Is Employee Satisfaction Irrelevant?
Gallup research shows that both employee engagement and employee satisfaction relate to meaningful outcomes. However, satisfaction is a broad, attitudinal outcome, like organizational loyalty or pride. It is hard to act on, and some facets of satisfaction are irrelevant to performance. On the other hand, engagement predicts satisfaction, as well as many other concrete business outcomes. It is easy to measure, and relatively easy to improve. For example, the engaged radiology technologist who puts a blanket down for his shivering patient will probably have a low repeat radiology rate — that is, he’s less likely to have to redo the exam because the patient was uncomfortable and wiggled around. But if this technician were only satisfied with his job (in terms of salary, a reserved parking spot at the hospital, and so on), without being engaged and therefore highly attentive in his work, he might not achieve the same positive outcome. But that’s not to say satisfaction isn’t important —
