Note to Managers: Simplest Way to Enhance Employee Satisfaction

Ever looked at your recent employee engagement/opinion survey and wondered what more could you work on to be a better manager? Should you coach more, listen more attentively or organize more team huddles to enhance communication? I chanced upon this insightful tip reading Daniel Pink's book "When: the scientific secrets of perfect timing" over the holidays on the simplest way of enhancing employee satisfaction: replying to your team members' emails (with speed).

According to research by Duncan Watts, a Columbia university sociologist, who is now principal researcher for Microsoft Research, email response time is the single most predictor of whether employees are satisfied with their boss. In other words, if you are one of those managers that sits on the emails of your team mates for days or worse even ignore their emails, your might end up with a very unhappy team over time.

Anecdotally, I have had feedback from some of the juniors in the support functions speak highly of our senior leaders and when questioned the reason, it was simply "because when I sent them an email, they took the time to respond back with a thank-you". As we start the year aspiring to make a difference, I encourage you to make someone's day, by simply making a point to reply (when appropriate) promptly to the emails from your colleagues/team mates.