We all know using the word ‘morale’ in the work place is enough to make anyone cringe, but the concept of employee well-being is something that has grown significantly in the past few years and frankly is necessary to avoid employee burnout.
According to statistics, employee confidence is at an all- time low in Britain. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reported that the proportion of employees with confidence in their employers has fallen and job satisfaction rates have decreased dramatically – not exactly the workforce you want pushing your business forward is it? And if that wasn’t enough, the number of employees said to be actively looking for another job with a new employer has increased to 24%.
So perhaps the question we should be asking is what’s happening to the well-being in the work place? I’m sure we can all agree we’ve had that one job consisting of chronic stress levels, zero motivation and slowly but surely beginning to loathe your employers every move. You’re main responsibilities were managing excessive day dreams and producing zero effort.
I remember reading up on some of Google’s strategies to employee happiness and suggesting it to my old employer which as you can imagine didn’t exactly go down very well. When it comes to motivating and boosting employee productively they found how being less focused can actually increase productively. They call it the 70/20/10 rule which allows employees to spend 20% of their time in the form of ‘innovation time off’ meaning they spend 10% of their time working on their own ideas that relate to Google and 10% on something completely unrelated. They said this approach gained them more loyal employees and claimed them the title ‘Best Company to Work For’ in 2014.
Here are a few quick suggestions you could apply in you office to boost the morale:
Communication
Communication is key! This is probably one of the simplest ways to keep your staff happy. Check-in regularly asking how they are and if you can help.
This may seem unnecessary but in reality it is a big gesture.
Coaching and training support
You can’t complain about staff’s performance if you don’t have in place coaching and training support. Going down this route means you can continually update your training and make alterations where needed.
Talent management programs
This is a sure-fire way to perk up some heads and watch their stats sore. Introducing incentives along with this can also spur on people to try that little bit harder and reap in the rewards.
Weekly/Monthly employee feedback
Feedback is vital is any business, your not going to have the honest workforce behind you, ‘anything to keep the boss happy’ springs to mind. Feedback, anonymous or not, will give you a feel for the general mood of the office while giving your employees their say.
Create a fun working environment
Loosen the reins a bit and try to communication with your employees on a personal level. Arranging social events to connect people in work can create long lasting friendships and make people look forward to coming to work.
So there you go, five ways to dramatically improve employee morale in the office place. If you would like anymore information about how to improve your office dynamic please contact Searchability.
Rachael Roberts (Digital Campaign Coordinator)
