Key drivers of job satisfaction

Few people are exactly alike when determining what makes them happy at work,
but there are some key drivers of job satisfaction.
Before making a leap into a new job, Lakis suggests you consider each of these areas and ask these tough questions of yourself and your potential employer:

A. Relationships

·      With manager: How employees and their managers get along is one of the strongest employee retention drivers. Ask your prospective manager during the interview process how he makes decisions and how he evaluates talent or superior performance.                                                                                                       

·      With peers: Ask who you will be working with and how the people within the department interact. How have the relationships been in the past? Is there much interdependence?                                                       

·      With subordinates: Ask about the strengths and weaknesses of employees who might be working for you. Then decide if you have the skills to effectively manage them or if they have the skills to help the team achieve success.

B. Work/life balance

·         Location/commute: Be honest with yourself in deciding how far and how much time you are willing to devote to your daily commute.

·         Travel: Will having a job that requires frequent overnight travel be an issue? Where will you draw the line?

·         Amount of work: Try to determine if the culture is one where there is frequent overtime.

C. The kind of work

·            Autonomy: Do you like to work with little supervision or do you prefer detailed assignments?

·            Type of work: Ask questions that will help you gauge what portion of your new job involves project work, building client relationships, developing strategy, implementing tactics or doing creative work?    

·            Contribution: Will the work you do make a notable difference in your department? The company? Society? Does it matter to you?

·            Growth opportunities: What is the internal environment like relative to promotional opportunities? Ask if internal candidates have been considered for this job.

D. The company

·         Values: People who feel disconnected with the values of the company often want to leave. Ask what the values are and how they are manifested in the day-to-day environment..

·         Leadership: Are the leaders of the company people who you and others respect, admire and want to work for?

·         Industry: Does the company/industry provide products or services with which you would want to be associated?

E. Financial considerations

·      Base pay: Are you being offered a salary commensurate with your worth in the marketplace? Make sure it is enough to warrant leaving your current job/company.

·      Incentive pay: If you perform at a superior level, is there an upside opportunity or incentive pay? Consider how the total compensation compares to your past earnings and current expectations.

Lakis suggests that once you have the answers to these questions, make a list of pros and cons and assign them relative weights of importance before making the final decision to accept a new job. You will be better off and better-prepared for what lies ahead.

3 Things Every Worker Should Know

1. Your interests
2. Your strengths and weaknesses and
3. Your options

Before handing in your resignation, be sure
you have considered all of your options.

Work/life balance

Location/commute: Be honest with yourself in deciding how far and how much time you are willing to devote to your daily commute. Will it impede your ability to do things that are important to you, your significant other or children? Consider people important to you in making your decision, because home stress can make you less effective at work.

Travel: Will having a job that requires frequent overnight travel be an issue? Where will you draw the line? Are you willing to travel 20, 30 or 50 percent of the time? Ask how much travel is required and if it's spread out evenly or concentrated during certain seasons or business cycles.

Amount of work: Try to determine if the culture is one where there is frequent overtime. It's reasonable to assume that many professional jobs will require you to do the work necessary to complete the job, but excessive overtime could mean insufficient resources or poor planning.

More Excerpts from Book: "Why Not Me"

“It’s so important that we do those things that make us smile, those things that causes us to reflect on the good times. When R & B Singer Al Green sang “For the Good Times” it was at a time when many Americans were shut out of the American Dream yet they found something to smile about; something that brought them pleasure and amusement. They reflected on those good times, and smiled. As hard as it was for them, they held on to the good times, so what’s stopping us?”

Excerpt from Book: "Why Not Me" will be out in a few weeks.

“You must remember no one is perfect but as an achiever you must continue to better yourself by continuously adjusting your strategy so you can win. If you give yourself the time to reflect…so that nothing becomes tragic...nothing overwhelms you, then the goal will be yours.”