Not only that, companies with low employee morale have high employee turnover. And that costs organizations $15,000 every time an employee leaves<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another related problem for companies with low employee morale is that it can make it difficult for them to hire good candidates. It\u2019s easy to see why\u2014no one wants to work somewhere that no one wants to work.<\/p>\n If you have an employee morale problem at your company or on your team, you\u2019re likely experiencing higher-than-normal levels of absenteeism, poor quality output, and a general lack of enthusiasm. It\u2019s making your job harder than it should be\u2014and probably preventing you from reaching your own goals.<\/p>\n We\u2019re going to help you do something about it.<\/p>\n In this post we cover:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s unrealistic to expect everyone on your team to be 100% happy at all times. But it is<\/i> reasonable to expect a consistent level of productivity, engagement and general job satisfaction amongst employees most<\/i> of the time. Those are just a few key characteristics you’ll find in most effective teams<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you see things numbers and mood dropping across the board, you may have a morale problem on your hands. The first step to fixing it is to find out what\u2019s causing it. Here are three ways to do that.<\/p>\n Meeting with your direct reports every week or two helps you keep your finger on the pulse of what\u2019s happening with different projects and tasks. It\u2019s also a great opportunity to get a temperature check. If you detect low morale, ask a few probing questions that could get your employee to open up a bit.<\/p>\n \u201cHow are you feeling about your workload right now?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cIs there anything I can do to better support you on this project?\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cWhat would you do differently from a management position?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Or if you have a more candid relationship with that employee, you can take a direct approach:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve noticed the mood hasn\u2019t been great around here lately and I\u2019d love to do something about it. But I\u2019m not sure what\u2019s wrong. What\u2019s up?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Simply talking it out can help you uncover the reasons why your employees aren\u2019t as happy and productive<\/a> as they could be.<\/p>\n Management evaluations, done quarterly or bi-annually as part of your 360 evaluation process, can give you important insights about morale at scale. If there\u2019s a widespread issue, these evaluations are the best way to find out. Usually conducted as an anonymous company-wide survey, these are great for uncovering systemic issues at the team, department, and company level.<\/p>\n At the company level, employees may express that leadership doesn\u2019t communicate strategic direction well.<\/p>\n At the individual leader level, teams may find that they lack support in key areas.<\/p>\n Favoritism may be in an issue that comes up.<\/p>\n Sometimes the information uncovered can be a hard pill to swallow. But it\u2019s one of the most effective ways to reveal and correct these issues without employees worrying about repercussions.<\/p>\n There are a lot of great platforms that allow companies to conduct management evaluations (in addition to employee evaluations and goal setting) including Performance Pro, Culture Amp, and Bamboo HR, to name just a few<\/a>:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most leaders like to believe they\u2019re fair and reasonable. And for the most part, they are. But we all have our blind spots.<\/p>\n So, when your team\u2019s demeanor is chilly, or the productivity metrics<\/a> are lagging, it\u2019s important to get introspective and look at your own actions to see if there\u2019s something amiss.<\/p>\n Think about a recent issue or conflict and ask yourself honestly,<\/p>\n \u201cDid I handle that the best way I could have?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cIs there something else I could have done to improve the outcome?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n The answers may surprise you. And that\u2019s okay. Because self-awareness is a powerful tool for growth and good leaders learn from their mistakes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n If you surveyed your employees with the question \u201cDo you believe you deserve better compensation for your role?\u201d the answer will be almost unanimously and resoundingly \u201cyes!\u201d<\/p>\n But the truth is, most of the time, more money won\u2019t fix low morale<\/a>. Here are a few things that you can consider that do have a proven impact on improving morale in your organization.<\/p>\n Famed motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, \u201cYou can always make more money, but you can\u2019t make more time.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s right. Free time is an extremely valuable thing\u2014especially for employees with families or other big obligations outside of work. You might consider providing an additional week or two of vacation more than what\u2019s legally required. You can also increase it with tenure as part of your retention strategy.<\/p>\n Extra vacation time is often attractive to prospective employees\u2014and most importantly, your employees will return from their time off rested, productive, and grateful.<\/p>\n Imagine working for a large, very profitable enterprise organization that\u2019s located in a business park far away from virtually everything. It has a full cafeteria\u2014super convenient, right? But they charge full price for coffee\u2014something that costs just pennies to make. It seems so petty and leaves a bad taste in your mouth\u2014before the coffee even touches your lips.<\/p>\n Providing free coffee is such a small cost that provides a big payoff in morale (and productivity).<\/p>\n Have a look around your workspace. Are there any easy-to-implement perks? Maybe it\u2019s a coffee machine. Maybe it\u2019s free lunch on Wednesdays. You could provide fresh fruit or snacks. Or even a gym membership. The idea here is to make your workplace a more pleasant place to be\u2014and your company a better one to work for.<\/p>\n Some workers are great at promoting their achievements. But many of the best, brightest, and hardest-working prefer to keep their heads and keep grinding.<\/p>\n Truth is, recognition is as much about leaders being able to identify great work without being prompted, as it is about individual contributors pointing out their own successes. Use your 1-on-1 meetings as an opportunity to identify those who are putting in the work.<\/p>\n Providing recognition doesn\u2019t have to be a grand gesture, either. While some workers appreciate the odd public shout-out, others are happy with a quick comment in private or even an email saying you notice and you appreciate it.