Job Satisfaction
Job Control | Role or task ambiguity, role conflict |
Role in organisation
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Assign clear roles, define tasks and responsibilities, to avoid role or task ambiguity and role conflict |
Regularly review tasks and responsibilities to ensure that it is up to date |
Job Recognition | Career stagnation, poor career prospects, pay or benefits, job insecurity, low social value to work |
Career development |
Provide adequate training to develop employees’ competencies and skills |
Improve communication to reduce uncertainty about career development |
Regularly review career mobility opportunities for employees |
Communicate to employees the importance of their work |
Acknowledge and show appreciation of contributions by establishing a system to reward exemplary work |
Job Demands
Job Satisfaction
| Lack of variety, fragmented or meaningless work, under use of skills, high uncertainty4
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Task Design |
Matching the job and the employee |
Review work tasks to match jobs to employees’ abilities (physical and psychological skills) and experience |
Work Redesign |
Design jobs with meaningful tasks and provide employees with job purpose and opportunities for them to use their skills |
Design jobs by dividing tasks into different job categories or changing processes to achieve a more balanced set of responsibilities |
Job Demands | Work load, lack of control over work pace, time pressure to meet deadlines |
Workload & work pace |
Adjust the workload such that it is in line with employees' capabilities and available resources |
Identify tasks that can be reduced, e.g. eliminate unnecessary tasks or outsource specialised tasks to subject matter experts |
Identify activities that can be automated |
Regularly assess the time required for tasks and set realistic deadlines |
Reassign tasks to limit overexposure of employees to stressful situations over a period of time e.g. rotate tasks after a certain time period |
Provide adequate coaching and training on areas such as time management and supervisory practices (e.g. managing perceptions and expectations of staff, being able to plan, review and adjust workload levels accordingly) |
Encourage employees to do stretching exercises that can be done at the workstation or during break times at meetings |
Job Demands | Irregular shift schedules, inflexible work schedules or long working hours |
Work schedule |
Rearrange shift schedules and breaks according to the workload e.g. avoid excessively long shifts and to include rest periods in-between |
Facilitate flexible, balanced work schedules e.g. flexitime, flexible work arrangement |
Job Control
Job Satisfaction | Low participation in decision making, lack of control over work |
Control |
Provide opportunities for employees to have a say in how their work is carried out e.g. to participate in decisions and actions affecting their jobs (work process, priority, resources, work pace and sequencing of tasks) |
Provide opportunities for employees to develop new skills to do their work e.g. through on the job training or external training |
Social Support
| Poor relationships with colleagues, interpersonal conflict, lack of social support |
Interpersonal relationships at work |
Build supportive relationships between supervisors and employees, and among employees e.g. establish mentor or buddy systems, organise bonding activities to encourage co-operation and teamwork, train supervisors in people management skills |
Communicate regularly with employees about how they are coping (especially during periods of change or high work demands) and provide help with managing and negotiating workload |
Encourage support among employees e.g. through sharing of knowledge and experiences |
Provide possible sources of external assistance for employees e.g. external counselling services or employee assistance programmes (EAP) |
Create a safe and supportive environment such as having policies to protect employees’ safety, health and well-being |
Conflicting demands of work and home, low support at home, problems relating to both partners being in the labour force (dual career) |
Home-work interface |
Encourage employees to discuss conflicting demands between work and home. However, do ensure to keep employees’ issues confidential |
Encourage work-life balance by supporting family-friendly benefits and policies (flexitime, flexible work arrangement) |
Organisational Culture
| Poor communication, low levels of support for problem solving and personal development, lack of definition of organisational objectives | Build supervisory skills e.g. in people management, supervisory practices, communication, stress management |
Engage the services of a consultant, to suggest a fresh approach to organisational issues/improvements |
Develop an open culture with appropriate form of communication channel to share updates, changes or to seek opinions, share ideas, suggestions or concerns |
Establish transparent decision-making processes and inform employees regularly about important decisions. When employees are aware of the plans, uncertainty, speculation and stress can be reduced. |
Management Support | Poor communication, low levels of support, lack of staff involvement | Establish procedures to address workplace stress. A strong and consistent support from management indicates commitment to reduce stress at work. |
Involve employees in identifying measures to reduce workplace stress. This joint effort improves mutual understanding and facilitates the planning and execution of measures to reduce stress at the workplace. |
Communicate risk and preventive measures to employees e.g. as part of employee orientation or at regular platforms |
Regularly monitor effectiveness of preventive measures using iWorkHealth |
Create a supportive environment for employees e.g. - Provide assistance for employees who need professional support e.g. Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- Set up peer support groups
- Promote the use of anonymous helplines
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