How to Boost Employee Morale
Do your employees like their jobs? If you pay them well they’ll certainly like the paycheck, but that’s not the same thing. If the people who work for you are unhappy on the job, no amount of money is going to make them more motivated. Worse yet, dissatisfaction is contagious. Once it starts running through your company it’s hard to stop it. Before you know it you’ll have a morale problem you have a hard time eliminating. Here are a few suggestions to get you back on track and improve employee attitudes and performance.
- Find some new and energizing talent using the best applicant tracking solution out there. New blood does wonders for a company. They come in with a different attitude, untainted by the negativity that has infested the rest of your workforce. Invest in a leading applicant tracking system and start a search for some folks to energize your workforce and revitalize your other employees.
- Do some team building activities and events. These are a lot of fun and offer huge benefits. Get your employees together and set up some friendly competitions where they have to work together to win. You can pit departments against each other or make teams made up of employees from all departments. Either way everyone will have a good time.
- Challenge another company to a softball game. Nothing unifies a company better than having an opponent or rival from somewhere else. Even the employees who have been struggling will get on board with this. Some of them might be your best hitters.
- Add some bonuses and incentives to your compensation packages. These don’t necessarily have to be cash, but should be given in return for reaching specific goals or having perfect attendance. A number of manufacturing companies have employed this method to combat the forming of expensive unions inside their workforce. A study done not too long ago shows that the incentive and bonus employees actually make more money and last longer than union employees.
- Ask your employees what they want. Perhaps this one should be number one. If your morale is low, ask your employees why. Listen to the gossip and griping in your lunch rooms and break areas. It should become clear after a while what you can do to make your workforce happier and more productive. Once you know what the problem is you have a shot to fix it.
Sometimes poor morale can be due to factors beyond your control. The economy has been bad and a lot of people are struggling. Fuel and food prices are high. Family and relationship problems could affect the well-being of your employees. These are all contributing factors to poor morale that you as an employer cannot help them with. You can, however, be open-minded and understanding when it’s called for and you could set up psychological support services through human resources. Most importantly, you can lead through example. If you’re miserable and snapping at people all the time, the morale problem might be your fault.
The Small Business Story 