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20 Ways to Boost Employee Morale and Prevent Burnout

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Employee morale: the unsung hero of workplace metrics. And now, it’s more crucial than ever. 65% of HR professionals identified improving employee morale and preventing burnout as a top priority in 2021 in the wake of a global pandemic that’s strained the economy and impacted workers’ mental health and well-being worldwide.

Ready to roll back emotional exhaustion and recharge your workplace? Take a quick peek at our 20 tips to boost morale and prevent burnout — then deep-dive into how each affects employee engagement in the article below.

1. Be transparent at the leadership level

Your employees are smart. (That’s why you hired them!) So if there are problems with your company culture, they’ll know.

Don’t try to sweep issues under the rug. Instead, build trust by being transparent about what’s happening and what you’re doing about it. That psychological safety is a building block of strong teams and high morale.

2. Establish a meeting-free day each week

Ever look at your calendar and see the whole day vanish into meetings? You might be at risk of burnout.

Meetings may be better than email floods (if you’re an extrovert). But they can also be a fast track to job burnout. And when you’re already working long hours, the unnecessary meeting hustle can ratchet up stress and sink morale.

So stake out a weekly meeting-free day for your company or team, and encourage folks to be more strategic and efficient with the meetings they do set. Less wasted time = less stress = happier employees!

3. Crowdsource team-building ideas

Team-building events are a corporate staple — but you can kick yours to a whole new level by soliciting employee suggestions. Why? One, you’ll be more likely to have an event your team members actually like. And two, your employees will feel an additional sense of ownership and buy-in.

4. Go green with plants in the workspace

Studies show that going green isn’t just about saving the planet — plants can save office morale, too!

Don’t have room or funds for a plant wall? Or maybe all your workers are remote. Include plants in the home office budget you offer workers, or take a page out of the Online Mortgage Advisor’s book and send each employee a sunflower seed to plant and care for. Sydney researchers found that “just one plant per workspace can provide a very large lift to staff spirits.”

5. Promote work/life balance

Let’s get real for a minute: 20% of American workers spend 5+ hours at work each week stressing about health, finances, and family. That’s 5 hours of morale-sinking anxiety every week.

The fix? Treat your employees like human beings whose personal lives are important. Flexible hours, paid time off, conversations about self-care, and work-from-home policies will help workers address those real-life needs at home. This frees them up to bring their best energy to work.

Work Culture Webinar on September 27th at 1pm ET.

6. Make laughter part of the workplace

Is laughter really the best medicine? Science says yes — at least as far as mood and camaraderie are concerned. So give funny employee awards , create an #LOL company Slack channel, and keep the good times ROFLing.

7. Make recognition public, loud, and proud

Do you value your employees? Show it! Glassdoor reports 53% of employees stay at their jobs longer if they get appreciation from their manager. And it’s not all about the boss. 76% of employees in a Psychology Today study identified peer praise as extremely motivating, too.

Battling high turnover? Need a morale lift? Bring recognition to the forefront with a solid recognition and rewards program . Be sure to make your recognition public, and share it in real-time.

8. Acknowledge life events and losses

To recap: public recognition is a no-fail way to boost employee morale. But it goes deeper.

When employees experience significant personal life events or stressful situations such as loss, they can feel isolated in a culture of nonstop celebration. Take care of your team members by sending a private, personal note to let them know you see and support them.

It’s an easy way to create a personal connection and foster goodwill.

9. Re-evaluate your perks and benefits

Everyone loves perks! In fact, 53% of employees say company perks make them feel valued. But do your perks actually boost employee morale?

Take a minute to audit your company’s perks, benefits and rewards . Do your offerings support your employees’ emotional and physical health? On the benefits side, think about Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that provide mental health benefits (plus flexible PTO, and the other promoters of work/life balance).

As for perks? Focus on company-sponsored activities that bring employees of all ages and backgrounds together. According to Gallup, having friends at work is a huge morale boost and motivator.

10. Encourage professional development

Forbes identified continuous learning as one of the fastest paths to employee engagement, so consider professional development as a super power for boosting employee morale.

Create opportunities for your workforce to attend conferences, take courses, host meet-ups, and more and watch that morale skyrocket.

11. Bring pets into your work

Science confirms it: Giving a furry pal some pats during the workday reduces stress, nurtures productivity , and even reduces absenteeism. So bring those pups to work! It’s science. (Just make sure to have clear hygiene and vaccination policies in place.)

