Low company morale is not difficult to detect. When your staff appear more worried and depressed than productive and upbeat, these are some warning indicators of impending retention concerns.
Can you afford to lose your best performers?
Finally, it’s time to consider measures to boost employee morale in your firm.
Improving employee morale isn’t something that can be ticked off a list as “completed.” A pleasant and healthy workplace culture requires frequent and genuine reinforcement and encouragement. Consider the variables that directly affect your employees’ satisfaction when implementing measures to enhance employee morale.
The organisational culture is influenced by how each individual feels about their employment. These characteristics can include, to name a few, their compensation, performance management, workload, individual tasks, vacation allotment, work hours, and surroundings.
Identifying your team members’ pain points and attempting to improve them where possible sends a strong message to your staff. To help you get started, here are some best ideas to boost employee morale that you can implement right away.
Table of Contents
What Is The Importance Of Employee Morale?
If employees have a bad attitude about their jobs or their working surroundings, cultivating a good company culture might be undermined. The attitudes of your employees at work have a significant impact on their interactions with coworkers, their ability to perform to their full potential, and their general pleasure in their position.
Working in a low-morale atmosphere is strongly linked to job discontent and, as a result, increased turnover rates.
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What Are The Advantages Of Having A High Employee Morale?
Here are some benefits to consider if you’re wondering how improving staff morale improves your company as a whole:
Advantage 1: Strong staff morale equates to high retention rates, since happy employees stay where they are valued.
Advantage 2: Teamwork makes the goal a reality, and good team morale encourages improved collaboration among coworkers.
Advantage 3: Happy workers sleep better at night, and well-rested workers are less stressed and more concentrated.
Advantage 4: High employee morale makes it easy to just show up every day, so your employees are less likely to require “mental health days” as frequently and absenteeism remains low.
Advantage 5: Because positivity begets productivity, your staff will be more detailed and creative in their duties when they feel good about what they do and where they work.
Do you really want to strengthen your employee appreciation programme? If the answer is YES! Then proceed further with this blog
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How to Boost Employee Morale
Commemorate Employee Achievements
Milestones are significant events or dates that can be pegged for any cause. Celebrations include job anniversaries, birthdays, and promotions, to name a few. However, whatever milestones you choose to be significant, make sure they’re remembered.
To add a little extra excitement and flair to employee accomplishments, consider beyond the cake and balloons box. These are the opportunities to demonstrate employees how important they are to the company.
Tip: You may choose a business that specialises in commemorating all types of employee anniversaries. Company can have a platform dedicated to ensuring that each milestone is honoured.
Collect and Act On Feedback
Giving workers a say in how they are treated at work is a great approach to improve the corporate culture. Accepting and adopting employee feedback suggestions has a ripple effect that can be seen and felt across the business. Inquiring about employee feedback enhances employee morale, work satisfaction, and the entire employee experience.
For some entertaining and effective methods to gather employee input, check out these employee engagement ideas.
Tip: To assist speed the process, consider using an employee feedback platform like Kazoo.
Incorporate Rewards and Recognition into Your Workplace Culture
Creating a recognition culture is not the same as merely acknowledging your staff. The work environment’s culture is a live, breathing force that determines the organization’s general attitude. Employee appreciation isn’t solely a top-down idea any longer. Allowing everyone to show thanks to their co-workers has a positive cultural impact and boosts morale across the board.
Recognition may take many forms, so here are a few suggestions to get you started.
Tip: You can acknowledge employees the old-fashioned way by holding a one-on-one meeting, but there are also various platforms that can help you integrate daily awards and recognition into your corporate culture while also making it much easier to recognise a scattered workforce.
Provide a Suitable Work Environment for Employees
Having a handy and comfortable workstation is essential for several reasons, including organisation, ergonomics, and aesthetics. When it comes to remaining organised and on schedule, products that make their life simpler are fantastic. But also objects that contribute to a calmer working atmosphere in the location where they spend a significant portion of their time.
