Are Your Employees Happy & Satisfied with Their Jobs?

Some business owners, managers and company executives believe the monetary remuneration and financial benefits their companies provide are all they need to make their employees satisfied.

Research findings however indicate that most employees place a higher premium, on non-monetary rewards, such as freedom to express their individuality in doing their work, more recognition from the company for their contributions etc.

This article explains how to measure the morale of employees – using an Employee Morale Gauge quiz. The quiz was developed by Tayo K. Solagbade, based on a 10-item multi-choice survey he conducted, for his management research paper titled “Performance Management and Employee Motivation” (presented at the 1999 edition of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s Young Managers’ Competition).

Introduction: Investigating Employee Workplace Morale

Companies, in which employee morale is low, tend not to perform well in the long term.

That’s why smart employers try to identify what employees want, and provide it, to boost employee morale – and performance.

You can use the Employee Workplace Morale Survey Quiz as is, or modify it to suit your purposes. It can be quite insightful to see responses to the questions.

You get clear ideas of what to do, to make employees feel better about working in your company.

 Question 1. Is it okay for an employee to make mistakes on the job?

a). Sometimes, so long as s/he works hard to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

b). Never.

c). Sometimes, but only concerning areas s/he is recognised not to have significant experience.

Ideal Choice = Up to the respondent (Comment: Ideal response would be “a”).

Question 2. Do you believe you have a say in how you should do your job?

a). Yes.

b). No.

c). Not Sure.

d). Don’t Know.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 3. Which do you prefer of the following options in your workplace?

a). You are told everything to do at each stage of your work by your boss

b). You are allowed enough freedom to do most aspects of your work by yourself but can consult your superior when you so desire.

c). Somewhere between a. and b.

Ideal Choice = Up to the respondent

Question 4. Which of the following best represents the situation at your workplace currently?

a). You are allowed enough freedom to do most aspects of your work by yourself but can consult your superior when you so desire.

b). You are told everything to do at each stage of your work by your boss

c). Somewhere between a. and b.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 5. If you had a choice, would you stay behind office hours to finish a job even when you know your boss will not be upset if you do not?

a). Yes.

b). No.

c). Not Sure.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 6. How do you feel when you are preparing to come to work in the morning?

a). Enthusiastic and rearing to continue from where you stopped the day before.

b). Indifferent

c). Slightly nervous and wondering what is going to go wrong today.

d). Unenthusiastic about the impending duties to be done.

Ideal Choice = a

 Question 7. What would be your reaction if you heard someone say he believes the company you work for provides necessary support for its employees to give their best on the job?

a). Strongly Agree.

b). Agree.

c). Undecided.

d). Disagree.

e). Strongly disagree.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 8. Do you feel your company shows respect for its employees in the way issues concerning them are handled?

a). Yes.

b). No.

c). Not Sure.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 9. If you had a very bright idea, you knew would lift your company to greater heights, would you be willing to bring it to the knowledge of management?

a). Yes.

b). No.

c). Not Sure.

Ideal Choice = a

Question 10. Upon carrying out a job that leads to significant benefits for your department, how would you prefer to get feedback on your efforts?

a). By hearing that your boss announced the achievement at a meeting without specifically mentioning your name.

b). By getting a personal commendation letter from a management representative or verbal commendation from your boss?

c). By seeing your name placed on some notice boards acknowledging your contribution.

d). By receiving a form of reward e.g. cash or gift.

e). You would not need any form of acknowledgement.

Ideal Choice = Up to respondent

Administering The Employee Workplace Morale Gauge Quiz

It is important to note, that the quiz has NO CORRECT ANSWERS. The score you get will only indicate how much agreement there is between the respondent’s choices and those that have been specified as “best-fit” or “ideal” indications of “good/positive employee morale”.

You will get the most value from using this quiz by studying the individual responses made by your staff/team members to each question.

Scoring Options: If you wish, you can assign points from 5 (for the choice of answer option “a” to 1 (for the choice of answer option “e”).

Having said the above, there are three questions in the above quiz for which it may be difficult to assign scores since the answer options that can be chosen would reflect the respondent’s personal preference. They are question Nos. 1, 3 and 10.

In summary, total maximum scoring for a completed questionnaire would be 35 out of 35 maximum possible points. You should HOPE that each of your recovered questionnaires will produce a score of at least 75% (i.e., at least 26 out of 35 points).

That “target” is just a suggestion, though, because EVERY single non-ideal answer you get to EVERY single question should prompt you to take decisive action to ensure it does NOT re-appear in the next survey you conduct!