Working from home? Host a “hoppy hour” to let coworkers introduce their pets to the team. (You’ll see them on Zoom anyway….)

12. Encourage frequent 1-on-1s and check-ins

It’s no secret that the manager-employee relationship can make or break a job. So make those relationships positive.

Studies show that continuous performance conversations  (meaning, having conversations and providing feedback year-round, not just during annual reviews) opens the door for more coaching, builds trust, and helps employees see managers as a positive resource rather than a purveyor of looming to-do lists.

So encourage managers to meet with employees often to help mitigate the signs of burnout: Coach employees on time management, help remove blockers and stressors, and take a genuine interest in employees’ personal lives. It’s not just good for the employees — it’s also good for business.

13. Sing together

Looking for Zoom happy hours that don’t fall flat? Try office karaoke. Maybe the thought of singing with coworkers sounds awkward. But hear us out: when people sing together, their heartbeats fall into sync .

With that connection comes endorphins that combat stress and promote happiness — even if you aren’t good at singing. So give office karaoke a shot. It might be music to your hearts (if not your ears), and provides a huge boost to wellness.

14. Help employees give back

Charitable giving makes us happier, sweet and simple. Happier, in fact, than receiving gifts of rewards of our own.

Bring that do-good joy into your workplace by enabling charitable giving for your employees. We recommend building donations into your custom rewards marketplace, allowing employees to vote for charities to fund, or sponsoring company volunteer days.

15. Build gratitude

Talk about a simple solution: Expressing gratitude is a proven antidote to aggression. It also boosts productivity and decreases stress, making it a perfect mixer in your office morale cocktail.

Create a gratitude wall in a break room or common space — a cork board, whiteboard, or chalk wall where employees share what they’re thankful for, in and out of the workplace. Working remote? Create a #gratitude channel in Slack, or set aside the first five minutes of your weekly meeting for a gratitude check-in.

16. Don’t work with jerks

This is a toughie. But it makes a world of difference.

Is an employee’s bad attitude dragging down their team? First, try meeting with the employee and their manager separately to see what’s going on. It’s possible the employee is experiencing stress at home that’s spilling over into the workplace — or that they’re genuinely being mismanaged.

If you can’t find a resolution, and especially if the toxic attitude is spreading to others, it may be time to let the employee go. Toxic employees don’t just impact office morale — as noted by Harvard research, they also affect your bottom line .

17. Invite employees to share skills

It feels good to be an expert. So help your employees shine by creating opportunities for them to showcase their skills and knowledge.

Host company lunch and learns, and professional meetups — or sponsor after-hours skillshares, talent shows, and more.

18. Host in-office fitness classes

Regular exercise doesn’t just lower your company’s healthcare costs. They also boost morale and bring people closer together.

Studies show that exercise reduces stress and make us kinder to each other. For an added morale boost, let your employees lead classes — you may find you have a secret yoga, boxing, or pilates master in your midst.

19. Take real lunch breaks

Step away from the desk! When you’re feeling overworked and overwhelmed, it’s easy to power through the lunch hour in front of your computer. But it’s actually, as Forbes argues, a shortcut to low morale .

Give everyone a mid-day boost by encouraging employees to actually take time out to eat lunch. They’ll return to their desks happier and mentally refreshed. Plus, this helps foster those all-important office friendships.

20. Use custom employee rewards to reflect your culture

Take your Recognition & Rewards program a step further: Build out your rewards marketplace to include custom rewards that reflect your employees and their values. It’s a great way to demonstrate you see your workforce. Plus, morale will soar as employees earn rewards they’re actually excited about.

Ready to improve workplace morale?

At WorkTango, we’re revolutionizing how the world’s most forward-thinking companies engage and inspire their people. We offer the only holistic Employee Experience Platform built for the modern workplace that enables meaningful recognition and rewards , offers actionable insights through employee surveys , and supports alignment through goal setting and feedback .

WorkTango is built for the workplace we all want to be a part of – where priorities become clear, achievements are celebrated, and employees have a voice. To learn more, check out our platform overview video , or schedule a demo .

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The 7 surefire ways to boost employee morale

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What is employee morale?

Why is positive employee morale crucial for an organization, what is the relationship between employee morale and productivity, how can you measure employee morale.

What factors might negatively affect employee morale?

How to boost workplace morale

The importance of employee morale in remote work

For anyone who has worked for an organization with low morale and an organization with high morale, you've probably noticed a difference between the two.

Companies with strong positive morale typically have strong and positive employees. Companies with low morale usually have unhappy and unproductive employees. 