Helping your employees define and construct their workspace offers them control over their workplace and raises morale in the ways that are most successful for them.
Tip: Assist employees construct the perfect remote workspace by providing a home office stipend.
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Create Opportunities for Employees to Bond via Team Building
Team building exercises allow your staff to connect and engage in a pleasant and engaging way. And the good news is that you can schedule these events whether your team is in person or remotely linked. Team building activities foster creativity, communication, and collaboration, all of which contribute to a happy and pleased staff.
Team building exercises are a wonderful way to boost your workplace spirit, so check out these crazy entertaining ideas.
Tip: There are an infinite number of activities for your group, ranging from virtual jeopardy to murder mystery parties.
Create Opportunities for Employees to Bond Organically
Making room for spontaneous team development allows for natural interactions without the pressure of completing a job or solving a challenge before the buzzer sounds. Simply having fun and sharing an event as a group fosters trust and deepens connections among co-workers. And a good belly laugh is proven to relieve tension and make everyone feel better about their day.
There are several methods to organise spontaneous, morale-boosting moments with your colleagues, ranging from sharing your music to Groupon days away from the office. Having fun at work is a crucial component of fostering an environment in which people feel at ease working together.
Tip: Getting out of the workplace can sometimes help employees bond in a fresh situation. A stress-free (and work-free) event, such as a beer tour of your city or a trip to the local park, may do wonders for raising staff morale.
Effective Project Allocation
Employees that are overburdened are less likely to be satisfied with their jobs. The same may be said for individuals who want to take on more responsibilities but aren’t permitted to. Both are demoralising to morale. Evening out their workload not only opens new chances and minimises the risk of burnout, but it also demonstrates that you are interested in their professional aspirations and mental health.
That is what a good manager does!
Prioritize these discussions and demonstrate to your staff that their work-life balance and job happiness are important. Morale improvement begins with each individual.
Tip: Providing the appropriate tools will assist you in better managing how much work your staff are assigned. Tools like Monday.com provide managers with the finest view of who is working on what tasks.
Make Use of Spot Bonuses and Awards
Spot incentives are often performance-related prizes given to workers at random to recognise their hard work. Spot bonuses are often smaller monetary awards that are provided impulsively and are usually in the form of cash or gift cards. Spot prizes occur in a variety of forms, including as public acknowledgment, reward points, and experiences.
Spot awards are an excellent method to thank staff, and the increased employee morale will pay dividends for years to come.
Tip: When utilized correctly, on-the-spot identification may be a powerful tool. Spot rewards may also be used with remote employees via appreciation points!
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Give Your Employees Opportunities to Grow and Learn
Employee development initiatives facilitate education and growth. Training boosts confidence and puts your staff in control of their destiny. These benefits help employees feel appreciated, link them more closely with your company’s aims and values, and develop a loyal workforce.
Empowering employees with the skills and information they need to succeed is a worthwhile investment in employee happiness.
Tip: Setting aside funds for personal and professional development seminars and programmes will motivate people to learn new skills without fear of losing their jobs!
Examine Your Tech Stack
Is it truly required to enter the same data into four distinct systems? If so, please explain why. What happens to each of them? Most importantly, how can you make things simpler? Perform a tech check! Put the appropriate tools for the job in place without the extraneous.
Streamline your systems to avoid adding noise and extra “clicks to save.” Shedding some of the unnecessary stages and really producing less work is a much greater issue to your staff than you may realise.
Tip: Check in with your team to discover what tools they use, how frequently they use them, and which ones they can do without.
Establish an Employee Wellness Program
Being concerned about your workers’ well-being is a benefit worth mentioning. Wellness initiatives are simple to create and provide significant benefits to your staff. These activities should be enjoyable and entertaining. Wellness programmes promote mental wellness and reward employees with stress-relieving events and activities, which help to keep corporate morale high.
Tip: Blueboard Health creates wellness programmes focusing on experiences. Wellness presents are good, but they don’t compare to doing something new!
