5 Ways to Keep Employee Morale Up

It’s important that your employees get their work done and that productivity is high, true. However it’s also important that our employees are happy and content while they get that work done. It’s impossible to make everyone happy at all times, but a general positive morale among your employees is very important. If your company is rampant with a negative, pessimistic morale then productivity levels soon decrease. Employees group together and discuss how unhappy they are and the morale falls even more. This is something you want to avoid, and you can do that by taking small actions to keep up or boost your employee morale.

Investing in your employee’s happiness doesn’t always have to equal out to dollar signs. In fact, an infographic Spark Hire published back in July maps out what employees really want. What was surprising to some, and common knowledge to others, was that employees want more to be appreciated than an increase in pay. Second on the list was feeling “in” on things. So you see, boosting morale and keeping your employees happy doesn’t have to cost you money. It can simply be the way you treat your employees and interact with them. Take a look at some of the things you can start doing now to boost your employee morale, and keep it high.

Appreciate Their Work
When an employee first comes on to work for you, it’s likely they will come out guns blazing. They want to do an awesome job and show you what they are capable of. This should be expected. However, when an employee’s hard work goes unappreciated chances are their morale will fall, along with their productivity. A while back Spark Hire discussed how important employee appreciation is. If one of your employees is doing a great job each and every day, don’t let it go unnoticed. If your team is constantly meeting their goals and surpassing them, let them know how great they are. Take them out to lunch. If that’s too hard on the budget then even a simple card saying, “Hey you’re doing a great job” can make an employee’s day- and boost their overall morale.

Be Honest
When you lie to your employees, and they find out, all trust is gone. In order to have high productivity and a positive workplace there needs to be trust. Of course, you can’t tell your employees everything that is going on all the time, but you also can’t lie. This extends to the promises you make to your employees as well. If you say you are going to do something and never do it, employee morale is sure to decrease because you can’t be trusted. You make promises, but now everyone knows they are empty. This is a sure fire way to bring your employee morale way down.

Communicate
Having regular communication with your employees is important in keeping their moral up and positive. If you are the type that comes into your office and stays there all day not conversing with your employees ever, then there is likely no rapport or real relationship between you. Have open and real communication with your employees and you will see their morale increase.

Don’t Micromanage
Many will agree that nothing kills employee morale more than micromanaging your employees. True, you are passionate about your work, your department or your company, but when you micromanage your employees you are offhandedly telling them you do not trust them. When you have your hand in all of the pots no one can do their job adequately. Take a step back to minimize micromanagement and you may see a large change in the attitude your employee base exudes. On top of that, their productivity levels will likely increase because they now know you are giving them a chance to show you they can be trusted.

Make Your Goals Clear
When your employees know what they are working towards, and it is clear, then the path to success is much easier. If your goals or instructions are vague on the other hand, then the path is not so easy. As a manager or employer you need to know for yourself what goals you are setting for your employees. If you don’t know what to expect out of them, how will they? Be clear with what you want and avoid fuzziness in goals and your employee’s attitude and happiness is sure to increase in positivity.

So often employers or managers think that they need to spend money in order to keep their employees happy and content. That may be true for some companies, but for the most part employees just want to feel as though they are working towards something good and that their efforts are appreciated- and noticed. Start implementing the above tips and your employee moral is sure to increase.

IMAGE: Courtesy of Flickr by seanbjack