31 May Boosting Morale: It’s All About The Little Things.
Creating a happy workplace may not always be a top priority, but you might want to rethink your outlook. Boosting employee morale does more than make them enjoy their job more. It also has tangible benefits for your company.
Low Morale Has Many Faces
Low morale rears its ugly head in many ways. Employees may not cooperate or engage in conversation. They may not show initiative, perform poorly, or have a disagreeable attitude. A workplace with poor morale can also expect a higher employee turnover and higher training costs. In addition, disengaged employees often have more accidents and injuries.
Boosting Employee Morale Advances Performance
Happy employees tend to take pride in their work and they pay closer attention to their tasks. Research shows high morale leads to less stress and absenteeism. Consequently, companies with high morale often outperform their competition when it comes to customer service and employee retention, as well as profits.
Fortunately, your company can boost morale in many ways. Try a few of these ideas to lighten the mood in your company.
Transform Boring Into Exciting
A meeting needn’t be a snooze-fest everyone just wants to get through. Throw a bit of the unusual into your meetings so people actually enjoy them!
Hand out a treat when a person participates. Create a buzzword sheet and reward whoever picks them all out during the meeting. Take your meeting out of the office and into a local restaurant, coffee shop, or park, instead.
Start a Competition
Nothing stirs up the workplace more than a little healthy competition. Whether you pit department against department, or management against staff, make it worthwhile. Set a goal that truly riles everyone up such as how to sell more of a particular product, how to reduce costs, or how to handle your most difficult client.
Let teams brainstorm and select their best solution. Ask an independent party to choose the best between the two teams. Choose a funny punishment for the losers, such as wearing t-shirts or hats supporting the rival sports team. Winners get bragging rights and a special perk such as extended breaks or a free lunch.
Show Gratitude
This costs nothing, but lifts employee morale immensely. At the end of the week, call everyone together for a few minutes. Ask them to name one thing that happened during the week they’re grateful for. It could be something that happened in the workplace or at home. Sharing positivity reminds people there’s always something good happening, even during trying weeks. Don’t just rely on the employees to contribute to the conversation, though. Make sure that you come prepared with a few things to share, too!
Create Social Bonds
Creating high morale in the workplace often involves activities other than work. Weekly games, happy hours, or lunches provide valuable time to connect with co-workers in a more relaxed setting. Establish teams and let a different team choose the event each week. It’s their time to show what they’ve been working on and to have a little fun.
Listen to Music
Background music is an easy way to lift spirits without distracting employees. Music can often take the drudgery out of repetitive tasks and improves focus. You can even make it into a game. The department that accomplishes a specific goal first gets to pick the playlist for the week!
Add Greenery
Studies show people are happier with less stress when they get outdoors, but according to the University of Queensland bringing plants inside can increase productivity by as much as 15 percent!
It’s a cheap and cheery solution to lighten the mood and brighten the workplace.
Organize Food Trucks
Today’s food truck culture offers access to many exciting, healthy local food options. Contact the owners of a few food trucks and let them know you have hungry customers.
Get them to call a representative in your company when they’re coming. Send out a company-wide email announcing who’s arriving that day.
Plan Group Fitness
Exercise improves fitness, reduces illness and injuries, and improves mood and cognition. When employees exercise in a group, it also bonds them socially and strengthens personal relationships. When an employer organizes it, it shows they care about employee well-being.
Group activities without equipment include running, walking and calisthenics.
Providing a safe, low-stress work environment, listening to employee concerns and providing constructive feedback in a positive manner goes a long way towards improving employee morale.
Good workplace safety and risk management programs also identify and eliminate problems that can cause discontent. Let Gilbert’s Risk Solutions’ guide you. We’ve helped companies for over 160 years, and we’re here for you too.
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