8 Innovative ways to uplift employee morale in 2021

CEO: How's the JOSH?

Team: "High, Sir!!!"

Have you ever tried to ask like this to your people? Have you ever thought of how important it is to boost JOSH - Morale of your people? Or let me put it this way, have you ever tried knowing how important the employee’s morale is?

I guess....not. Well, employee’s morale is all about how an employee is happy and content with his work and the company he works in. There are two people mainly who need to shoulder this responsibility: one is the employer and the other is the employee. I’ll tell you how:

Employer because he/she needs to hire the right people and provide them with a safe and secure space to understand their duties and perform their best.?Employee because he/she needs to make sure that their work is up-to-date without any scope of mistakes/flaws or to the least, having worked sincerely.?

IMPACT OF AFFIRMATIVE EMPLOYEE MORALE:

Honestly, it is only going to put a positive impact if you try ways to boost employee morale. It will lead to increasing their satisfaction of doing their job efficiently and willingness to bring out their best for the progress of the company. Apart from that, boosting their morale will also keep them motivated which is profitable in giving the company a competitive edge.?

Now, I might be really diving deep into this but I guess I’ll have to add another point here. Boosting their morale also helps reduce company costs. Wait, let me tell you how before you start churning the wheels of your brain real hard. If the employees start working efficiently by enjoying their work, they won’t have to extend their working hours to complete their pending work which in turn leads to a cost-cutting strategy.

CAUSES OF LOW EMPLOYEE MORALE:

1.?No open communication:?Now, many companies follow this religion of not communicating policies, news, or any kind of updates with their employees. This is a point where your employees will take a U-turn and will start making opinions that might not be a good sign for your company. Instead, think it in this way, if your employees are updated about the new policies or progress, they will adhere to it and work towards it conventionally.?

2.?No clarity:?So, it happens that employees often feel incognizant that they have not been posted about their goals and what the company expects out of them. Make sure you set realistic and proper goals and have a one-on-one session in order to explain them.

3.?Micro-management:?This is a huge turn-off for any leading company. Micro-management comes into the picture when you don’t trust your employees. If you keep spying on them like a personally hired detective all the time to see whom they talk to, how many seconds they are spending to use the washroom, etc., the only thing they are going to feel is?nervous and suffocated. I’m sure you would not want your employees to feel that way. So, start giving them their space and watch how they raise the flags of success for your company.

4.?Zero team-bonding:?Imagine your employees coming to work, doing their job without having any conversation with anyone and leaving. Sounds boring? Ridiculous? Or more like a robotic life? Well, that’s right. In order to enhance team bonding, start holding sessions once or twice a week where you focus on team-building activities where all your employees can engage with you and each other.

5.?Ingratitude:?In the process of working like a horse, we often forget to appreciate our employees for all their hard work and commitment to our company. Try new ways to praise their work, for example, leave an appreciation note on their desk, or share their achievements by posting their pictures, etc. This gesture will only make your employees feel valued and motivated to work even harder.

POTENTIAL WAYS TO BOOST YOUR EMPLOYEE’S MORALE:

1.?Be transparent and friendly:?Ensure to be open as much as possible about company policies, changes if any, new updates or feedback about them. There is a difference in how you convey the feedback to your employee. If you convey/share their feedback or improvement scope after you point out their strengths, they will digest it and work on it too. Be open to their feedback too. Please keep your ego on rent then.

2.?Keep interaction alive:?Try to converse with your employees as much as possible either by conducting short meetings or planning fun activities or just when you pass by their desks. Don’t worry, a little time of 5 minutes is not going to drown your business..!

3.?Celebrate their success/hard work:?The best way to boost their morale is when you identify their hard work and determination and especially when you share their success like a celebration. Well, you can share their accomplishments on active social media platforms or even a word of mouth would do in person.

4.?Suggestion?box:?Instill this idea in your firm to place a suggestion box where every employee can drop in their suggestions whether it is for a change that they are recommending or any events or related to anybody’s behaviour. This idea will get your employees talking about what they feel and will make them feel needed in the company.

5.?Build up some powerful policies to make them feel secure:?Imagine if your employees are going through something they can’t share openly, will they be able to work in such an unhealthy environment? If you ask me, my answer is?pure NO. So, to make them feel secure enough, you can indulge in preparing?stringent protocols.

6.?Schedule one-on-one meetings: To understand your employees and what they are up to and how they are doing, it is advisable to conduct face meetings once a month where you can discuss their challenges, areas of improvement, their interests that can be beneficial to the company, etc.

CONCLUSION:

Don’t wait for the situations to arise for taking appropriate actions. It’s always better to take precautions than later struggle to either use a fire extinguisher or buckets of water to put out the fire. Meaning, be prepared to face such situations and start following the above methods anyways. Because, the high the employee’s morale, the more your company grows.