs relating to selecting and training replacements for those who have left.

Allowing your employees to have more responsibility and independence is a great way to increase employee job satisfaction. Empower your employees to carry out their tasks without constantly looking over their shoulders. This will make them feel like they are trustworthy and they will likely reward this trust; a task goes from being something that they are expected to do to being something that is “their” responsibility and that they can take ownership of.

Having good communication in place will assist with increasing job satisfaction. Employees should be given the opportunity to speak their minds and raise concerns without fear of any reprisals. If an employee has an idea or solution to a problem they should be listened to respectfully; this way you will increase employee job satisfaction and if it is a good idea it will benefit the organisation overall.

If you would like to know more about how your organisation can increase levels of job satisfaction amongst its employees, then why not contact us on +44 (0) 1255 850051.