Employee Job Satisfaction
COMM 362: Public Relations Writing
Michael Atchue, Vanessa LoPiccolo, Armando Reyes, and Tony Vo
5/15/2013
Team #4 (2)
Importance of Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is a “positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics.” It serves as an important aspect for employees in order to establish and maintain
a business or organization’s corporate image. Job satisfaction is directly related to the successful
performance of a company. More than just being easily searchable, job satisfaction is essential
for companies to be successful. When employees are satisfied with their tasks and positions, the
energy is noticed by their customers and clients. Not only will job satisfaction enable a low
turnover rate for employees, it will result in high retention rate for customers.
PR professionals use narratives as a tool in a public relations context to “shape and define
experience.” It serves as a social function to “bring a personality and a new voice into your story
that a reader welcomes” such as the World Wide Web. Nowadays, the World Wide Web is a
primary source for consumers to find information on job satisfaction. Employees and nonemployees use the Web to interact and communicate with other businesses and organizations.
Narratives of job satisfaction are potentially useful in order to establish the image of a certain
business or organization, and help to create and sustain a positive work environment. It also has
the ability to indirectly build a connection between the World Wide Web users with various
businesses or organizations.
Job satisfaction is also about the “levels of intrinsic and extrinsic outcomes and how the
jobholder views those outcomes.” It depends on how important the job makes the employee feel
which will influence the individual’s motivation towards their job and work environment. “Once
an individual is satisfied in their job, it impacts significantly on their output levels for the
organization.” This is important for professionals entering the workforce so they are able to
observe the causes of job satisfaction and its impacts. Since job satisfaction affects the progress
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of the organization, it is imperative for employers to understand the results in order to improve
satisfaction in the workforce. By observing narratives, professionals can learn from them and
make a variety of evaluations based off of the online content.
Build-A-Bear Workshop
Build-A-Bear Workshop, ranking in FORTUNE magazine 2013 top 100 Best Companies
to Work for in America, is one of the companies that uses web-based stories of employee job
satisfaction to establish corporate image. Job satisfaction is an important factor to the Build-ABear company because employees impact the progress of the organization as it has the ability to
influence the lives of others. According to Build-A-Bear Workshop, “it is their mission to be fun
for their guests and their teams.” They consistently work together towards this goal.” Build-ABear Workshop embodies the American icon of a teddy bear which brings sincere thoughts of
childhood, friendship, trust and comfort, and love. “The company’s corporate culture reflects that
of stores bright and fun with flexible, family-friendly policies.” It is how Build-A-Bear runs their
business on a day-to-day basis. It is the way how they treat their employees through their
commitment of providing the greatest interactive experience possible for their team as well as
their guests.
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Build-A-Bear Workshop strives on inspiring creativity, communication, and solid store
performance. Their distinctive culture encourages contribution and collaboration. Through the
Bear University program that store managers receive enables them to provide a friendly and
personable environment in stores and consistent experience across their stores. Store associates
receive extensive training in providing a strong work environment through the bear-making
process and an enjoyable experience with the guests they interact with. Build-A-Bear thrives on
guest service, focusing on employing and retaining those who are cordial and motivated on guest
service experience. In terms of Build-A-Bear’s high retention rates, the company’s retention
“contributes to the consistency and quality of the guest experience. Their store teams are
evaluated and compensated not only on sales results but also the results from regular guest
satisfaction surveys.” Each store has a recognition fund they use to reward and compensate
employees who provide outstanding guest service. Build-A-Bear workshop is committed towards
recognizing individual achievements through compensation structures which also help increase
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overall team success. It serves as a motivator for associates to continue providing that interactive
experience.
It is effective for a company like Build-A-Bear Workshop to have a “top-down and
carefully created corporate culture” with the capability to “make a deep and meaningful impact
on employees at all levels.” It is important for it to be entertaining and impactful for both their
team and guests in order to deliver a memorable guest experience. The company was “able to
share the hug of a teddy bear whenever needed in local communities and abroad.” With over 115
million stuffed animals, Build-A-Bear has donated more than $32 million over the last 16 years
to causes such as animals, children’s health and wellness, literacy and education, and disaster
relief and the environment. The company has made a huge influence in making a difference in
every community for which it operates through their charitable donations such as with St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital. In addition, Build-A-Bear Workshop launched the Huggable
Heroes program in 2004 as a way to recognize and honor young people that have impacted their
communities and the world. It empowers and inspires children to get involved as Build-A-Bear
Workshop believes that young people can establish change in their communities.”
