Setting up a positive working environment and building a developing culture that helps promote employee morale is crucial to avoid unenthusiastic employees from clocking in and out every day. According to Forbes magazine, the definition for morale is the satisfaction, attitude, and general outlook of employees throughout their association with a company or a business. As a manager, the duty falls into your lap to employ good people and establish a workspace where everybody feels positive to execute their tasks most effectively.
When morale is low, it might lead to problems. And that goes for office workers and the remote workers as well. The point is that poor morale may lead to higher staff turnover, low levels of productivity, and less cooperation among team members. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to help build the environment so your employees can flourish, so team morale is a field that you constantly need to work on and maintain.
Regrettably, raising employee morale isn’t always as easy as you might think, regardless of how many management skills training courses you’ve taken. There will always be somebody complaining about something. However, in the end, the major part of your team members will value your efforts to be engaged in their lives and keep them satisfied.
This article guides you through some ways to increase your employee’s spirit. So, read below to get a better idea of how to boost your team’s morale in the office.
Organize Team-Building Activities To Have Fun Outside Office Hours
There are times to be serious and work, but also there are times when you need to have fun, laugh, and connect with your team members. On the same note, any social event can be a perfect boost for team spirit and morale. Take your team for a fun night out or plan an outside-the-office event such as an escape room. That will encourage your employees to function as a team in a non-working atmosphere.
Since your team is most likely still working from their home offices at the moment, you can consider organizing a virtual social event for team-building. Planning a virtual happy hour can be stimulating and a chance for everybody to get to know each other better in surroundings where work isn’t the focal point. You can also plan online gaming activities like puzzle game, card games etc. Despite working remotely, you and your employees can still get together virtually and spend quality time.
You Should Run A Healthy, Calm & Organized Company
Eco Online Head of Digital Marketing, David Rowland, says that, "If you start with a safe and hazard-free environment, it makes it easier to prevent accidents and injuries. If you promote a positive safety culture, it makes it easier for everyone to understand the importance of staying safe."
Pushing yourself and your employees to new heights seems like the proper thing to do and is stimulating, but it won’t work in the long term. Your purpose as a leader should be to relieve stress, support a healthy work-life balance, and run a peaceful, healthy and organized company.
You can offer an employee assistance program (EAP) to help your employees deal with issues and stress, either if it’s work or home-related. An EAP is intended to help your team work through problems that might affect their health and well-being, or even their operating efficiency.
Remember to always focus on the good. When your employees feel truly valued, they have more self-esteem, and they become more productive. Employees that receive positive recognition have higher levels of productivity and morale.
Employee appreciation is a piece of cake when referring to creative and simple ways to increase employee morale. Workplace recognition motivates them, establishes a sense of achievement, and makes employees feel appreciated for doing their work. Giving your employees the positive recognition they deserve will increase their engagement levels and improve their efficiency and loyalty toward the company. All of this would lead to a higher retention rate.
Never Forget To Get Your Employee’s Feedback
Getting employee feedback is another great way to raise employee morale. When your employees know that you’re listening, they feel heard, and it’s far more possible they will be motivated. Nevertheless, it’s not enough to only collect their feedback, you will need to act on it as well.
Even though you won’t implement every piece of feedback, make sure to thank your employees for their thoughts, proposals, and ideas. According to Gallup research, disengaged employees cost U.S. companies around $450-550 billion each year in lost productivity. Also, employees who aren’t receiving feedback from their companies have 40% more chances to be disengaged. Giving your employees the recognition they deserve motivates them to do their jobs.
Ultimately, motivation pays off since organizations with more skilled employees encounter double revenue growth and profit rates. So implementing and nurturing a culture of employee feedback isn’t only a nice thing to have - employee feedback is a fundamental aspect of all year-long performance management and advancement efforts.
Train Your Team Leaders To Be Consistent
You can’t achieve this with your immediate team, yet it’s a thing to cover with the other leaders inside your company. You all have to be consistent. Nothing hurts morale more than leaders being inconsistent in their method, the way they deal with problems and treat their team members, and whether they lead by example.
It doesn’t mean that you need to be a robot as a leader, but you need to have a unified and consistent front on what is and what isn’t tolerable in the workplace. Organize a meeting with the other managers within your company and join forces on how to lift spirits and team morale. Every one of you will need to implement everything consistently and be advocates for the coveted behaviors that you anticipate seeing in your employees.
Final Words
The team’s efficiency within the company will determine its commitment and morale. By encouraging team spirit, you will have long-term effects, including higher employee retention, welfare, and prosperity. Try and implement any of the six tips outlined above, and your employee morale will increase for sure. Taking small steps like these will help you ensure that you are on your way to building a powerful team with great employee morale.
