Leadership is a critical factor in influencing employee morale. An employee with an inspiring leader who leads with transparency and authenticity, encourages them to do their best work, provides constructive feedback that allows them to grow and succeed, and models the kind of positive behaviors they want to see in that employee, is much more likely to feel empowered and valued. Despite this, many organizations don't recognize the importance of having a proper balance between work and personal life. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the work and family lives of many employees to clash directly when they were asked to work from home.
As this Global News article states, work-from-home directives have blurred the distinction between working and non-working hours, leading to employee exhaustion. Do you ask your employees how they feel about their work? Do you have a secure (and, when necessary, anonymous) way for employees to provide feedback not only to their managers but also to the management team? Monitoring employee morale can be as simple as conducting an annual survey to assess employee engagement, job satisfaction, and more. The rise of COVID-19 has pushed organizations to their limits and has made employees opt for remote work. This has changed the employee experience.
Managers need to understand their employees in order to know what motivates them. And getting to know employees isn't just about job results. Finding out what matters to them outside of work and engaging in conversations around these interests can help build stronger, trusting relationships. Your workplace culture can have the most significant impact on employee morale.
If you have a team that doesn't support each other and that has difficulty collaborating, morale will feel low. A work culture that makes team members feel included, appreciated, and listened to can have a dramatic impact on team morale. Managers and supervisors can have a big impact on employee morale. If they are well trained in communication, know how to lead and give feedback, they can help create an office culture that encourages employee recognition and facilitates two-way feedback.
Trying to prescribe a simple, comprehensive method for boosting morale at work will only lead to even more misaligned assumptions and expectations. Formal recognition programs provide structure and knowledge to managers to facilitate the process, but less formal recognition also remains valuable. However, employee morale affects a large percentage of your workforce, whether you want to recognize their existence or not. Good manager training, professional development opportunities, and communication channels between staff and management can help ensure that employees have space to grow and share their feedback with supervisors.
Over time, using these strategies can help you create a more positive work environment and improve employee morale. So be sure to train all your managers in emotional intelligence, communication, feedback, recognition, and different leadership styles. For constructive criticism to work, it must be accompanied by recognition to demonstrate that managers pay attention not only to employees' mistakes but also their successes. In fact, a study conducted by Reward Gateway states that 75% of employees said that their motivation and morale would improve if their managers thanked them more often.
Employee morale can change at any time, and some of the reasons for that change may not be work-related at all. Workplace groups can be used to promote employee recognition by providing a place where managers and leaders can post about an employee's achievements or highlight excellent work done by an individual or team. With the right tools and strategies, you can create a work culture that promotes employee morale and motivates your team to perform at their best. These tips and strategies for boosting morale are some of the best ways a company can encourage its employees and help identify problems that may be damaging morale.
This demonstrates a large gap between what managers think they are providing in terms of motivation and what employees expect them to provide. Best of all, by confronting the factors behind morale, your team can be more productive and creative than ever.
