A new study by the Clarius Group, one of the largest recruiters in Australasia, has found that most employees value good communication from their boss most of all.
The research involved a national survey of 1,000 professionals in white-collar jobs. While almost 70 per cent said their boss had good communication skills, 57 per cent admitted they struggled to receive timely and useful feedback. In addition, 55.6 per cent said they had not received a detailed job description of key performance indicators.
This indicates there could be a "disconnect in the staff-management communications dynamic," according to Clarius Group chief executive Kym Quick.
"People also want to be informed about new developments within their workplace, specifically changes that will affect them. This gives them certainty and comfort about their position and how they fit into the big picture," she said.
This can help employees to feel more valued and may enhance their engagement in the business, which can yield higher productivity results.
To determine how satisfied your staff are, you could undertake an employee survey. This can also reveal areas that need improvement as well as those that are performing strongly.
Another issue raised by the study is the amount of people who say their skills and expertise are not being utilised – around 43 per cent of those surveyed admit to this.
This could lead workers to feel dissatisfied with their jobs and may lead them to seek opportunities elsewhere.
If this is something affecting your staff, you could have a conversation with them to see if their skills could be used in other ways to benefit the staff themselves as well as your business.
A further 42 per cent said they were not being recognised or rewarded for their good work.
This is something that can easily be highlighted in a staff satisfaction survey and is easily fixed.
To find out what an employee survey could reveal about your staff, try a free demonstration of a PeoplePulse survey.
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