Employees play a significant and pivotal role in helping organizations realize their vision, mission, and objectives. This proposition rings true especially in the healthcare organizations where the nursing professionals offer varied services to the patients. As such, it is important for top management and concerned stakeholders to ensure that these employees are satisfied so that they can operate at their optimum. However, this is not usually the case as there are many factors, which are either internal or external, which reduces the employees’ satisfaction. Some of these factors may include incentives, work-related stress or stresses, which are not part of the organizations. An assessment of the issue of a dip in employee satisfaction will come in handy in establishing the way forward. More so it is important to determine the nature and extent of this dip in employee motivation by understanding its causes. Moreover, it is critical to establish an effective management plan, which is employee- centered and which, can be used to address this issue.
Problem Identification
The problem at hand is a dip in employee satisfaction levels due to various factors, which are internal to the organization. The specific reasons for this dissatisfaction are working for long hours, uneven scheduling practices, and lack of a clear end in sight. The employees feel their efforts may not amount to anything if the organization does not engage them in ending this crisis.
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Determining the Source, Nature, And Extent of the Problem
The Human Resource department has the option of making use of numerous strategies to determine the nature and extent of the dip in employee satisfaction.
Suggestion Boxes
One of the strategies is by making use of a suggestion box where employees can complain about their issues without risking their identity. The Human Resource department can then convert the suggestions into quantifiable statistics to understand how far the problem is widespread. More so the Human Resource will able to pinpoint which aspects of the working environment is creating discomfort for the employees and thus work on improving it.
Employee Satisfaction Surveys
The Human Resource department can also make use of employee satisfaction surveys, which measures the levels of employees’ satisfaction. Here the Human Resource asks real questions, which are related to the employees, work experience. In ensuring the surveys yield results, the Human Resource conducts these surveys on a regular basis to have credible feedback (Kaliannan and Adjovu, 2015). More so, the Human Resource should make use of both close-ended and open-ended questions to get both qualitative and quantitative feedback.
Employee Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The Human Resource team can make use of Employee Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures employees’ loyalty, and levels of employee satisfaction. The main question in NPS establishes whether an employee would recommend his or her friend to work in the organization. Essentially the score runs from 0 to 10 with 0 to 6 being considered a detractor, 7 to 8 passive and 9 to 10 as promoters. In the end, the Human Resource then subtracts detractors from promoters and then divide the outcome by the number of respondents (Al-Zoubi, 2012). When the score is negative, it means that employee satisfaction is low while a positive outcome denote more employee satisfaction.
Employee Satisfaction Indicators
In measuring employee satisfaction, the Human Resource department needs to consider the following key indicators in its assessment
Job Security
Employees who are assured of a continued job well into the future are likely to be more satisfied than those who lack an assurance of job security. As such, the Human Resource should determine if the organization has put it clearly to the employees regarding this aspect.
Compensation
Compensation packages play a significant role in determining customer satisfaction. Employees who receive compensation, which is due to their effort and contribution, are more likely to report increased job satisfaction. In this case, it is important to assess the types and levels of compensation while assessing the dip in employees’ satisfaction levels.
Nature of work
Employees’ productivity and satisfaction are reliant on the nature of the work to be done. Work, which is deemed more challenging, tends to increase employees job satisfaction and engagement as compared to less challenging work. As such, the Human Resource should establish whether the employees are satisfied with the nature of their work in their assessment.
Management Plan
Following a careful assessment into the nature, extent, and indicators of the dip in employee satisfaction, the management should come up with employee-centered strategies to address this issue in its entirety.