In this deep dive on employee morale, we’ll uncover why it’s crucial for organizations to nurture employee morale and provide meaningful work to employees.

We’ll also explain how morale relates to productivity, what factors might affect it, and the importance of employee morale in remote work. 

By the end of this guide, you will have seven actionable tips to help you boost employee morale in your organization.

Employee morale is the outlook, satisfaction, attitude, and confidence that team members have at work. It’s a reflection of how healthy company culture is, how well employees are supported, and how engaged employees are. It reveals the workplace mood.

While employers can’t give employees positive morale, they are powerful contributors to employee morale. 

When team members feel taken care of and supported by their company, it fosters intrinsic motivation and creates a space that allows them to perform at their best.

Sometimes, employees experience low morale for reasons unrelated to company culture — i.e., personal hardships or difficulties at home — but these are usually isolated incidents and don’t reflect company morale as a whole.

Note: if employees are struggling due to a personal issue, employers can still offer preventative care options and support to help boost employee morale — more on this in a bit.

why-morale-is-cucial-boost-employee-morale

Morale is the glue that holds an organization together.

When employee morale is running high, teams can accomplish anything. Employees are valued and have opportunities to grow, employees and managers are in harmony, and everyone is working toward a common goal. 

Positive work morale is crucial for organizations because it improves a number of things, including:

  • Employee retention: low employee morale can make employees feel helpless, undervalued, and ignored, resulting in higher turnover. Keeping morale high is essential to avoiding unnecessary turnover and increasing employee loyalty.
  • Work performance: high morale uplifts and inspires employees, leading them to perform at their very best. 
  • Employee motivation: when employees feel appreciated and are given opportunities to develop their professional skills, it motivates them to take action to accomplish their work goals. 
  • Communication: when employees have harmonious relationships with their managers and co-workers, they communicate effectively and have positive attitudes.
  • Employee productivity: when employees believe in their company’s mission and can see themselves advancing their careers with their company, they produce more work at a faster rate.
  • Collaboration: employees who feel supported and in sync with their peers are motivated and excited to collaborate with other team members on new projects.
  • Employee engagement: high morale encourages employees to feel more present and engaged with the work in front of them, instead of feeling overwhelmed by big-picture items.

The bridge that connects employee morale and productivity is meaningful work . 

In the absence of meaningful work, staff morale slowly starts to decline, and toxic behaviors surface.

But when employees have meaningful work, the resulting gains in employee productivity adds up to more than $9,000 per worker per year . 

Employees who report having above-average workplace meaning tend to stay where they are. Their intent to leave the company reduces by as much as 58%.

Increasingly, employees are choosing to work for companies that align with their values, offer supportive and healthy workplace cultures, and provide meaningful work. 

When these elements are present, employees are more productive and stay with the company longer — regardless of the company’s prestige.

tips-for-managers-boost-employee-morale

With this in mind, it’s essential for managers to:

  • Monitor the level of morale in the workplace on a regular basis. 
  • Address problems promptly and effectively. 
  • Nurture relationships with their staff.
  • Create a psychologically safe work environment .
  • Understand what employees classify as meaningful.
  • Provide meaningful work based on employees' needs and goals.

Managers who prioritize bolstering employee morale and well-being can increase workplace productivity, improve retention, attract top talent, and give their organization a competitive edge.

Here are six ways to measure employee morale:

1. Conduct a morale survey

Conducting a company-wide survey is an efficient way to monitor employee morale without using too many resources. To conduct a successful survey, be sure to ask the right questions and use the answers from those questions to make improvements. 

For instance, an important question to ask is ‘does our company mission/purpose make you feel like your job is important?’ 

You’ll also need to create a scale to help you measure the level of morale. 

For instance, if an employee answers ‘yes’ to only three out of ten questions, you can conclude that their morale is considered low. If they answer ‘yes’ to six questions, you can conclude that their morale is medium. 

2. Check employee history

Checking employee history often includes sound indicators of morale variations and trends. 

Some indicators to look for are absenteeism, production quality, training records, and the number of grievances the file. 

Be sure to look for any high fluctuations that indicate low morale and gently discuss these fluctuations with employees. 

3. Conduct one-to-one interviews

Conducting one-to-one interviews is an effective and direct way to see what employees think about their work, co-workers, managers, and the organization. 

To conduct an effective interview, be sure to select the questions you’re going to ask beforehand and create a scale to help you measure the level of morale. 