Build-A-Bear is in the business of making a difference in the communities in which they
operate not just about making money. They value the business that they get from those
communities, and give back to the communities through many different programs. Employees
feel positively influential that has great partnership working for a company that is also a good
citizen. It is without-a-doubt that Build-A-Build Workshop remains in the Top 100 Best
Companies to work for in America for the fifth consecutive year.
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DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation is an animation studio primarily located in Glendale, CA.
Though they have a location in Redwood City as well, Glendale is the larger of the two. It was
founded in October of 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. Some
of DreamWorks notable creations include Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Brave, and many
more. Aside from striving for perfection and creating entertainment, employee satisfaction is a
great concern for the company. The company was ranked number 14 on the 100 Best Companies
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to Work For in America 2012 according to FORTUNE magazine and continues to climb; they
jumped up two spots to number 12 in 2013.
Job satisfaction appears to be very important to the company because the employees are
artists of their own talent. DreamWorks Animation is very Zen-like to ease the minds of the
artists so they produce their best work.
The serene environment of koi ponds, water fountains, and lagoons helps relax the employees.
DreamWorks Animation’s primary goal is to entertain, “At the heart of DreamWorks Animation,
is the desire to tell great stories and inspire audiences. Our company culture not only encourages
employees to create but also to innovate and, ultimately, to have fun!” By encouraging
employees to have on the job with the state of the art game room that includes foosball, flat
screens, video games, ping pong, and much more, the employees can grow their imagination and
feel relaxed while doing what they do best and stay inspired.
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To boost company morale, DreamWorks Animation hosts ice cream breaks, poker
tournaments, and costume parties. The company believes that when the employees are at ease
and feel relaxed, they will be inspired to create new works of art created from their imaginations.
“Our studio finds new ways to celebrate and acknowledge our employees. Every day at
DreamWorks, employees enjoy a free breakfast and lunch at the campus commissaries. We also
provide weekly movie screenings, daily fitness classes on campus, guest lectures, art galleries,
and more.”
The company also offers classes for the employees to practice their techniques and
ultimately develop existing skills. In the pictures on DreamWorks Animation’s website,
employees sit on the floor and listen to guest speaker or instructors. Sitting on the floor is
elementary and juvenile, but in this case it takes the employees back to their younger years when
their imagination was the universe. That’s what DreamWorks Animation wants from their
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employees; they want their employees’ imaginations to constantly evolve and grow. So by
creating an employee friendly environment and a low stress level environment, DreamWorks
Animation’s employees can focus on their art which make up DreamWorks’ films.
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group
Kimpton Hotels is unlike most hotel chains in the world, as each property stays true to a
swanky, yet eclectic boutique hotel theme, with many varying types of properties. The chain was
founded in 1981 in San Francisco and has properties throughout the U.S.
The company has been listed as one of the “100 Companies to work for” since 2010, and
is the only hotel chain in the top 50, ranking at number 28 in 2013, as well as being ranked high
in customer satisfaction. Kimpton attributes these successes because of the “strong emotional
connection” employees have with their guests.
The company has a mantra for its employees to live by: “staying true to you.” They
believe that by allowing their employees to be true to themselves, they will be able to build a
better relationship with their guests.
Some of the ways Kimpton encourages their employees to be true to themselves is
through programs offered with the chain. Many programs were created to not only assist
employees, but make a mark on the outlying community as well. One of these programs is the
“red-ribbon campaign,” which sets itself as a source of empowerment for LGBT employees and
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guests. Kimpton was the first hotel chain to receive a 100 percent rating from the Human Rights
Campaign to promote equality.
Another program is the “Women InTouch” program, which aims to provide information
and resources for women to be more successful in the industry. They also sponsor “Dress for
Success,” which is a similar program for those looking for employment. Kimpton believes
strongly in social responsibility and works with many charities local to hotels. But instead of
randomly choosing, management allows the employees to have a voice in which to sponsor, in
an effort to allow the entire team to embrace in giving back to their communities.
Kimpton also prides itself on allowing their employees to have a voice. Manages provide
an open door policy when it comes to communication, and weekly manager breakfasts are part of
the norm so employees can express their ideas on improvements and anything on their mind.
