Top 10 Tips for increasing employee morale

Even in normal times, morale is an essential part of how a company functions. But during this period of lockdown and remote working, employee morale is even more important. A happy and healthy workforce ensures the working environment – wherever that space may be – is a positive place. As you interact with your staff, on the phone or via video conferencing, you may notice signs of fading morale. Read our 10 top tips to boost morale and instil pride in your employees.

Appreciation

It’s always important to celebrate success. It might be a small achievement in the grand scheme of things, but it helps to ensure every employee’s success is appreciated. Even if it’s just by saying a simple ‘well done’.

A sense of community

Getting teams involved in local community projects or fundraising can help build teamwork skills and boost team morale. It will also build your reputation within the community and with your staff. While you can’t participate in such activities at the moment, you can plan ahead and look at future opportunities in your local area.

Enjoy it

Even working from home, employees spend a huge percentage of their time each week in work, so it’s important that they enjoy themselves. Make sure they are taking some time out for short breaks throughout the day, to change activity, clear their heads and focus on something else.

Smile

Smiling can be contagious. Even on the phone it’s important, as the tone of your voice reflects a cheerful demeanour. If you are communicating via video conference, a smile is pretty much your only way of demonstrating emotion and personality, as hand gestures and expression can be lost onscreen, while a lot of gesticulating can just look busy and confusing. Keep it simple and smile.

Please and thank you

Politeness is another important virtue that can be greatly appreciated at work. Show respect to your team by using ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when speaking to them. Making a point of saying ‘thank you’ after a job has been completed can really make a difference to an individual’s sense of self-worth.

Office comforts

Make sure that an employee’s place of work is comfortable. For many people at the moment, this is literally a space in their home. We’ve had plenty of time to get used to this working arrangement and our ‘workspace’ will have become very familiar to us. It is important as employers to make sure our staff aren’t becoming jaded or complacent, and to identify and address issues if they arise.

Be flexible

Offering flexibility to employees as a gesture of appreciation is a cost-effective way of increasing motivation and decreasing stress levels. Home working is often seen by some employees as a sign of trust between employer and employee. Having been forced into making these adjustments to our working lives, perhaps going forward employees will enjoy more flexibility.

Value your team

Ask for ideas, listen to opinions and take on board any suggestions. This can really help make your team feel valued, which in turn will automatically boost morale. This aspect of communication is essential now more than ever.

Communication

Despite many offices not functioning as a physical office space at the moment, make sure you inform employees and keep them updated on any developments. Nothing can disrupt morale more than employees feeling like they are ‘out of the loop’ and in these uncertain times this is even more imperative.

Believe

Employees need to be aware that they are part of something bigger. The lockdown may have separated us physically, but employees need to be reminded that they are still a fundamental part of the business. If they share, believe and live by the company values, then this will have a positive onward effect, even in these unprecedented times.