Out of the 2,141 people surveyed, 1,537 said they were satisfied in their current role, 500 said they were dissatisfied, and those remaining responded ‘not applicable’.
Satisfied workers generally considered payment less important than feeling connected to the purpose of the organisation and having a challenging role too.
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The Institute of Leadership & Management’s study, New Decade, New Direction, found other important factors for job satisfaction including access to training and development (68%), being trusted to take on more responsibility (66%) and a good work/life balance (32%).
Of dissatisfied employees in the survey, 47% said that they feel undervalued by their managers. Other factors found to be linked to dissatisfaction include having a lack of growth and development opportunities (45%), low salary (34%) and negative company culture (33%).
To ensure a positive working environment and therefore drive retention the report advised employers to not assume how people derive satisfaction from their work and pay attention to non-financial aspects of a job.
Kate Cooper, head of research, policy and standards at The Institute of Leadership & Management, told HR magazine: “It’s often put down to luck when we work with a great group of people, but it’s also a result of a company culture that recognises the social aspects of work and builds in the essential time for people to get to know each other.”
Cooper suggested that if employers create a social and friendly workplace culture colleagues have time to form relationships and bond. However, she warned there can be pitfalls for HR.
“Once the foundations for good relationships have been laid they’re very difficult to undo. But if you get it wrong it takes a long time to fix. So get the social aspects of work right from the beginning: it is such an important investment because what we’re essentially investing in is retaining our talent,” she said.
The research was carried out in partnership with career development consultancy Amazing If and the Triangirls tech community.
