Executive Summary

In 2012, 81% of U.S. employees reported overall satisfaction with their current job, with 38% of employees indicating they were “very satisfied” and 43% “somewhat satisfied.”

Several internal and external factors can influence employee job satisfaction and engagement, and these factors may change over time. In the 10 years that the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has been conducting its job satisfaction survey, there has been a noticeable fluctuation in employees’ overall satisfaction with their jobs. This fluctuation could be attributed to changes within the workplace as well as economic, demographic and social trends. According to this study, in 2012 81% of U.S. employees reported overall satisfaction with their current job, with 38% of employees indicating they were “very satisfied” and 43% “somewhat satisfied.” Employees’ overall satisfaction with their jobs is down five percentage points from its peak of 86% in 2009 and four percentage points above its low in 2002 (77%). Figure 1 illustrates the data on overall employee job satisfaction from 2002 to 2012.

When it comes to employee engagement at work in 2012, on average, employ-ees were only moderately engaged (3.6, on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is highly disengaged, 3 is moderately engaged and 5 is highly engaged). Employee engagement levels have not changed in the two years that SHRM has been collecting this metric.

Employees Are Focused on Meeting Goals and Using Their Skills at Work

Figure 1 | Overall Employee Job Satisfaction Over the Years

2002(n = 604)

2004(n = 604)

2005 (n = 600)

2006(n = 604)

2007(n = 604)

2008(n = 601)

2009(n = 602)

2010(n = 605)

2011(n = 596)

2012(n = 600)

Note: Figure represents those employees who answered “somewhat satisfied” or “very satisfied.”

Source: 2012 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement: A Research Report by SHRM

77% 77% 77%

80%79%

82%

86%

84%83%

81%

83% of employees reported that they are determined to accomplish their work goals and confident they can meet their goals.

Top Aspects Contributing to Employee Engagement in 2012 Employee engagement, which may or may not be aligned with employee job satisfaction, is about the employee’s connection and commitment to the organi-zation. The top five aspects contributing to employee engagement in 2012 were very similar to the 2011 results; the main difference among the lists was that the aspect “employees frequently feel that they are putting all their effort into their work” made the top five list in 2012.

• 83% of employees reported that they are determined to accomplish their work goals and confident they can meet their goals.

• 79% of employees reported satisfaction with their relationship with their co-workers.

• 75% of employees were satisfied with opportunities to use their skills and abilities at work.

• 72% of employees were satisfied with how their work contributed to their organization’s business goals.

• 71% of employees reported that they frequently felt that they were putting all their effort into their work and that they were satisfied with their relationship with their immediate supervisor.

The top five aspects contributing to employee engagement were also analyzed by employee gender and age. Respondents from the Veterans generation and older were the only group that placed relationship with their immediate supervisor as the top factor contributing to their engagement. These data are shown in the Appendix.

Top Five Contributors to Employee Job Satisfaction in 2012Although many factors contribute to employee job satisfaction, only two have remained among the top five aspects since 2002. In a recovering economy, none of the aspects employees selected as the top five contributors to their job satisfac-tion was a surprise.1

Opportunities to use skills and abilities (63%) displaced job security (61%) for the number one spot of aspects most important to job satisfaction, placing job security second in the list. Other aspects that rounded off employees’ top five very important factors contributing to job satisfaction were:

Table 1 | Top Five Employee Engagement Aspects

2011

(n = 600)2012

(n = 600)

I am determined to accomplish my work goals and confident I can meet them 83% (1) 83% (1)

Relationship with co-workers 76% (2) 79% (2)

Opportunities to use skills/abilities 74% (3) 75% (3)

Contribution of work to organization's business goals 71% (5) 72% (4)

Relationship with immediate supervisor 73% (4) 71% (5)

I frequently feel that I’m putting all my effort into my work 70% 71% (5)

Source: 2012 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement: A Research Report by SHRM

• Compensation/pay (60%).

• Communication between employees and senior management (57%).

• Relationship with immediate supervisor (54%).