It’s also important to document the information you receive from every employee you interview, so you can look for patterns and trends over time. 

4. Observe employees at work

Observing employees at work should be a natural and common part of any manager’s role. 

In practice, managers should find adequate time to carefully observe employee actions and behavior, document what they see, and gently meet with employees to discuss improvements.

The key to successful observation is positive intent. Don’t use observation as a way to pick at employees, but as a way to help them flourish in their careers. 

5. Conduct group interviews

Conducting group interviews is a great way to monitor group dynamics behind the scenes. 

To conduct a successful group interview, create your questions and scale ahead of time. Make sure each team understands that the purpose of the interview is to gather information and improve — not to put anyone on the spot or embarrass them. 

Group interviews also encourage employees to put their heads together and create improvements as a team. 

6. Monitor performance data

If your company provides productivity metrics for each team member, you’ll be able to follow their performance data to spot patterns, like on-time delivery rates and team member output. 

If you notice consistent patterns of poor performance, have a conversation with employees about what changes you can make to help them feel like their work is meaningful.

actors-that-negatively-impact-morale-boost-employee-morale

The following 10 factors can negatively affect employee morale: 

1. Lack of meaning

As we touched on before, morale slowly starts to decline, and unhealthy behaviors begin to surface when employees lack meaningful work.

2. Poor company morale

When team members have to go into a toxic environment every day, they’re disengaged, stressed, and more likely to embody low company morale as their own. Eventually, these team members will be unproductive, or they’ll choose to switch to a less harmful organization. 

3. Lack of recognition or incentives

Employees want to know that their good work isn’t going unnoticed, and many appreciate being rewarded for it whenever possible. But managers who have a consistent pattern of only pointing out mistakes create a breeding ground for low morale. 

4. Misalignment with company values

Employees who are unaligned with a company’s mission, purpose, or values may experience low morale or eventually leave the company. 

5. Lack of proper tools

Providing employees with the right tools and resources to do their jobs is essential to encouraging productivity and high morale. 

6. No preventative care options

Companies that don’t provide preventive care options to help employees enhance their mental fitness and cope with workplace stress may negatively impact employee morale and work quality.

7. Low job satisfaction

Employees who are unsatisfied with their jobs may struggle to maintain positive morale at work. 

8. Poor leadership

Employees struggle with productivity and morale when they don’t have trust, confidence, or respect for their managers — especially if managers micromanage, bully, or can’t clearly and kindly communicate expectations. 

9. Lack of opportunities 

Employees lacking opportunities to develop their careers may see a lag in their morale.

10. No autonomy 

Employees need to feel as though their company trusts them enough to work when, how, and where they like. If employees can’t take ownership of their work, it can negatively impact their morale.

how-to-boost-employee-morale-boost-employee-morale

Now that we’ve covered why employee morale is important, how to measure it, and what factors influence it, we’ll go over some team morale boosters that organizations can start implementing.

Here are seven ways to boost workplace morale: 

1. Measure employee morale regularly and make positive changes

One of the best ways to boost workplace morale is by consistently monitoring and measuring employee morale and using employee feedback to make positive changes. 

It’s also important to meet with employees individually and in teams to collect feedback and collaborate on improvements. 

2. Understand what employees consider meaningful

Understand what employees consider meaningful and use it as a foundation for their work responsibilities and future growth plan.

3. Provide proper tools/stay up-to-date with new tools

Help employees remove frustrating barriers and increase their productivity by giving them the best, fastest, up-to-date, and most efficient tools possible. 

It’s also important to provide coping tools and stress management tools so employees can enhance their mental fitness. This could mean offering preventative care services, company training, coaching , or off-site workshops.

4. Strengthen/coach managers

Managers directly impact morale and engagement in the workplace. 

Be sure to coach your managers on emotional intelligence, monitoring and supporting morale, giving feedback and recognition, communication, and effective leadership styles. 

Managers should also consider implementing an open-door policy, so team members feel comfortable giving feedback and sharing concerns whenever necessary.

5. Create a growth plan with employees

Help employees advance their careers by creating a career development plan that outlines what employees need to accomplish to get a promotion, meet the organization’s goals, and improve their skills.

6. Find the balance between employee independence and accountability 

While many employees crave autonomy at work, many employers crave accountability. Find the balance between the two by creating clear and fair boundaries that support both independence and accountability. 

For instance, you may consider giving employees the freedom to design their own schedules, but you may hold them accountable for that schedule by having them log their work hours.

