Employee morale and satisfaction are important performance indicators for the success of any business or company, regardless of its size or standing. The work-life balance exists for a reason and, although in times gone by the attitude to work has been to leave personal problems at home, modern employers understand that a good work-life balance is critical to the company’s overall success.
Deep-rooted problems which exist within a company in relation to work-life balance and morale can cause productivity to fall dramatically. It’s not all about work-life balance though; office life and the way day-to-day work is conducted can also have a huge impact on overall employee morale and motivation.
As an employer, it is your duty to do all you can in ensuring that your employees are happy at work, and there are multiple ways you can do this.
1. Show That You Care
This is very easily done. Got an employee who has done some good work recently? Let them know! Are there birthdays coming up? Recognise it, give a card and maybe a little gift. As an employer or manager, you need to be involved in your employees’ personal lives, to an extent, so you can demonstrate that you care. When people feel valued, they will go above and beyond to give you their all.
2. Bring Fun to the Office
Although this depends on how much control you exercise over a team or company and the type of business you operate, there is nothing wrong with adding a few social spaces to an office. What’s wrong with the addition of a foosball or ping pong table, some bean bags and a TV room? Your employees can be trusted not to abuse these facilities, and they make great venues for some after work fun.
There are so many different avenues you can take with this. Days out to paintball? A summer BBQ with live bands? Face painting, dancing and movie nights… it’ll be like being back at college again!
3. Host Monthly or Bi-Monthly Activities
If you have the budget for it, you could host monthly or bi-monthly themed nights after hours on a Friday. Sushi night, pizza night, casino night… the possibilities are endless and, because it’s free, your employees will flock to them! This is an excellent way for you not only to boost the morale of your employees, but for them to mingle and get to know one another in a more relaxed environment. When work colleagues start to become friends, they work more closely and cohesively, providing a priceless benefit to the company in the form of increased productivity.
4. Listen to What They Have to Say
Before employees are open to any change, you need to listen to them and let them talk. If you operate a customer or client-facing company, you will know this more than anyone; customers first need to vent before they can be reasoned or worked with to find a solution. If you are noticing problems among a few employees, bring them together in a small focus group and find out what the problem is.
5. All Employees to Have Downtime
The daily grind can be stressful, and it is very easy for employees to get worn down from their work. Because of this, it is a good idea to enable employees to take time out of their workday for breaks, whether that be a walk or a nap, especially if there is an assignment or piece of work currently in progress which is taking its toll.
Although your employees do get mandated breaks, sometimes that isn’t enough and allowing discretion among your employees to take time out from work is a good way to keep morale and productivity up. A lot of major companies do this, and it works well for them.
Employee happiness is important and as the owner of a company or the manager of a team of people, it is down to you to ensure that they are happy, healthy and productive so you can get maximum benefit for the company out of them. From office-based social areas to bi-monthly activity nights and simply showing that you care, there are lots of ways you can keep employee morale at a high.
