Top 5 Tactics to Improve Office Morale

Are your employees burning out?  According to Huffington Post Canada, many businesses are anticipating growth this year but few are actually planning on doing any hiring.  So what does this mean for employees?

A survey conducted in November revealed that 70% of employees expected business activity to increase but only 38% expected to do hiring.

In addition, 31% of businesses reported that stress levels among employees were on the rise, and noted a 34% decline in workplace morale.

Click here to see the full article, “Canadian Employees Are Burning Out.”

An increase in stress levels and low workplace morale can have a huge impact on your company’s success.  High turnover, low productivity and poor cooperation can prevent you and your staff from reaching goals and objectives.

Improving office morale doesn’t have to be difficult – implement these 5 easy morale-boosting tactics and you will see a huge impact on workplace morale. 

1. Celebrate Accomplishments. If your team has just completed a major project, or are consistently meeting their day-to-day deadlines, make sure to celebrate! Most companies forego the celebration and continue on to setting new priorities, but celebrating accomplishments is a step you shouldn’t skip.  Host a team lunch to celebrate project completion or treat your team to coffee and pastries for breakfast – small celebrations and acknowledgment go a long way in boosting morale.
    

2. Show Appreciation.  Show appreciation to your team by going beyond the typical thank you email or meeting acknowledgment.  A smile and face-to-face thank you shows more appreciation than an email. When showing appreciation, try to focus on a specific success, like how well your employee managed project deadlines to meet the end goal, rather than a generic thank you following the task completion.
    

3. Provide Employee Perks.  Have you considered offering freebies, or extra vacation days as employee perks? Freebies such as a gym membership or tickets to events, or a few extra vacation days, or even weeks, can have a significant impact on employee retention and new talent recruitment. Check out Forbes Magazine’s “Most Popular Employee Perks of 2014” for some amazing ideas for employee perks.
    

4. Open Communication.  Open and honest communication between management and employees will elevate office morale.  In fact, 33% of senior executives from 1,000 large companies argue say that lack of open, honest communication has the most negative effect on attitude. (Inc. Magazine).  Keep your employees in-the-loop and be willing to listen to their feedback.  Open, two-way communication between staff and management will create a positive and productive working environment.  
    

5. Have Fun!  Set time aside for fun, team building activities and outings.  Your team will not only appreciate a break from their everyday tasks, but it will also strengthen relationships between your team members. 

Boosting employee morale and creating a positive work environment are both key aspects of talent management.  Your team will be productive and invested in your business, reducing turnover and supporting company success.     

Hire Quality partners with clients to build high performance teams by recruiting and selecting new talent and by upgrading current staff through training and development. For more information call 705.734.2698.