7. Recognize and reward employees 

Include employee recognition and employee feedback as part of your company-wide procedures. 

This can mean anything from setting up employee appreciation programs to offering rewards for hitting certain metrics to simply saying, “excellent work today, thank you.”

Proactively managing morale is just as important in remote work as it is for onsite locations.

Navigating employee morale looks more or less the same in remote work as it does for onsite locations, except for one crucial difference: physical distance.

Since physical interactions don’t exist, managers need to find creative ways to build relationships with remote employees through video calls, phone calls, chat, email, and other means of online communication. 

It’s also important to ensure that remote employees can still feel company culture even though they’re at home. 

Finding new ways to convey culture, like scheduling a group video ‘coffee chat’ or sending inspirational emails, is essential to fostering that connection.

Ready to boost employee morale?

Positive employee morale is crucial for organizations that want to attract top talent, reduce turnover, and have happy, engaged employees. 

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Elizabeth Perry

Content Marketing Manager, ACC

Employee recognition: your guide to boosting morale

Improving digital employee experience (dex): 6 virtual retention ideas, 4 reasons you're losing employees — and how to stop it from happening, measuring and managing employee satisfaction for stronger teams, new research reveals how to supercharge the employee experience, how high employee turnover hurts your company, 17 pulse survey questions to ask before reopening the office, understanding pay transparency and its importance, announcing the employee experience index: why moving beyond engagement is essential, similar articles, 10 employee engagement strategies to retain your top talent, 20 employee feedback survey questions — and tips to get started, employee relations: an overview and best practices, how to build a healthy workplace environment, struggling with employee engagement this guide can help, 5 ways to foster employee loyalty (and why you should), 7 tips for prioritizing employee health, want to boost retention and morale 11 employee incentives to try, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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  • How team morale impacts employee perfor ...

How team morale impacts employee performance

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When you're building a team, you're looking for team members with the right skills to help your organization achieve its objectives. Part of helping your team achieve their full potential is making sure they’re supported and engaged at work. This is where team morale comes in. As your team grows, how do you create—and maintain—high team morale and job satisfaction across all of your team members? 

What is employee morale?

Team or employee morale is the overall outlook that employees have towards their organization or business. In this context, morale can be described as the confidence that a person or group has in your organization or business. 

Good morale means that your employee satisfaction is high—people are generally engaged at work. When you start to see low employee morale, that means your employees are discontent. Look to see if anybody is experiencing burnout or is feeling disengaged with their work. While these are very general examples, there are many aspects that can affect employee morale.

The Impact Playbook: Motivating employees in a fast-changing world

Boost motivation by helping your employees understand why their work matters. In this free ebook, learn how to create a shared sense of purpose on your team.

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3 ways to boost employee morale

Encouraging and maintaining morale starts with team leadership. As a team leader, there are a variety of things you can do to foster and maintain employee satisfaction, including:

1. Lead by example

Human beings are social creatures, and by nature, we look to those in leadership positions for cues on how to act. While everyone has their own unique way of leading, here are a few ways you can lead by example to create strong team morale:

Get involved in your team’s work. By being involved with your team, you're showing them that you not only trust them with their work, but that you’re engaged with their work. Engaged leaders better understand the work that their team does. Then, demonstrate your support by reinforcing how their individual work connects to broader business goals.

When in doubt, lead with empathy. Good leaders show employees that they care about them—not just as an employee but also as a person. Empathetic leaders give credit where credit is due, allow for flexibility when it's needed, and check in with team members regularly to see how they're feeling.

Lean into transparency. Regularly share information regarding company changes, challenges that your team is having, or even what's happening in your own life. Showing your team that you're also human creates a safe space for them to share their candid feelings as well.

Ask for feedback. A good leader creates opportunities for open feedback and takes that feedback to heart. Whether you do this in a 1:1, as a group, or anonymously, soliciting feedback can help your employees feel heard. That way, employees are less likely to discuss grievances with other coworkers in a way that can affect morale.

2. Build trust within your team

When you build trust with your team, you’re sharing the responsibility so that everyone is empowered to do their jobs effectively and autonomously. You can do this by giving them the freedom to make decisions and encouraging them to grow their skillsets. When you trust your employees to make good decisions, they’ll feel more confident that their voice and opinion matter. This benefits the entire team because every team member can share their individual strengths and perspectives and put them to use in a meaningful way.

