The Partnership for Public Service is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has researched federal employee job satisfaction since 2003. Its work aims to improve federal-government management and also provides information for people interested in federal employment.

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Organizations commonly measure job satisfaction after organizational changes, such as a management-model shift, to assess effects on employees. They may also measure it routinely because it is one of the factors expected to affect organizational performance. Measurement can use employee questionnaires and can assess satisfaction globally or through specific job factors.

Measurement of Job Satisfaction

There is opportunity for more research on job satisfaction measurement, including whether emotional and cognitive elements should be measured separately.

Job Satisfaction Measurement

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Job satisfaction questionnaires are employee-completed instruments for assessing satisfaction. They may use a single rating-scale item or multiple questions that help identify why employees are satisfied or dissatisfied.

Job Satisfaction Questionnaires

Job satisfaction can be measured globally, meaning general satisfaction with work, or at the level of specific factors that identify which aspects of the job lead to satisfaction.

Levels of Job Satisfaction Measurement

A critique of combined job satisfaction measures is that they can mix emotional and cognitive concepts. Weiss suggests that separating these elements would make measurement more reliable and show better relationships with outcomes such as performance.

Critique of Combined Job Satisfaction Measurements

A 2013 study found U.S. federal-government job satisfaction indexes declining compared with the private sector. The largest factor in the decline was satisfaction with pay, followed by training and development opportunities.

Job Satisfaction in U.S. Federal Government vs. Private Sector (2013 Study)

Partnership for Public Service

Job satisfaction rankings among large U.S. federal agencies placed NASA highest, followed by the Department of Commerce and the intelligence community, while the Department of Homeland Security received the lowest scores.

Job Satisfaction Rankings Among U.S. Federal Agencies

A large retail company has just implemented a new inventory management system that significantly changes the daily tasks of its warehouse employees. The management team wants to determine if this change has negatively affected the morale and contentment of these specific employees. Which of the following would be the most effective and targeted method for assessing the situation?

Job satisfaction is measured using questionnaires that employees complete. These instruments may use a single rating-scale question or multiple questions that diagnose why employees are satisfied or dissatisfied. The Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey is an example of a multi-question instrument that includes items about recommending the organization, satisfaction with the job, and satisfaction with the organization.

Questionnaires for Measuring Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction can be measured at a global level, meaning general satisfaction with work, or at the level of specific factors intended to identify which aspects of the job lead to satisfaction.

Global and Facet-Level Job Satisfaction Measurement

Weiss (2002) suggests that job satisfaction measurements have combined emotional and cognitive concepts. He suggests that job satisfaction measurements would be more reliable and show better relationships with outcomes such as performance if these two elements were measured separately.

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