Write about the following topic:

As most people spend a major part of their adult life at work, job satisfaction is an
important element of individual wellbeing.

What factors contribute to job satisfaction?

How realistic is the expectation of job satisfaction for all workers?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge
or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Man is a social animal. He has been doing various types of work to quest his satisfaction (1),
since the dawn of time. Nowadays people are more oriented in doing a job, (2) they feel
satisfied in. This essay will discuss the factors that can contribute to job satisfaction, in the
forthcoming paragraphs. Furthermore, it will throw some light on the importance of this issue
as well.
To begin with, intrinsic motivation for doing a (3) certain kind of job gives the feeling of
well being and satisfaction. Secondly, employee-employer relationship can further add up (4)
to this phenomenon. A healthy working environment will be formed at the work place when
the employer cares for his work force. The morale of the workers will be high when they will
(5) be given flexibility and source of amusements at their workplace. Thirdly,
good communication between managerial and staff level would promote the atmosphere of
trust and would result in increasing the efficiency and productivity at work. For instance, a
person who always wants (6) to pursue his career in medicine would find other fields
mundane and opting for (7) any other field would sap his innate abilities.
Undoubtedly, it is the necessity of every individual to feel contended with the job, (2) he is
doing. It is the responsibility of every employer to take measures that promote a (8) sense of
satisfaction amongst the personnel. Any company can generate an ever increased revenue
when the workforce is satisfied. In addition to this, it will open new horizons to excel at the
individual level.
To conclude, one should do a job that not only provides a person (9) with monetary
benefits, but also gives him meaningful employment. This would in turn result in job
satisfaction which is directly proportional to lower turnover rate.

285 words

Thanks for your writing task, Rubab. I enjoyed the quotation from Aristotle although I do not think it
is relevant to the task question! Here are my corrections:

1. ‘To quest’ is a very literary word, Rubab. If you use it, then it cannot have an object . You
have to ‘quest for something’. It is much safer to use : ‘...various types of work to find/to
search for satisfaction’.
2. It is important to delete the comma, because this completely changes the meaning of the
sentence. Remember what you have studies about relative clauses.
http://www.engvid.com/writing-relative-clauses-overview/
 3. ‘Kind’ is a singular countable noun, so it must have a determiner in front of it. See:
http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/Grammar%20Guides/3.11%20Articles.htm
4. Vocabulary: delete ‘up’. You mean that a good employer-employee relationship can
increase satisfaction in the workplace. If you refer to ‘this phenomenon’, the reader has to
think for a moment before realising that your are referring to ‘job satisfaction’.
5. Verb tense: this ‘when’ sentence is still a conditional sentence. It is, in fact, a first
conditional sentence to refer to a future condition: ‘...when they are given flexibility...’ See:
http://www.engvid.com/zero-and-first-conditionals/
6. Verb tense: you refer to a wish that started in the past and continues until the present, so
we use the present perfect tense: ‘..a person who has always wanted to pursue....’
7. Vocabulary: the verb is ‘opt for’:
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/opt
8. ‘Sense’ is a singular countable noun, so it must have a determiner in front of it – see
correction 3.
9. We ‘provide somebody with something’ or we ‘provide something’:
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/provide

Here are my comments:

My comments and scores are based on the same system used by the examiners – see www.ielts.org
Writing Task band descriptors.

Task response: The model answer does not give a very good introduction, Rubab, so we will follow
what Simon recommends on his blog: February 01, 2014. This task asks two questions, and the
second question directly asks for your opinion. So, we should write one sentence on each question,
for example: While many factors contribute to job satisfaction, I will discuss just three important
ones. In my opinion, however, it is not realistic for everyone to find satisfaction at work. There is no
complicated vocabulary or grammar here, just a simple clear introduction to the topic, which the
examiner will understand immediately.

Correctly, you used paragraph 2 to discuss the factors which contribute to job satisfaction. Like you,
I would mention only 2 or 3 factors, because this enables you to explain each one and, we hope, use
an example: see Simon’s blog for July 17, 2013. You did not explain the first point – intrinsic
motivation, and so this argument was not developed. Explain each point that you make, Rubab. You
explain the next two points, but you need to make your example more relevant to support your third
point. Good communication and trust – this is your third factor. How could we give an example?
We could say that in many Japanese companies, there are regular meetings between the managers
and staff of departments to discuss progress and problems and to find common agreed solutions. (I
have no idea if this is true, but it doesn’t matter. It supports your argument).

