Effective Ways To Deal With Low Employee Morale
In today’s hectic, competitive and growing working culture “employees” are becoming an important asset for every company. The key to success in any business relies upon the satisfaction of employees. Managers need to show people they are valued and look for a quick fix on potential issues. One way to build or break a company’s success is to develop an employee morale to reinforce the employee’s worth in the company. Leaders need to keep a close eye on the reasons that cause low morale in the workplace and approach to creative ideas to strengthen it.
“Want to become better at managing things? Stop relying on emails and start using ProofHub.”
Reasons for low morale in the workplace
There are certain rules in companies like, “If you do not show up for work on Saturday, do not bother to come to work on Monday.” or “You are not allowed to take leaves on Friday and Monday, it will not be paid in case you take it.”
Sadly, there are many such rules in a workplace that is the cause of low morale. Employees are worried about their jobs and this is killing company’s productivity. Certainly, employee morale is the most difficult thing to manage in the workplace and definitely should not be overlooked.
Well, it might be a little difficult for you to have an accurate idea of what are the causes of low morale in your employees. Here are some of the popular causes of low employee morale.
Causes of low employee morale
Micromanagement
Micromanagement is bad for employees and for a business growth. It is becoming on of the main reason for employee’s low morale. Micro-managers are actually not being the real boss, they are just telling employees what to do. This makes employee hate coming to work every day. This style of management leads to a loss of control, loss in trust and causes employee burnout.
Poor employee treatment
Often poor employee treatment is the cause of negative work environment. Proper employee treatment usually means always going against the words of an employee, not accepting their petitions, always pointing out every step an employee takes and constantly running meetings to approach their issues. This treatment usually frustrates an employee and spoils the working culture.
Extra working hours
This is another common root cause of low employee morale. Too often in a workplace employees are asked to stay for long hours and this is becoming a trend now. Employees have to certainly sit for extra working time just to leave a good impression or to provide repetitive revisions of their tasks.
Not appreciating and recognizing hard work
Appreciation is a fundamental human need as it confirms that the work is valued. Employee recognition is an obvious thing to do and is not a rocket science. People obviously want to be respected and valued for their contribution and not appreciating an employee’s hard work usually causes low employee morale.
Boredom
Your employees will probably get bored of their damn mind many times which will result in some pretty profoundly negative effects on their health and work. Being bored increases the risk of making mistakes at work and is one of the leading cause of low employee morale.
If you can relate these reasons with the employees in your company, look at these 6 effective ways to deal with low employee morale.
How to deal with low employee morale
Keep employees feeling their work is more than just a job
It should be in a manager’s best interest to keep their employees feel that their work is more than just a job. They should feel valued and feel that their work has a higher purpose. Everyone wants to be a major of the team and this also increases employee morale to put more efforts to work. It is quite not possible to make everyone happy at the same time but the key to increasing employee morale is to make them feel acknowledged.
Additional days off
Most of the employees prevent taking a day off because they are not getting paid for it but they remain constantly disturbed with the thought of taking a day off. This in itself lowers employee morale. So, you need to know that time in itself is a form of reward. It is not always necessary to offer a costly form of reward. If you are into budget constraints, giving an additional day off is an excellent option boost up employee morale. Give employees a chance to say they are taking a mental health day off. They know it well when they need it.
Comfortable workplace stations
Comfortable workplace stations is a part of workplace wellness and employee satisfaction. Promoting good posture, private workplace stations free of distractions, clean and tidy desks and comfort by allowing employees to move regularly is a way to enhance employee performance. If the employee is not happy sitting at its work station undoubtedly the performance will be affected. You can also offer employees free consultation to ask for their suggestions to reduce workers compensation, health care costs and increase productivity. You can follow these proven strategies for motivating employees and increasing productivity at work place. Always make sure your office chairs are comfortable and standing desks are another great option.
Give Recognition
Employee recognition is important for reinforcing and rewarding the most important outcomes that employees create for your business. It is essential to focus on the positive work and recognize employees for it. If the employees are not recognized for their work it might be the reason for low employee morale. So, focus on recognition to reinforce the employee’s productivity and to promote their contribution in the workplace. Lack of recognition is a reason for people leaving their jobs and morale drop. Recognize your employees for all the time and energy they put into their work.
Collect Feedback
Both positive and negative feedback from employees is helpful in promoting workplace wellness. Show your employees that you are listening and when employees feel they are being heard. They are more likely to be motivated at work when they realize that their opinion counts. Collect their feedback and act on whatever feedback you receive. And also thank them for their feedback and get back to them.
Have Team Building Activities
Weekly or monthly team building activities is a good way to lift employees spirit. When morale is low, organize a team building activity like a team lunch or office games or theme days. These little things can do a lot for employees morale and is a nice quick fix to boost morale. Small team building activities will save them from boredom and build a healthy workforce where teams can get mixed up with each other easily.
Blend the usual way of doing things
Say goodbye to the usual routine of meetings and cubicle life. If you want to go a long way towards building employee morale use some new concepts of working with the concept of neighborhoods to shake things up. You can organize your employees into neighborhoods, based on the sections in your office. Then these groups should have regular get-togethers and meeting day, games like basketball tournament and more.
Combating boredom
And the last of all, another common issue is the boredom that eats up employees productivity. Employee boredom is a big deal and there is a great need for employees to constantly and actively be aware of what they are doing. If you see your employees getting distracted easily, leaving work bang on the dot, tired and negative body language, there you have spotted boredom. So, embrace boredom by sharing their workload, talking to them, giving them a chance to pick projects, automate the boring tasks and give them a break. You can easily stave off the bad effects of boredom by these little changes.
Obviously, to a certain extent employees also need to be self-motivated to boost themselves but obviously, the workplace culture plays a big role in boosting the employee morale. So, follow these tips and make your employees feel a part of the in-crowd. Get started today to build employee morale that fosters positivity.
“Looking to bring that positive vibe in your team? Stop relying on emails and switch to ProofHub.”
**********
Let me send you my best stuff, click here to subscribe now!
Sandeep Kashyap is the Founder of ProofHub — a leading project management and collaboration software. A passionate leader, Sandeep is always on the lookout for innovative ideas about filling the communication gap between groups, teams and companies. He is also a featured writer on LinkedIn and a contributing author at YourStory. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Also follow our company page @ProofHub to get the recent updates about our tool, published articles, motivational quotes & presentations.**********
If you liked reading this post, you are surely going to love this as well-
