from Spring.com

If some job satisfaction surveys are to be believed then as many as a
third of us are considering a change of job. Clearly many are finding
it hard to get that feeling of satisfaction from work.

Job satisfaction is important not just because it boosts work
performance but also because it increases our quality of life. Many
people spend so much time at work that when it becomes dissatisfying,
the rest of their life soon follows.

Everyone's job is different but here are 10 factors that
psychologists regularly find are important in how satisfied people are
with their jobs.

1. Little hassles

If you ask doctors what is the worst part of their jobs, what do you
think they say? Carrying out difficult, painful procedures? Telling
people they've only got months to live? No, it's something that might
seem much less stressful: administration.

We tend to downplay day-to-day irritations, thinking we've got bigger
fish to fry. But actually people's job satisfaction is surprisingly
sensitive to daily hassles. It might not seem like much but when it
happens almost every day and it's beyond our control, it hits job
satisfaction hard.

This category is one of the easiest wins for boosting employee
satisfaction. Managers should find out about those little daily hassles
and address them—your employees will love you for it.

2. Perception of fair pay

Whatever your job, for you to be satisfied the pay should be fair.
The bigger the difference between what you think you should earn and
what you do earn, the less satisfied you'll be.

The important point here is it's all about perception. If you
perceive that other people doing a similar job get paid about the same
as you then you're more likely to be satisfied with your job than if you
think they're getting more than you.

3. Achievement

People feel more satisfied with their job if they've achieved
something. In some jobs achievements are obvious, but for others they're
not. As smaller cogs in larger machines it may be difficult to tell
what we're contributing. That's why the next factor can be so
important...

4. Feedback

There's nothing worse than not knowing whether or not you're doing a
good job. When it comes to job satisfaction, no news is bad news.
Getting negative feedback can be painful but at least it tells you where
improvements can be made. On the other hand positive feedback can make
all the difference to how satisfied people feel.

5. Complexity and variety

People generally find jobs more satisfying if they are more complex
and offer more variety. People seem to like complex (but not impossible)
jobs, perhaps because it pushes them more. Too easy and people get
bored.

To be satisfied people need to be challenged a little and they need
some variety in the tasks they carry out. It sounds easy when put like
that but many jobs offer neither complexity nor variety.

6. Control

You may have certain tasks you have to do, but how you do
them should be up to you. The more control people perceive in how they
carry out their job, the more satisfaction they experience.

If people aren't given some control, they will attempt to retake it
by cutting corners, stealing small amounts or finding other ways to
undermine the system. Psychologists have found that people who work in
jobs where they have little latitude—at every level—find their work very
stressful and consequently unsatisfying.

7. Organisational support

Workers want to know their organisation cares about them: that they
are getting something back for what they are putting in. This is
primarily communicated through things like how bosses treat us, the
kinds of fringe benefits we get and other subtle messages. If people
perceive more organisational support, they experience higher job
satisfaction.

Remember: it's not just whether the organisation is actually being
supportive, it's whether it appears that way. The point being that
appearances are really important here. If people don't perceive it, then
for them it might as well not exist. That's why great managers need a
politician's touch.

8. Work-home overflow

Low job satisfaction isn't only the boss' or organisation's fault,
sometimes it's down to home-life. Trouble at home breeds trouble at the
office.

Some research, though, suggests that trouble at the office is more
likely to spill over into the family domain compared with the other way
around (Ford et al., 2007). Either way finding ways of distancing yourself from work while at home are likely to protect you against job stressors (Sonnentag et al., 2010).

9. Honeymoons and hangovers

Job honeymoons and hangovers are often forgotten by psychologists but
well-known to employees. People experience honeymoon periods after a
month or two in a new job when their satisfaction shoots up. But then it
normally begins to tail off after six months or so.

The honeymoon period at the start of a new job tends to be stronger
when people were particularly dissatisfied with their previous job (Boswell et al., 2009). So hangovers from the last job tend to produce more intense honeymoons in the next job.

10. Easily pleased?

Some of us are more easily satisfied (or dissatisfied) than others,
no matter how good (or bad) the job is. To misquote a famous cliché: You
can't satisfy all the people all the time.

Still, some jobs do seem better suited to certain types of people. A
lot of work has been done on person-environment fit but because jobs
vary so much it's difficult to summarise.

One generalisation we can make, though, is that people get more
satisfied with their jobs as they get older. Perhaps this is because the
older people are, the more likely they are to have found the right work
for them. There's little evidence for this but I'd certainly like to
think it was true.

On my darker days, though, I tend to think it's because young people
have sky-high expectations (which are soon dashed) and older people have
learned to live with their lot, however uninspiring it is.

Why can't we all be satisfied?

When you look at this list of what makes for a satisfying job, you
might wonder why everyone can't have one. With a little thought, most of
the predictors of satisfaction can be provided.

The answer is probably quite simple. Organisations pay lip-service to
keeping their employees satisfied, but many don't really believe it
makes a difference. What this research shows is that it can make a huge
difference.

If you're a manager looking to improve satisfaction at your workplace
then start with point number 1: find out about people's little hassles
and address them. It might not look like much but people will really
appreciate it.

Image credit: James Peacock