When morale is low in your workplace, your team often starts to under perform. Declines in more harm engagement, leading to lower productivity and work quality. Plus, low morale is often pervasive, and the mood can continue to sink lower unless action is taken.
Fortunately, managers do have the ability to make a positive impact on morale. If morale is low at work, here are five ways to improve it.
1. Recognize Their Efforts
Recognition is one of the most potent tools in a manager’s arsenal. When employees feel that their efforts are seen and valued, it’s typically a mood booster. It’s a clear sign that their employer appreciates all that they do, often leading to a more positive culture.
Effective recognition doesn’t have to be costly or cumbersome. Simply thanking your team for their contributions, congratulating them on accomplishments, and similar steps only take a moment and don’t cost a dime. However, by coupling that with rewards for particularly significant achievements, you can see more progress in less time.
2. Provide Autonomy
One issue that commonly harms morale is micromanaging your employees. As a result, one quick way to give morale a boost is to offer some degree of autonomy. Give team members ownership over their tasks, allowing them to use any appropriate method as long as they achieve the desired goal. By doing so, they can use their preferred approaches – which can make the work more enjoyable – all while meeting performance expectations.
3. Create a Safe, Supportive Environment
Often, morale declines if employees feel that they can’t safely express their opinions or perspectives at work. Similarly, if they believe that they aren’t fully supported by their manager or employer, frustration typically builds, leading to declining morale.
Work to make your environment as safe and supportive as possible. Listen when employees share insights, provide them with the tools they need to work effectively and connect them with opportunities that help them grow and advance. In most cases, by doing so, morale will improve quite quickly.
4. Offer Some Flexibility
It’s critical for employers to recognize that their team members have lives outside of the workplace. At times, dealing with work-related demands and personal obligations is particularly challenging, especially when the workplace is overly rigid.
Offering some level of flexibility is a simple way to make work-life balance more achievable. Have systems in place that allow them to adjust their schedule or work remotely when a need arises, ensuring they don’t view their job as a hindrance.
5. Have Some Well-Timed Fun
Having fun together as a team can work wonders for morale, allowing everyone to relax, bond, and enjoy each other’s company. However, such activities can be intrusive if it takes place outside of work hours, especially if it’s mandatory.
Instead, incorporate fun activities into the workday on occasion. It allows everyone to participate without taking away from their personal time, which can make it more effective as a morale booster.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can improve morale in your workplace, TempStaff can help. Contact us today.