Besides being able to speak their minds, contests are held often to keep morale high for
employees. Some of these contests range from “housekeeping Olympics,” where employees can
win cash prizes, to littler activities like wrapping management in toilet paper. Kimpton believes
these types of activities help foster an open line of communication and a sense of trust between
all levels of the operation.
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Kimpton hosts a website called IMKimpton, which allows their employees to express
themselves through blog posts, pictures and videos. The reasoning behind this program is “to
embrace our culture and show others what it is like to work for Kimpton.”
Kimpton also offers its employees’ health benefits, pet care programs, parent care
programs, paid vacations, discounts and tuition reimbursement for college students.
Overall, Kimpton prides itself on allowing their employees to have a voice and seeks to
have those employees express themselves. The company also prefers to promote from within,
and as a growing hotel brand can lead to more room for advancement to its employees.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a well-known children’s hospital that provides
care and research for children with cancer. In 1962, entertainer Danny Thomas founded the
hospital. For over 50 years, St. Jude’s Hospital has provided care for many children all around
the world. Most of the money comes from donations. Through these donations, the hospital has
dedicated employees, who work together for a common goal. As a result, survival rates have
grown over the years under the hospital’s care. St. Jude’s is a recognizable hospital to this day.
For the third straight year, St Jude’s hospital appeared on Fortune’s Magazine “100 Best
Companies to Work For” since 2011. Job satisfaction plays a vital role for the hospital.
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Job employee satisfaction is important because of the inspirational mission the hospital is
trying to spread throughout the world. The news release titled “St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital on FORTUNE magazine’s ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list for third year”
mentions that employees “come to work each day knowing the institution is committed to
making this a place where they can do their best work because our mission is enormously
challenging.” The mission is to save children and cure cancer. This goal brings the best out of
people and showcases the power of teamwork. It is not like most companies, where money is a
driving force. Saving lives drives this company. The company spreads this message through their
special events and public service announcements. As a result of this message, job employee
satisfaction creates a strong bond between the hospital and the public.
Job employee satisfaction creates a strong bond between the employees and its patients.
In St. Jude’s website, the hospital provides different ways employees interact with the patients.
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The images section showed both employees, volunteers, and children have a great time at special
events or participation events. These types of events include marathons or parties. The site also
shows numerous public service announcement videos or PSAs about what it is like at St. Jude
Hospital. It showed how close employees are with the patients.
Similarities and Difference of Employee Job Satisfaction
Every business or company excels in various ways that reflect upon employee job
satisfaction through their use of the web for communication. After reviewing the selected
companies through web-based portrayals, each company displays great employee job satisfaction
through internal communication. Build-A-Bear Workshop and DreamWorks Animation both
exceed by strongly inspiring creativity within the work environment. Kimpton hotels follows
similarly by inviting their employees to remain “true to themselves” in order create a fun
working environment that transcends to their clients. These companies have a great culture and
partnership known for encouraging their employees and inspiring their audiences according to
their webpage. The corporate cultures of these companies reflect their family-friendly policies of
simply having fun and making it an exciting place to be. At DreamWorks Animation, employees
should feel at ease, sparking their imagination, while continue staying inspired doing what they
do best. At Build-A-Bear Workshop, it should be an enjoyable, fun light-hearted environment to
work and play for both associates and employees in the corporate office called Bearquarters
located in St. Louis, Missouri. Both companies also offer classes and training to further develop
their talents and trigger their imaginations in order to produce and give their best work. These
companies respect their employees, and respect family values. They go above to recognize
employee individual achievements and take great pride in their employees. With a great crafted
culture, these two companies ultimately have the ability to positively influence the lives of others
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by using creativity and encouraging creativity within their employees to keep the environment a
pleasurable experience to work and be at.
All four companies come from different industries but all still focus on the importance of
employee satisfaction. DreamWorks is a company that creates animation films for its audiences
of all ages; they act as a positive distraction where each film acts as escapism. Both
DreamWorks Animation and Build-A-Bear Workshops act as escapisms in different ways
because DreamWorks takes its audience on a ride to magical places through imagination. BuildA-Bear Workshops also uses imagination and creativity in creating a special friend at the
"Workshop." Both companies would act as great getaways for the patients of St. Jude's because
St. Jude's primarily focuses on taking care of its patients and saving lives. Kimpton falls in line
with the other companies in creating a sense of family and belonging, not only for their
employees but their clients as well. Their employees bring sense of belonging and joy to their
guests by always greeting them by name and treating them as a member of the Kimpton family,
just as St. Jude, Build-A-Bear and DreamWorks.
