Open Access

Isabel Eser

• Leading from the thesis that customer satisfaction depends on the level of employee satisfaction, the following work provides an analysis of different criteria which contribute to the satisfaction of employees. Furthermore, the demand for homogeneously designed concepts at Daimler AG provides a basis for the following question: Is there a common denominator for employee satisfaction in the worldwide After-Sales Organisation of Daimler AG, considering cultural and organisational differences? Based on selected literature the concept of employee satisfaction in international After-Sales organisations is discussed by linking the term of employee satisfaction to employee motivation and intercultural differences. The centre of this work is an international employee survey which consists of a comparison of nine employee satisfaction criteria, implying that the interviewee has to decide which criterion contributes more to his employee satisfaction. The different survey results of each nationality are discussed and compared regarding the differently weighted satisfaction criteria. There is no criterion which is commonly ranked to be most important among all three nationalities. The criterion which is ranked either on the first or on the second place in all three nationalities is the “income” of an employee, the second most important criterion is “working climate”. Linking these results to a model of interdependencies, it is revealed that “working climate” is the criterion which most influences the other criteria and can furthermore be easily influenced. As “working climate” is not only the second most important criterion to influence employee satisfaction, but is also the most influencing and influenced criterion, it can be said that “working climate” requires the most attention on behalf of the employer to increase general employee satisfaction. The statement of this work is that there is no single criterion which accomplishes overall employee satisfaction but there are a few criteria which contribute more to the employees’ satisfaction than other criteria do.