Conventional wisdom suggests that salary, benefits, and other monetary factors are important aspects of keeping employees satisfied. But which factors have the biggest impact on overall satisfaction? While companies focus on the monetary factors, there are other components of the overall “satisfaction package,” that are just as important, yet often overlooked.

It comes as no surprise that satisfied employees are important to the success of any organization. In short, higher satisfaction increases productivity, improves service levels, and positively impacts a company’s bottom line. While keeping employees satisfied should be an important goal for any organization, a recent job satisfaction survey by the Conference Board shows that job satisfaction has actually declined in the last nine years. So what should a company to do? Conventional wisdom suggests that salary, benefits, and other monetary factors are important aspects of keeping employees satisfied. But will giving these perks to a dissatisfied employee resolve the problem? Maybe in the short-term, but who has unlimited stashes of cash to buy satisfaction? Further, this “fix” is often short-term in nature.