You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand the correlation between employee morale and productivity. If your employees have to drag themselves to work every day, you need to conduct an internal evaluation focused on finding employee pain points. One of the significant factors that impact motivation is the way employees feel at the workplace. Given the fact that today’s employees spend a substantial part of their day at work, businesses must take steps to boost employee morale in the workplace. Here are 4 simple tips to consider:
1. Recognize your employees’ efforts
Money was and is still an important factor for employees. However, it is no longer the only major factor that motivates them. Today’s employees expect their employer to appreciate the hard work that they put in. To ensure your employees don’t feel overlooked, appreciate their work in public and in a way that is meaningful to them. Recognition is important. You can, for instance, offer gift cards or other incentives to your best employees each month. But, think about what will work best with your team.
2. Communicate effectively
As a business owner or manager, your motivations may be quite different from that of your employees. While you may want to focus on long term objectives, your employees may be more interested in taking things as they come. It is this difference in attitude that often results in friction between management and employees.
Keeping your employees in the dark is a recipe for disaster. It can also create an environment of mistrust. To ensure your employees understand why a specific decision was made, your managers must communicate with their team members regularly. To ensure every voice is heard, encourage your managers to adopt an open-door policy and be receptive to ideas and suggestions from their team members.
3. Allow employees time to participate in projects that are close to their hearts
If your employees are working on the same projects day in and day out, you cannot expect them to be creative. Performing the same activities every day results in monotony. Allowing your team members to work on projects that are close to their hearts is a great way of helping them break free from the mundane.
For example, set aside time each week for your employees to work on a project that they are passionate about. And, ask participating employees to give a presentation. The process will not only give your employees something to look forward to every week, but can also pave the way for innovations.
4. Give employees a sense of purpose
Employees often fail to see how they fit into the business’s scheme of things. Employees who are unable to realize the important role that they play in steering the business forward feel useless, which ultimately impacts their morale. As a manager, you can’t let this happen.
To provide your employees a sense of purpose, discuss with them their role in the organization. Talk to them about the company’s vision and how they are helping the business achieve important milestones. Tell your employees how they are helping simplify the lives of your customers, thereby, contributing to improving customer experience.
Use these tips to generate additional ideas and use input from your team to boost employee morale in your organization. It’s also important to conduct periodic employee satisfaction surveys to see how you are doing and make improvements.