Examine the Benefits You Provide and Which Benefits You Do Not Provide
Not every employee will find value in every benefit you provide. Make a check-in. Survey the crowd. Determine which are used and valued and which are not, and then clean house. Consider how rewards for remote employees may differ from those for on-site staff and cater to them accordingly.
Having a bucket full of advantages that no one uses is pointless. Perks come in different kinds and sizes, so make sure you’re giving your staff the proper ones.
Tip: Consider your options! Because no two workers are the same, providing a wide range of benefits, from office snacks to 401(K) matching, may have a direct impact on employee retention and morale.
Increase Transparency in Company Decisions
Keeping employees in the dark about their bread and butter is like lighting a match to their morale. Allowing children to comprehend also gives them the ability to make a difference. Employees that are well-informed are aware of the status of the business and interested in how their responsibilities contribute to the larger picture.
Transparency at the top fosters trust at the bottom. Motivated employees who have faith in their bosses are less inclined to submit their resumes elsewhere.
Tip: A business all-hands-on-deck meeting can be a simple approach for leadership to address all employees directly.
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Form a “Culture Team” To Devote Time to Promoting a Positive Corporate Culture
It takes more than one individual to change your company’s culture. This, too, requires a village. Recruiting a staff capable of identifying the root reasons of employee unhappiness and correcting them when feasible not only demonstrates to your employees that they have a voice in their workplace, but it also empowers them to desire to make the adjustments required to boost morale.
Recruiting the proper people to serve on your “Culture Team” may make a significant difference in your company’s morale, employee satisfaction, and turnover rate.
Tip: This cannot be forced! Make it happen if there are workers who are eager to join and offer them the flexibility to attempt new things.
Make Use of Employee Incentives
Who doesn’t like getting appreciated for their efforts? Perhaps not on a billboard along a busy highway, but gratitude — no matter how subtle or overt – has a significant influence on your staff. Creating reasons to thank them for the significant things they perform is invaluable.
Remember! Employee incentives may not have to be monetary in nature. There are a TON of fantastic ways to “dish recognish” without spending any money.
Tip: If you’re stuck for ideas, consider an incentive tool which focuses on encouraging employee engagement in firms.
Implement Summer Fridays
This may practically amount to half-day Fridays every other week, depending on how you manage the calendar… EVERY SUMMER! Nonmonetary incentives are just as valuable (if not more so) than physical gifts. This equates to 24 more hours of summer sunlight, tranquilly, and leisure for them.
Rewarding employees with a few extra hours of personal time each, especially during the busiest months of the year, benefits their mental health and promotes a healthy work-life balance.
Tip: Allow employees to pick which Fridays they wish to use this morale-boosting benefit. Just make sure their bosses are aware!
Provide Flexible Working Hours
Optimal production time is no longer a traditional 9-5 expectation. Making time for vet visits, dental cleanings, and life in general may be difficult. Finally, whether people operate better at 11 a.m. or 11 p.m. is less significant than witnessing an effective and efficient performance.
Allowing your employees and leadership team’s flexibility in their remote or hybrid work hours creates trust. Employees may take responsibility of their tasks and fuel their passion for achievement when they can organise both professional and personal gatherings without being scrutinized.
Tip: If you and your staff work at different times, scheduling a daily check-in might be a useful method to interact directly. You may also collaborate with a firm like Bambee to develop unique work schedules and regulations for each department, team, and individual.
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Put In Place Structures That Allow Employees to Log Out After Work
Everyone needs time to relax and unwind after a long day at work. Your workers’ stresses and stress do not have to follow them home to their families. Setting hard stops informs everyone that it is safe to turn off the power till tomorrow (or Monday).
Setting appropriate work limits is an excellent method to assist employees in de-stressing and unplugging from their days. Respecting their personal time is an unmeasurable morale lift.
Tip: It all starts with you! Employees will follow their bosses if they take this time off.