Effective Public Relations practice
Build-A-Bear Workshop’s portrayals are consistent with effective public relation
practices that deliver a meaningful impact. Their website allows other businesses and consumers
to gather any data which raises the level of personal interaction who seek that information.
“Judges in the Best Places to Work contest were impressed with the unique and creative
atmosphere and efforts to keep employees informed. Recently, Build-A-Bear Workshop put in
place a process whereby all employees can receive feedback from individuals and departments
they support. They also credited the guest feedback as a tool that lets workers know how they
measure up and what ‘op-bear-tunities’ they have to improve.” This is great practice in order to
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show that the website is not just a passive document. Rather, it is an interactive medium that
displays useful operational components, visuals, and information for those who visit the website.
Together, these components tell the stories of job satisfaction that belong to companies and their
satisfied employees which potentially has an impact with the publics in the marketplace.
DreamWorks Animation uses public relations effectively to show their employee
satisfaction by keeping the website updated with lively photos. The company also brings in guest
speakers to speak to the employees to continuously build their creativity and ultimate inspire to
create new characters and themes. The top leaders in the entertainment industry including
George Lucas, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, and others have been brought in to speak to
employees and share their experiences and thoughts. DreamWorks actively engages with fans on
Twitter where they host contests and are soon launching their own Tumblr page.
Kimpton uses effective public relations by using an “I Am Kimpton” section on their
website, where employees describe what they love most about the company and their pride in it.
Additionally, Kimpton is active on social media and through its Kimpton InTouch program to
reach out to clients. Through these tools, Kimpton holds promotions and keeps the public up-todate on the events going on at their properties. Those following Kimpton receive a code word at
the beginning of every month, and if a guest uses the code word, they will be treated to a room
upgrade or a meal at the hotel restaurant.
St. Jude displays effective Public Relations practice as well. Throughout the website,
there are ways that the hospital engages with the public. They use PSAs to grab the audience’s
attention. They use different media tools, like news releases, newsletters, and different types of
social media. They also hold special events for the employees and the public to participate. They
use effective PR practice in order to grab the public’s attention. They want the audience to
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realize the importance of finding cures for cancers. St. Jude’s uses the elements of PR to get
donations and use them for their patients.
Recommendations
One recommendation for DreamWorks Animation is to boost the morale and awareness
of how employee friendly the company is. For example, DreamWorks Animation can provide
weekly webisodes on YouTube. They already publish personal publication to showcase their
artists’ talents in a one-of-a-kind publication called “Moonshine.” A video is more interactive
and the public would be able to visualize it better. It would be a good way to show how the
company and its employees operate.
A recommendation for Kimpton Hotel would be employee spotlights. The hotel already
has employee testimonials as a recruiting tool on their website; however, another way to focus on
employees would be to spotlight an employee every month at each of its properties and each
properties website. It would be similar to an “employee of the month.” The employee chosen to
be highlighted would have to demonstrate characteristics of job satisfaction. It’ll show that the
company really takes its employees successes seriously and show the public how Kimpton is a
friendly environment to work.
Hypothetical Sample Communication Tool
Our sample communication tool would involve providing the public an inside look into
one of the companies through the use of videos or webisodes. Publishing webisodes once a week
would provide the public of what it is like at a specific company. It would be an interesting
communication strategy that will show how job employee satisfaction is showcased. The
webisode can be like a tour through the different parts of the company. The webisode can follow
certain employees and show how they demonstrate employee satisfaction. Another way would be
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to see examples of job employee satisfaction through the eyes of a particular customer. The
customer would be able to interact with the employees. For example, DreamWorks Animation
can publish weekly webisodes on their YouTube channel. They already have a YouTube
Channel, which the company regularly posts videos. In order to increase morale and showcase
how employee friendly they are, they could produce a mini reality series. Since television is
consumed with reality shows, it would be interesting to see how employees of DreamWorks go
about with “Just another Day at the Studio.”
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Reference Page
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http://www.buildabear.com/pdf/ourCompanyFactSheet.pdf
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2013, from http://www.greatplacetowork.com/publications-and-events/blogs-and-news/778
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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2013, from
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1e0215acRCRD
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_Research_Hospital_on_FORTUNE_magazine%27s_