<\/p>\n Our lives are busy. Kids get sick. Partners need help. Appointments need to be attended. And commitments need to be met. Our jobs often take up eight or 10 hours of our day, and there are many other equally important aspects of our lives that need attention outside of that.<\/p>\n Lots of companies talk about work-life balance, but not all of them actually follow through. Consider giving your workers the flexibility they need to take care of important \u201clife\u201d stuff during work hours if they need to\u2014without nickel-and-diming them.<\/p>\n Running an important errand in the middle of the day won\u2019t hurt anyone. And being able to schedule appointments inside of work hours makes it a whole lot easier to actually get an appointment. Despite the brief absence from work, this flexibility can make a huge difference in productivity and the attitude they bring into the workplace.<\/p>\n Taking the whole work-life balance idea a step further, implementing a work-from-anywhere policy<\/a> can do wonders for morale. It can save workers hours in commuting time and make it easier to stay on top of all of the non-work things that need to be taken care of. There are also the well-documented productivity benefits<\/a> that come with it, too.<\/p>\n Obviously, there\u2019s more to it than just taking your laptop home. You need to agree on a set of expectations, and you have to provide the tools that a team needs to make sure the lines of communication are wide open at all times.<\/p>\n A flexible and reliable communications platform<\/a> (like RingCentral<\/a>) is an absolutely essential aspect of any work-from-home policy. Not just for keeping tabs on everyone, but for keeping teams connected\u2014even when they\u2019re apart:<\/p>\n Build a collaboration hub <\/a>that gives you different options for communicating. Video conferencing<\/a> makes a quick sync easy, as if you were swinging by someone\u2019s desk. Messaging<\/a> lets you quickly share files, links, and important information in real-time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Being a cog in the machine is fine if you\u2019re expected to do a certain amount of work every day, no more and no less.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s a terrible way to inspire workers to take on more, grow with the company, or harbor any kind of passion for what they do. Here are three ways you can improve morale by empowering your employees to go above and beyond their titles and responsibilities.<\/p>\n Is there a better way to do something that management hasn\u2019t considered? Probably. Is the strategic approach to a given project the right one? Maybe not. Is anyone going to tell you that? Not if you don\u2019t encourage them to.<\/p>\n Often the best, most-impactful ideas come from the most unexpected places. Encourage your team to share their ideas (through employee engagement surveys<\/a> or apps<\/a>, for example) and speak truth to power. It allows you to consider new points of view, engage your team, and allow them to contribute at a higher level while feeling that their opinions and ideas are valued.<\/p>\n Imagine a driven, smart, enthusiastic worker who\u2019s willing to do what it takes to move up the ranks. They\u2019ve taken on responsibilities outside of the scope of their role, surpassed important milestones, and gone above and beyond in every way possible, expecting that all of this effort is going to land them a promotion.<\/p>\n And then\u2014for reasons completely unclear to them\u2014someone else gets it.<\/p>\n One of the biggest reasons for employee turnover is a lack of growth opportunities or unclear promotional tracks within an organization.<\/p>\n To avoid this issue, make sure every role is well-defined, and the steps needed to move into more senior roles are clear. This will make it easier for your workers to set and reach goals, or at the very least, understand where they need to improve\u2014instead of spinning their wheels in the sand.<\/p>\n A job is a place you go every day for eight hours. But a career is a place that you can also learn and grow. So give your workers the opportunity to learn within their roles. That can mean an annual educational stipend for classes or conferences. If budgets are tight, consider giving every employee a set amount of time every month to pursue a professional topic that they want to learn more about.<\/p>\n This boost in morale is just the tip of the iceberg. Think of it as an investment in helping them brush up on key skills and perform at a higher level.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Knowing what not<\/i> to do is just as important as knowing what to do. So to turn things around a bit, we thought it would be helpful to look at things you might want to avoid doing when morale is low.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that these things are necessarily bad in and of themselves\u2014they can be fun activities in a happy workplace. But if morale is already low, they can have an equal and opposite effect\u2014and make you seem like you\u2019re not paying attention or only interested in doing the bare minimum.<\/p>\n It may seem absurd that someone wouldn\u2019t want to celebrate important milestones. But when signing birthday cards becomes a weekly task on your to-do list, and everyone is asked to stop what they\u2019re doing and gather under harsh fluorescent office lighting to eat cake in awkward silence, the whole event can feel forced\u2014especially if the person celebrating doesn\u2019t particularly like the attention.<\/p>\n Instead, create a survey that your team can answer anonymously. Ask questions like:<\/p>\n Use the answers to get an idea of if these gatherings really are<\/i> something that people want to do. And if someone doesn\u2019t want their birthdays or work anniversaries celebrated, you don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n Classic team-building exercises like trust falls<\/a> may seem like a great way to have fun while developing effective teamwork<\/a> habits and collaborative leadership<\/a> skills.<\/p>\n\n
How to identify the source of low employee morale<\/h2>\n
1. Employee 1-on-1 meetings<\/h3>\n
2. Management evaluations<\/h3>\n
![\"Platforms](\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/bamboohr-platform.png\")
3. Look inward<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s not about money\u20145 other ways to improve employee morale<\/h2>\n
1. Increase vacation days<\/h3>\n
2. Add office perks<\/h3>\n
3. Give the right kind of recognition<\/h3>\n
4. Promote work-life balance\u2014and walk the walk<\/h3>\n
5. Implement a work-from-anywhere policy<\/h3>\n
![\"Reliable](\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/flexible-and-reliable-communication-platform.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n3 ways to empower your workers<\/h2>\n
1. Encourage ideas<\/h3>\n
2. Make promotional tracks clear<\/h3>\n
3. Provide opportunities for education<\/h3>\n
Empty gestures to avoid when employee morale is low<\/h2>\n
1. Celebrating birthdays or work anniversaries<\/h3>\n
\n
2. Team-building exercises<\/h3>\n