What does contribute to high job satisfaction?

We’ve all seen, heard, or read about how great it is to work for Apple, Microsoft, and Google to name a few. These companies all have a reputation for their employees having high job satisfaction. So, I Googled (no pun intended), “why is [Google, Microsoft, Apple] a good company to work for? Sure enough, up popped an article about each one giving the top reasons why.

As I read through each article I thought about the definition of job satisfaction, which is defined as an employee’s attitude about whether they feel favorably or unfavorably about their job overall as well as the various aspects of their job, (Schnieder, Gruman, & Couts, 2012, p.225). I also considered McClelland’s Need Theory based on a need for power, achievement, and affiliation. So what does contribute to high job satisfaction?

As most would expect, one of the top reasons, albeit not necessarily the number one reason, was all three companies were cited as providing good salaries and benefits to their employees. I don’t think there is any surprise there and feeling as though you’re being compensated fairly and have security with good benefits certainly is an important factor for overall job satisfaction. However, when looking at the job characteristics of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and job feedback, I also found common themes that supported these among each company. All three noted they had the opportunity to provide input, offer ideas, had diversity in their work, and felt they were part of something bigger in creation of their technologies. Some examples of this were:

  • Task identity, task significance, and job feedback was noted from Apple employees who felt their mission was changing the world and Microsoft employees who stated they had influence in making work products used by everyone, (Fiegerman, 2012; Bort, 2016)
  • Skill variety as with Google employees feeling they had diversity in the work they could do; Apple employees being encouraged to spend 20% of their work time exploring outside projects that could benefit the individual’s creativity as well as contribute to the company and having the security of a big company but the career flexibility of feeling like they worked in a small operation and could change jobs when they got bored; and Microsoft stating they had influence in providing products everyone could use as well as diversity in the work they could do, (Surojit, 2012; Fiegerman, 2012; Bort, 2016).

The one item that wasn’t blatantly stated or obvious was autonomy; however, given the strength of the other four job characteristics, one would conceive it would be safe to assume autonomy plays a part as well in the satisfaction of these job characteristics.

The other top reasons why these companies are good to work for and contributes to job satisfaction, is the social and organizational factors. These include social influence processes, supervisor/coworker relationships, equitable rewards, and promotion opportunities, (Schneider, et.al., 2012, p.227). It was clear for all three of these companies that these aspects were being met. Microsoft and Apple employees included working with great, bright and talented people and their CEO as good reasons to work for their companies, (Bort, 2016; Fiegerman, 2012). While Google employees indicated their TGIF get-together was a top reason; these get-togethers were meant to break the ice between new employees and senior leaders, provide updates on Google events, and a Q&A session with Senior leaders where employees could ask anything. They also had discussion platforms to share ideas that are monitored closely by leaders as well as employees providing input on new products they get to use before they go public, (Surojit, 2012).

Taking this all into consideration and looking at McClelland’s Need Theory, you see that all three—power, achievement, and affiliation—are all present in these reasons. The need for power, specifically, socialized power is present in these organizations. These employees value their CEO and co-workers and have positive relationships between and among them. The need for achievement is met as employees feel they have a large influence on the products they are making and being used by everyone and in changing the world, (Bort, 2016; Fiegerman, 2012). The need for affiliation is certainly met, as all three companies have varying avenues for establishing and maintaining relationships, whether its by offering free gourmet meals to sit down and dine with coworkers, having TGIF get-togethers, or working in a small operational environment as a team, (Surojit, 2012; Fiegerman, 2012). This supports the idea all three are needed if you are going to have success in an organization, and these are successful organizations, (PSU WC L7, 2018, p.2).

Needless to say, there is also a negative side to working at these companies; however, those seem to be outweighed by the positives that give their employees high job satisfaction and companies high retention rates.

References:

Bort, J. (2016, Jun 29). 5 Best and 5 Worst things about working at Microsoft. Inc. Retrieved from:

https://www.inc.com/business-insider/5-best-worst-things-employees-working-microsoft-ceo-nadella.html

Fiegerman, S. (2012, Jun 18). Why working at Apple is a dream job. Business Insider. Retrieved from:

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-employees-really-love-about-working-for-apple-2012-6

Penn State University World Campus. (2018). PSYCH424: Applied Social Psychology. Lesson 7: Organizational Life AND Teams. from: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1924488/modules/items/23682591

Schneider, F., Gruman, J., & Couts, L. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousands Islands, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Surojit, C. (2012, Jan 20). Top 5 reasons why google is the best company to work for. International Business Times. Retrieved from:

http://www.ibtimes.com/top-5-reasons-why-google-best-company-work-553844

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 comments

  1. Thank you for such an insightful post. Excellent information and well done on tying it into Applied Social Psychology content. As you stated, naturally compensation is usually at least one factor that represents one an individual likes (or dislikes) their job. Certainly, however, pay is not usually the driving force. When I think of educators, I think of some of the brightest people out there. Some teachers, at least most of the teachers that I have had, put their heart and soul into what they do. Not only do they work during classroom hours, but they usually work many hours from home as well, grading, lesson planning, etc. I looked up teaching jobs in my own town and discovered one seeking a high school science teacher, pay ranging from $24,000 to $42,000 depending upon experience. Here is a link to the job posting:

    https://www.ziprecruiter.com/jobs/northwood-temple-academy-d6e2e00d/high-school-science-teacher-e329a35a?mid=10796&source=email-candidate-job-alert

    If a teacher were brand new, starting at the $24,000 mark, and estimating that he or she worked nine hours a day (eight in classroom, one prepping at home), and worked 40 weeks out of the year (accounting for summer vacation), the teacher would make approximately $13 per hour. Listen, they aren’t doing it for the money.

    Job satisfaction is about so much more than money. Most of us end up with a career of some sort, either working for the same company for 20+ years, or at least working in the same industry, or field, for 20+ years. That is a lot of life to give for a few extra bucks. As the saying goes, money doesn’t buy happiness, and no, it certainly does not. However, the feeling of team, the feeling of contribution, the feeling that you matter and your voice matters and your thoughts matter, that does fuel happiness.

  2. As stated in your article I believe that pay rate, benefits, social influence or standing of the company plays a major role in employee satisfaction. I also agree that employees who feel their input matters, and their work makes a difference in people lives. I think all of these things fall under the trust of leadership. Trust in a company is very essential when building loyalty in your employees. The leaders must build that trust, and in return they are rewarded with loyalty from their workers. Employees want to feel they matter and are appreciated. Many companies lack that, they usually get so caught up and forget that the little things matter sometimes. Whether that’s a thank you, or free lunch for the day. Just little guesteures to show appreciation. It also brings me to the point that there are companies that has the three component you mentioned; power, achievement, and affiliation. However, although they have these things many people are still dissatisfied with their jobs. So when jobs have these qualities, what are other qualities that may outweigh these things and cause dissatisfied employees? What are the top three reason that you believe makes for an unsatisfying work environment?

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