Corporate Culture & Productivity

Why Office Managers Need to Pay Attention to Employee Satisfaction

Nick Mason
January 17th, 2017
office employees walking and talking

An office manager’s role ties in closely with that of an HR director—both need to address employee well-being in order to ensure their company runs smoothly. An organization with high employee satisfaction levels benefits in many ways, including overall competitiveness, higher performance and a healthier bottom line. Here are four reasons why office managers should keep an eye on their team’s happiness.

1. Turnover rates

Low employee satisfaction can result in a high turnover rate, which can be highly expensive. According to a Center for American Progress report, the cost for replacing an employee is roughly 21.4% of their annual salary, although that percentage can increase up to 213% of an executive’s annual salary for highly trained positions. These costs force companies to invest resources in retraining and hiring instead of developing other parts of their business.

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High turnover also has a self-fulfilling effect, causing current workers to become dissatisfied and leave as they lack a consistent team to work with. For office managers, they may need to spend time and resources to set up new employees at their work spaces, or redesign the office layout to accommodate changes in staff size.

2. Productivity

employee working on computer

A University of Warwick study has found that employee happiness can improve productivity by 12%, although other research suggests it can be as high as 31%. On the other hand, Gallup reported that employee dissatisfaction creates a loss of roughly $450–550 billion in the U.S. economy.

Satisfied employees are more likely to work beyond their duties, refer new business to the company and grow as leaders.

This allows companies to increase their operating income and optimize the performance of their teams. Office design plays a key part in productivity, which means that how you design your space will affect how well employees perform.

3. Competition for talent

It’s becoming a challenge for companies to acquire and retain strong talent from today’s workforce. Millennial workers are especially fluid, with 44% willing to leave their employers within two years. Keeping employees satisfied can help attract the best hires, as career satisfaction and work-life balance are top reasons that motivate employees to stay with their companies.

Improving employee satisfaction requires HR and office managers to work together to consider work policies, compensation, performance recognition and employee health. By creating a positive work environment, you can help attract stronger, more productive talent to your organization.

4. Financial impact

financial charts and calculator

There are many ways employee satisfaction can affect the bottom line. For instance, low morale may result in an increased rate of absenteeism, which can cost $36,000 for each hourly worker and $2,650 for each salaried worker per year. Conversely, companies with high employee satisfaction gain a better financial standing. Those listed in Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” outperformed their competitors in terms of stock price, which rose an average of 14% per year over an eight year period.

By developing a healthy and inspiring environment that prioritizes employee comfort, you can help reduce the costs of absenteeism and lost productivity.

Businesses gain clear benefits by creating high levels of job satisfaction. Office managers in particular can address employees’ needs in order to help their organization become stronger and more resilient, and be able to continue growing.

Photos: Pressmaster / Shutterstock.com, Startup Stock Photos, everydayplus / Shutterstock.com