Improving employee satisfaction in the UK

Employee satisfaction: woman working on her laptop and talking on the phone in a bright, modern living room

Employee satisfaction in the UK has hit an all-time low, with 90% of UK workers unenthused by their work or workplace, according to Gallup. Organisations need to bring employee experience back to the top of their agendas to make way for more satisfied workers.

The importance of wellbeing

The first step to boosting employee satisfaction is to focus on employee wellbeing. Stress at work has been linked to heightened risk of health issues, such as heart attacks and strokes, according to Corporate Wellness Magazine. It’s also a common cause of workplace absence: One in five workers in the UK took time off in 2023 due to work-related stress, according to People Management.

Bolstering healthy working practices and helping to reduce stress can go a long way towards improving satisfaction and productivity. Improving employee wellbeing can also have a positive impact on business output. According to ServiceNow and Opinium research, customers in the UK and Ireland are less likely to do business with a company that doesn’t treat its employees well—making solid wellbeing policies a tangible business benefit.

Employee satisfaction in the remote age

Remote working can add complexity to employee wellbeing. Working from home can blur the boundaries between professional and personal lives for employees, making it difficult to strike a healthy work-life balance. According to Buffer, 22% of employees say their biggest challenge with remote work is not being able to unplug.

Evidence suggests that eliminating remote working would be a mistake, though. According to UK census data, 84% of UK employees who worked from home during the pandemic said they’d like to continue with a hybrid work approach.

3 ways to improve employee satisfaction

Employee satisfaction may seem like a complex issue, but there are simple steps organisations can take to improve it.

  1. Cultivate a culture that promotes employee wellbeing, encourages a healthy work-life balance, and provides space for employee feedback—and make sure your leadership team is on board. This kind of initiative should be driven from the top down and implemented across every level of the business to help ensure it works.

  2. Invest in technology solutions that underpin a positive employee experience. Simple and intuitive solutions can take the burden of manual, repetitive tasks off your staff and allow for a more stress-free experience. An example of this could be low-code technology, which empowers employees to automate processes without coding or programming knowledge.

  3. Ask your staff where there’s room for improvement. If employees are dealing with heavy workloads and light resources, look at how automated solutions might help. If your staff is disengaged, investigate how you can improve your employee portal and dashboards to pave the way for more open communication and consistent feedback.

Organisations that don’t prioritise employee experience and implement helpful processes and technology can face tangible cost implications. Putting employee experience at the centre of a business strategy could improve employee satisfaction and help deliver a solid competitive advantage.

Find out how ServiceNow can help your organisation improve employee experience.