Human Resource Function Related to the Assessment into the Dip in Employee Satisfaction
The Human Resource department has many functions, which are relevant for the well-being of any organization. However, when it comes to ensuring that the employees exhibit utmost job satisfaction the Human Resource is tasked with the function of employee relations. In this function, the Human Resource team constantly comes with strategies, which improve the working conditions of the employees to reduce turnover as well as enhance productivity. Here the Human Resource improves employer-employee relationship through employee engagement and measuring of job satisfaction. In essence, the Human Resource department sets the pace for the employees to air out their concerns, which come in the way of getting satisfaction with their input (Vermeeren et al., 2014). More so, when it comes to employee relations, the Human Resource assumes the task of creating an environment, which allows the employee to in unions, which help them collective bargaining. The fact that compensation contributes to job satisfaction to a great extent, the Human Resource should help the employees to become part of the unions. Here the employees become part of labor relations, which gives them an edge when it comes to determining their pay packages and working environments.
Main Stakeholders in Dealing with the Dip in Employee Satisfaction
Employees being such an integral part of an organization interact with numerous stakeholders. The main stakeholders who would want to help improve employee job satisfaction would be top management and labor organizations and groups. The Human Resource department would want the input of top, management, and shareholders in charting the way forward in improving employees’ satisfaction. More so, the labor organization leaders may come in handy when determining the working conditions to eliminate the long working hours. The stakeholders can, in turn, engage the employees to get their views as well as which aspects they would want the stakeholders to improve (Richardson, 2014). A clear and well-defined course of action will then be crafted and which will act as a guide concerning future employees to prevent a repeat of the same. Furthermore, the stakeholders in consultation with the employees will come to an agreement as to what would be the efficient way of handling such issues in the future.
Incorporating the Stakeholders into the Management Plan
The healthcare system is a very significant aspect as it ensures the overall well-being of the population. As such, it is important to ensure that the assessment team involves stakeholders who are drawn from various departments in the healthcare system. In this case, it is important to have doctors, nurses, logistics officers as well as other interested community members to have a wholesome and a holistic approach to address the issue at hand. According to Bhatnagar and Srivastava, 2012), each of the stakeholders is tasked with offering a suggestion based on his or her understanding with the aim of offering a balanced and all rounded solution. In essence, the stakeholders who are knowledgeable are in a position to understand the impacts of job dissatisfaction to the immediate organization and the community, which rely on its services.
Tactics for Addressing a Dip in Employee Satisfaction
The management and the stakeholders being aware of the reasons behind the dip in employee satisfaction should focus their attention on coming up with solutions. The solutions can be both short or long term depending on the feasibility of the challenges at hand. Short-term tactics and strategies will be aimed at dealing with the current employees by addressing their problems immediately. There will be a review of the scheduling to minimize the long working hours. More so the Human Resource team will hire additional employees tonsure that the hours are evenly distributed. When it comes to uneven scheduling, the management will ensure that there is a balance in how employees from the various departments work to ensure equality among the employees (Vermeeren et al. 2014). Furthermore, there will be a need to establish the tasks to be performed in a detailed manner so that the employees know what is expected of them. In doing these, the employees will understand the vision, mission, and objectives of the organization as well as their role in achieving them.
Long-term tactics and strategies will be put in place to avert a similar scenario in the future. The management will put in place a team, which will focus its attention on handling issues to do with employee satisfaction. The team will continuously engage the employees through series of surveys to help seal any loophole. More so, the management will train this team to come up with best strategies, which the Human Resource department will implement. Here every new employee will be required to sign a pledge, which will push him or her to report situations, conditions, and incidences which may not work towards job satisfaction. In doing this, the management will have foresight on the probability of having diminished job satisfaction and take corrective steps.
References
Al-Zoubi, M. T. (2012). Generating benchmarking indicators for employee job satisfaction. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence , 23(1), 27-44.
Bhatnagar, K. & K. Srivastava, K. (2012). Job satisfaction in health-care organizations. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 21(1), 75–78.
Kaliannan, M. & Adjovu, S.N. (2015). Effective Employee Engagement and Organizational Success: A Case Study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172(2015),161-168.
Richardson, F.W. (2014). Enhancing Strategies to Improve Workplace Performance. Walden University Scholar works.
Vermeeren, B. et al. (2014). HRM and its effect on employee, organizational and financial outcomes in healthcare organizations . Human Resources for Health, 12(2014), 35.