You did not answer the second question at all, Rubab. Look at paragraph 3 of the model answer to
see what your paragraph 3 should discuss.

So, there are two important things to remember: Idea-Explain-Example and answer the question
fully. I can only give 5 for this section, because you did not fully answer the task.
Coherence and cohesion: To convince the examiner that your paragraph structure is logical and that
you have clearly planned and organised your ideas before you started writing, we need good topic
sentences – see Simon’s blog for March 21, 2012. You must plan before you write. If you don’t plan
well, then you will lose marks in this section. For advice on how to plan see Simon’s blog for January
15, 2014. So, look at the simple but clear first topic sentences for each main paragraph in the model
answer. They indicate the central idea in each paragraph.

Now, you used one good exam technique in paragraph 2: To begin with/Secondly/Thirdly. This
enabled me to identify your three factors immediately, and so it is a usful technique to use and it will
also help you in the planning stage. The links between sentences are satisfactory in paragraph 3. A
simple technique is to write One reason/Another reason... if you make just two arguments.

I score 6 for this section. Remember, each main paragraph must have a central idea and the topic
sentences must indicate what that idea is.

Lexical resource: The examiner is looking at your choice and use of words in the correct context.
He/she will feel OK about ‘the dawn of time’ and quotations from classical philosophy, but they
won’t gain extra marks for you.

Check on my vocabulary corrections, Rubab. You may already have bookmarked an online dictionary
that will give you example sentences with the definitions. I use:
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/ It is also free.

So, using vocabulary accurately and in the right context is important. The other factor is to see how
wide a range of language you used to discuss the topic. Now, I found some useful topic vocabulary
in your essay: a feeling of well-being/a healthy working environment/excel at the individual
level/lower turnover rate.

I score 6 for this part.

Grammatical range and accuracy: The areas of grammar weakness that I have identified from the
corrections are: the use of articles/determiners; the consistent use of conditional sentences and the
present perfect tense and how to write relative clauses correctly.

I have given some grammar references to check all of these, Rubab, and you will also find that
constant practice with Grammar for IELTS by Hopkins and Cullen (Cambridge University Press) will
help to improve your grammar. It can be downloaded from some sites, but it is not free. You may
be able to access a copy locally.

The examiner will not yet say that you have ‘frequent error-free sentences’, which you need to write
to achieve your target score. Make these grammar areas your priority.

I score 6 for this part again.

So, your overall score is 6. You can quickly improve your exam techniques, but work steadily on
grammar and vocabulary – it takes time to improve both of these.
MODEL ANSWER

Nowadays many adults have full-time jobs and the proportion of their lives spent doing such
jobs is very high. So feelings about one’s job must reflect how an individual feels about his
or her life as a whole, and because of this, job satisfaction is indeed very important for the
wellbeing of that person.

Employees get job satisfaction in a number of ways. Firstly, a person needs to feel that they
are doing valued and valuable work, so positive feedback from superiors is very important in
this respect. A sense of fulfilment is also encouraged if a worker feels the job is worth doing
because it contributes to the society or the economy as a whole. Secondly, when someone
feels they are improving or developing their skills through training opportunities, for
example, then there is a sense of progression and purpose that rewards a worker. The sense
of belonging to a team or a working community also contributes to job satisfaction because
colleagues help each other to enjoy their working lives. Satisfaction is also increased by a
sense of responsibility for and loyalty to a team.

Of course not everyone enjoys their work. Hard economic realities mean that many people
have little choice in the kind of job they can get. In some cases an employee is working in a
job that suits neither their skills nor their personality. Some jobs are repetitive and boring,
and labour relations may be poor and lead to resentment and insecurity rather than to job
satisfaction.

However, even though it is unlikely that all workers do feel happy in their work, I think it is
not unrealistic to promote more job satisfaction in any job. If the factors identified above are
implemented, then any job can be improved and more workers can feel greater degrees of job
satisfaction.
304 words. Band score 9.

IELTS Cambridge Exam Papers 7.