Employee Satisfaction Determinants: a Russian Mining Company's Case

This study attempts to analyze how satisfied employees of a Russian gold mining company feel about various aspects of the job and which of these aspects impact their overall job satisfaction. It also aims to find out how employees’ age, organizational tenure and the division an employee works in affect their satisfaction level. This research uses the data gathered via an internal corporate job satisfaction survey and analyzes it using SPSS 21.0. Methods of statistical analysis such as correlation analysis, means comparison and stepwise regression were applied to the final sample of 527 complete questionnaire responses. The research found that employees tend to evaluate their improvement in satisfaction lower than they evaluate their current level of satisfaction. The level of satisfaction does not differ significantly for different age or tenure groups; however, it is significantly different for employees of various company’s divisions. The results also demonstrate that, based on Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory, the employees in the sample are more satisfied with hygiene aspects of the job, such as working conditions, remuneration and communication, than with motivating factors such as opportunities for professional growth and development. Among the 28 independent variables attributed to the questionnaire items, the work itself, salary, communication with the supervisor and other divisions and, finally, availability of working tools emerged as reliable predictors of overall job satisfaction. This study adds to the literature on job satisfaction both empirically and theoretically as it analyzes a relatively large sample for diverse aspects of job satisfaction, fitting the findings into the context of the mining industry. The results also have several managerial implications which include human resources management recommendations and suggestions for surveying improvements. Keywords: job satisfaction, employee satisfaction, Herzberg’s two-factor theory, hygiene factors, motivating factors, mining industry.