Abstract
Job satisfaction is one of the key antecedents to organizational competitiveness and growth. The main objective of this paper was to explore the status of job satisfaction and strategies for increasing job satisfaction for backyard manufacturing small to medium enterprises (MSMEs) workers in Mucheke suburb in Masvingo urban. The study utilized a qualitative research approach with semi-structured interview being used as the main data collecting tool. Snowballing and purposive sampling techniques were used to select 11 backyard manufacturing SMEs and 40 participants who participated in the study. The study established that the level of job satisfaction for employees in backyard MSMEs was extremely low. The main precipitators of low job satisfaction were inappropriate tools, inadequate raw materials, inappropriate plant layout, unpaid overtime, failure to supply protective clothing, poor salaries, congested workstations and poor leadership. It was also established that low job satisfaction had devastating effects on the performance, growth and survival of MSMEs since it propels the production of poor products, high labour turnover and absenteeism, pilferage of tools and raw materials, stress induced accidents and emergency of more competitors as workers start their own businesses. The strategies that can be employed to increase job satisfaction are by providing counselling services for employees, establishing beneficial cafeteria benefits for all categories of employees, establishing in-house health centres, establishing flexible work arrangements and also providing social services to all categories of employees, training and developing managers and giving workers living wages. The study is essential in that it provides new insights and knowledge on approaches and strategies of improving job satisfaction for backyard industry workers.