David's IT Tips

By Michelle Auda, Project Manager, Polaris Marketing Research

A company’s employees are often the face and frontline of an organization and their opinion of that organization impacts their attitude, thus affecting customers’ attitudes, and ultimately, the bottom line.

Employee Satisfaction Research allows employers to take the pulse of their company to gain a true assessment of employee satisfaction within the workplace. Companies can measure what motivates employees, drives loyalty, and makes and keeps employees happy. Increased productivity, less turnover, and a company unified and focused on its overall mission provide further reason to conduct employee satisfaction research.

Research conducted by Northwestern University indicates why businesses should be measuring and tracking Employee Satisfaction*:

1. There is a direct link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, and between customer satisfaction and improved financial performance.
2. The key organizational characteristic for explaining employee satisfaction is organizational communication (a measure of the downward and upward communication in an organization).
3. Organizations with engaged employees have customers who use their products more, and increased customer usage leads to higher levels of customer satisfaction.
4. It is an organization’s employees who influence the behavior and attitudes of customers, and it is customers who drive an organization’s profitability through the purchase and use of its products.
5. Employee satisfaction is a key antecedent to employee engagement.
6. In the end, customers who are more satisfied with an organization’s products are less expensive to serve, use the product more, and, hence, are more profitable customers.

By working with an independent research firm, true objective measures of employee satisfaction can be obtained. At Polaris, a typical employee satisfaction research program would provide employers with information on the overall drivers of satisfaction, satisfaction with individual elements of benefits and working conditions, and actionable recommendations for next steps. Specifically, employee perceptions of their job, benefits, work environment, manager or supervisor, and personal and career development are explored.

Our research is often customized to measure the most unique elements of a company, including impressions of how aligned a company is with their mission statement and/or brand position. By asking the right questions, we uncover the true state of affairs, and recommend solutions to address areas needing improvement.

When research recommendations are implemented, it results in improved productivity, loyalty, and overall job satisfaction. An added benefit of conducting employee satisfaction research is that, in doing so, a company lets their employees know they are important, their opinions and suggestions matter, and there is a sincere desire to make the company an enjoyable place to work.

* © 2005 Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement, Department of Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University. All rights reserved.

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Michelle Auda is a Project Manager for Polaris Marketing Research. In addition to managing projects and client relationships, she is also responsible for overseeing a team of data specialists for several important customer satisfaction ad hoc and tracking research studies.