Identify Employees Who May Be Experiencing Burnout and Schedule One-On-One Check-Ins
Employee burnout is a clear and extremely quick path to low morale and high turnover. Allowing your staff to share their complaints can be the finest 15 minutes of their whole week, just because they are heard. Make contact. Check-in. Acquire in what way you can support ease the load.
Identifying employees’ pain points and relieving some of the tension that leads to burnout is beneficial to both them and the company’s morale.
Tip: While not every job difficulty can be avoided, if you can reduce the impact, it is well worth your effort to attempt. Slow down, apply the brakes, and participate in these discussions. Most crucial, listen to comprehend rather than reply.
Give Employees Opportunities to Give Back To Your Community
Working in the community has a significant impact on both the people you serve and those who conduct the service. Creating chances for philanthropic team-building activities or volunteer events helps your whole community while also allowing employees to become engaged in issues that are particularly important to them.
Check out this collection of charity team building activities for some feel-good altruistic community ideas.
Tip: We participated in the Bike Buildathon and had a great time! Never underestimate the transformative power of giving!
Provide Healthy Snacks to Your Employees
Food provides energy to our bodies. Keeping nutritious snacks on hand at work has been shown to help balance blood sugar, avoiding mid-day crashes and keeping us motivated and productive. Real talk… they also keep our “hangry” sides at bay, thus snacking make us all a bit happier in the end.
Slow down your scrolling and have a look at these delectable workplace (and home office) nibbles.
Tip: Arrange for snack boxes in a variety of sizes, so even small teams may enjoy a wide range of nutritious workplace snacks.
Designate PTO Time So That Employees Do Not Have To Worry About Scheduling Vacation Days
Some employees struggle to use up all of their vacation time before the end of the year. Others have schedule difficulties with other employees and may lack the required seniority. Setting aside dedicated paid time off guarantees that everyone may make plans without worrying about work getting in the way.
Employee awards and recognition aren’t only for individuals; they may also apply to your entire team.
Tip: Ask your staff when they prefer to take time off and do your best to suit the majority while keeping your company’s health in mind.
Reduce Unnecessary Meetings (“This Might Have Been Done By Email”)
Everyone has been there. A meeting reminder appears when you are deep into a project. You come to a halt, shift gears, and eventually lose your momentum. You understand within two minutes that the meeting was unnecessary. Eliminating superfluous calls and meetings from your workers’ days helps them to focus on more impactful and rewarding activities.
Tip: Determine when your sessions will be participatory vs informational, and consider sending the latter by email instead.
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Begin the Summer with A Field Day
Get everyone out of the building and out of the rain for a field day. You may organise a team-building exercise, such as a treasure hunt across the city, or something more low-key, such as a museum visit. Getting out of the office for some colleague entertainment may have a significant impact on staff morale.
Whatever you have planned for your field day, make sure that everyone is represented in your company’s personalised swag!
Tip: With the changing of the seasons, now is a fantastic time to give your staff some new summer stuff!
Enhance Your Onboarding Procedures
Employee retention is especially important during the first six weeks of a new employment. This phase establishes the tone for the employee experience and instructs new workers on what to anticipate from you.
A great onboarding process ensures that your workers are educated and empowered, rather than confused and overwhelmed.
Tip: Use a technology like Rippling to assist streamline the whole onboarding process, allowing you and your human resources staff to focus on the people.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Employee Morale
Q: How can I boost employee morale?
Ans: You can boost employee morale by keeping them informed, inspired, and engaged. Find out what they want and do everything you can to accommodate their needs.
Q: How can I tell if my employees’ morale is low?
Ans: If your staff’s morale is low, you’ll observe an increase in turnover. Finally, you don’t want to get to this position, so keep a look out for bad performance, increasing absenteeism, and overall negative attitudes.
Q: What are some strategies for increasing staff morale in 2022?
Ans: Establishing an effective incentives and recognition programme, asking input from your staff (and using it to make improvements), and arranging frequent team building events are some approaches to increase morale.