For the ranking of other aspects most important to employee job satisfaction, refer to Figure 2 on page 7 and Table 6 in the Appendix.

The top five aspects of employee job satisfaction were also analyzed by several employee demographics. Opportunities to use skills and abilities were the top concern among employees, and in most cases, this aspect ranked among the top two very important aspects of job satisfaction, regardless of employees’ tenure, age, gender or organization staff size. Opportunities to use skills and abilities were the third most important contributor to job satisfaction for respondents employed at organizations with 500 to 2,499 employees and for employees with three to five years and 11 or more years of tenure. For nonexempt (hourly) nonmanagement employees, opportunities to use skills and abilities were ranked as the fifth most important aspect of job satisfaction. These data are shown in the Appendix.

What Do These Findings Mean for Organizations?• Develop Existing Employees: Recent research has revealed that organiza-

tions are having difficulty recruiting employees with the right skills for their open positions. The SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE™) show that HR professionals in manufacturing and service sectors have reported a trend toward increased difficulty recruiting key candidates in 2012. One of the top contributors to job satisfaction and engagement among employees is having the opportunity to use their skills and abilities at work. Employees frequently have skills and abilities beyond the position for which they were hired. HR professionals can help their organizations train and promote their employees to fill positions that require higher-level skills. This will then open up positions that require lower skill levels, which, in turn, may be easier to fill.

• Communicate About the Total Rewards Package: Employees rate com-pensation/pay as the third most important aspect of their job satisfaction. This aspect received a low rating when it came to employees’ actual level of satisfaction: Only 22% of employees were very satisfied with compensation/pay. There are several ways HR professionals can address compensation: share information about the organization’s compensation philosophy, help employees

Table 2 | Top Five Aspects of Job Satisfaction Most Important to Employees: 2002 to 2012

2002(n = 604)

2004(n = 604)

2005(n = 601)

2006(n = 605)

2007(n = 604)

2008(n = 601)

2009(n = 601)

2010(n = 600)

2011(n = 600)

2012(n = 600)

Opportunities to use skills/abilities — 47% 44% 51% (5) 44% 50% (4) 55% (4) 56% (3) 62% (2) 63% (1)

Job security 65% (1) 60% (4) 59% (4) 59% (3) 53% (2) 59% (1) 63% (1) 63% (1) 63% (1) 61% (2)

Compensation/pay 59% (4) 63% (2) 61% (2) 67% (1) 59% (1) 53% (3) 57% (3) 53% (5) 54% (4) 60% (3)

Communication between employees and senior management

62% (3) 54% 50% 48% 51% (4) 50% (4) 51% 47% 53% (5) 57% (4)

Relationship with immediate supervisor 49% 49% 46% 47% 48% 47% (5) 52% 48% 55% (3) 54% (5)

Note: A dash (—) indicates that this question was not asked that year.

Source: 2012 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement: A Research Report by SHRM

Employers can build a bridge between employees and senior management by training their line managers regularly and involving them in strategy meetings and activities.

understand how their compensation/pay is determined and frequently com-municate to employees what their total rewards package includes.

• Build a Bridge Between Employees and Senior Management: Employee engagement and job satisfaction should not be something that HR profession-als and their organizations measure once a year. They need to be built into an organization’s day-to-day activities. Employee engagement and job satisfaction should be the shared responsibility of both employees and the organization. How can this be achieved? Two of the top five contributors to employee job satisfaction were relationship with immediate supervisor and communication between employees and senior management. These two aspects were also high on employees’ list of engagement aspects. Clearly, employees value their relationship with management, and they are looking for ways to make this relationship more effective, which, in turn, will likely increase employee satis-faction, engagement and productivity. Employers can build a bridge between employees and senior management by training their line managers regularly and involving them in strategy meetings and activities. Doing so will enable line managers to better understand the organization’s vision and share it with their direct reports. These managers can complete the information-sharing loop by sharing with senior management feedback from the employees. Line managers who are encouraged to be open to what their employees say and then push this feedback up are key in ameliorating the communication gap.