Behind the Seven Factors in the GAIS Survey

The seven factors that GAIS measures in its job satisfaction survey aren't random. The Job Satisfaction Knowledge Centre and the Happiness Research Institute identified these factors through thorough desk research of Danish and international studies during the development of the Job Satisfaction Index.

Which factors are important for work engagement—meaning that we thrive and are motivated to go to work? The Center for Work Engagement has mapped this out over more than 10 years, and GAIS is built on this research.

Understanding Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is about well-being at work and our motivation for our jobs. It's an expression of deeper satisfaction and motivation with work, not just about having fun. Job satisfaction is concrete and measurable. GAIS is based on the Job Satisfaction Index, which systematically and scientifically maps the seven most important factors for job satisfaction.

The Most Important Factors

Job satisfaction naturally looks different from person to person. Nevertheless, research shows that seven factors, in particular, are significant for job satisfaction – across industries, education levels, gender, age, etc. This doesn't mean that each individual factor is equally important to all of us. But it does mean that these factors combined capture a large part of what "arbejdslyst" consists of.

The seven factors are:

Mastery: Am I meeting the demands?

Mastery is about the feeling of being able to handle the challenges you face. It's also about the experience that your work tasks match your skills, professional satisfaction, and the feeling that you're developing your competencies.

Colleagues: How are things with my colleagues?

The relationship with colleagues impacts job satisfaction. This applies to both professional collaboration and social interaction. How is the trust between colleagues, how strong is the sense of community, and are people good at recognizing each other?

Purpose: Does it matter?

Purpose can be about work tasks making sense in themselves, collectively becoming more skilled, or experiencing that your own role in the workplace is significant. Finally, meaning can also be found in the experience of contributing to making a difference in other people's daily lives.

Balance: Is there time for everything?

The experience of balance and equilibrium in work life is connected to Job satisfaction. This, of course, includes the balance between work life and private life daily. But it's also connected to whether there's a balance between work tasks, time, and quality demands.

Influence: Am I being heard?

Influence is about the experience of having influence over your own work. It's about whether you are heard and involved to the right extent – both in relation to specific work tasks and decisions that affect your work.

Leadership: How do I feel about my manager?

The experience of the manager/management in the workplace significantly impacts job satisfaction. If the immediate manager is skilled, present, and supports employees, it builds trust – which is an important foundation for a good relationship between employee and manager. The manager's professional and social competencies also play a role.

Achievements: Can my results be seen and felt?

Results are about experiencing progress and seeing concrete outcomes of your work. It's important for job satisfac that there are clear goals and sub-goals for both individual work tasks and collective efforts, and that it's clear when these goals have been achieved.

See Louise explain the content of "arbejdslyst" and the seven factors:

A Good Place to Start

The seven factors are an excellent place to start if you want to increase well-being in the workplace. Overall job satisfaction and the seven factors are discovered by asking a series of questions that cover each individual element. A factor's score expresses how satisfied the respondent is with the factor as a whole. The factor's score is an average of the scores on the individual questions that make up the factor.

In-Depth with Individual Factors

GAIS also offers another type of survey, namely factor surveys, where companies and teams can investigate a specific factor in depth.

In the same way that a GAIS survey maps the factors of job satisfaction, a factor survey allows you to investigate and map a factor in depth and see which dimensions make up that factor.

See dimensions and questionnaire for Factor Survey Purpose here.

See dimensions and questionnaire for Factor Survey Leadership here.

See dimensions and questionnaire for Factor Survey Balance here.