When your team is working hard, remember to give your employees the appreciation they deserve. Identify team members who are making an impact and recognize them for the specific work they have contributed. A blanket statement doesn’t do much for employee morale, but highlighting specific contributions shows that you care about their work and their impact on the company.

Examples of meaningful employee recognition:

“Thank you for making time to accommodate that last-minute meeting. I know you have a busy schedule so I appreciate your flexibility.”

“The extra slide that you added to the presentation brought a lot of value. Thank you for sharing your expertise.”

“Thank you for your patience handling that difficult customer. The patience you showcased is a fantastic example of what our team members should strive for.”

3. Help employees thrive outside of work

Your team’s overall well-being is just as important to their morale as workload and resources. When you’re committed to helping your employees live a healthy and satisfying life outside of work, they’re more likely to be engaged at work, creating a positive work environment for other team members. 

Work-life balance is a key part to your team’s wellbeing. If someone is juggling several deadlines, sick kids, and also trying to maintain a clear head for work the next day, that’s a recipe for burnout. According to the Anatomy of Work survey conducted by Asana, 71% of survey respondents reported feeling burnout at least once in 2020.

Enable your team to thrive by encouraging a healthy work-life balance . Offer regular breaks—extended time off—and not just daily lunch breaks. Encouraging employees to take time off not only helps employee productivity , but can also increase morale. 

Employees are also more likely to have higher job satisfaction if they have access to benefits that enable them to thrive outside of the workplace. Benefits like child care, parental leave, transportation, and healthcare can all contribute to employee engagement. These are all things outside of work that can affect someone's daily life, and when robust benefits are available, employees can focus on doing their jobs well instead of worrying about their responsibilities outside of work. While employee benefits are handled by a small section of employees, team leads can use their voice to advocate for the benefits that their team needs to thrive. 

Factors that decrease team morale

Employee morale is an important aspect of company culture that needs consistent attention and care. When you aren’t intentional about creating a strong team culture, morale can decrease. Here are a few facts that contribute to low team morale:

Stressful company culture

Many things can contribute to a stressful company culture. Frequent operational changes and high turnover rate are all things that can create high stress for employees. 

Frequent changes in an organization can cause stress on employees by making them feel unstable. If a company can't decide how to organize their team members or establish standard processes, this makes it difficult for employees to do their work effectively. For example, a team may have a manager set a specific process, and then within a few months a new manager may join and set an entirely different process. Having to switch processes in a short amount of time can cause confusion and thrash.

A high turnover rate can also cause stress to your team. Having to continually train new hires can create more work for team members. In addition to hiring, it will take time for new employees to fully ramp up. When employee turnover is high, your team doesn’t have the opportunity to focus on the work they were hired to do, but are more focused on getting new team members onboarded. If team members are constantly being cycled in and out, the work that helps companies meet their goals will take longer to complete. 

If team leads start seeing an increase in turnover rate, it’s necessary to start implementing strategies to prevent a dip in morale. Establishing strong team dynamics and cross-training team members to ensure that there’s proper coverage if another team member is out can help your team stay afloat—regardless of what’s happening at the company level. 

Unstable leadership

Leadership plays a big part in company culture and employee morale. If there are frequent changes in leadership, employees don't have enough time to establish a relationship with their manager. It’s important to take time to build a one on one relationship with your reports. Your employees need to know that they have an advocate on their side. Managers also have the responsibility of being a connection to broader company goals and outlook. If that is constantly changing, employees might not get the information they need or feel connected to the broader purpose of their work.

Similar to the lack of clarity on goals, a lack of transparency on the performance of a company as a whole can quickly lower employee morale. If employees are seeing high employee turnover, emergency meetings, and constant shifts in leadership, those are sure fire signs that something is not going right. And when leaders don’t address real challenges with authenticity and transparency, employees can lose faith in leadership and experience lower morale.

Clear communication from leadership to employees can combat these stressors. If leadership is providing clarity to employees about their roles, responsibilities, and processes, they’ll know exactly what to do to meet those goals. With more clarity, team members can work on the things that contribute directly to company goals.

Maintaining employee morale with remote work

Employee morale can change at any moment—and some of the reasons for that change may not be work-related at all. Let's take the COVID-19 pandemic for example. Many people had to drastically change their day-to-day work routines to shift—overnight—to remote work. 

The pandemic was a major external stressor that companies had very little control over. This change drastically shifted how many companies operated. To help their newly remote teams maintain morale, many companies adapted to the stressful circumstance of the pandemic by offering additional benefits and support. At Asana, we implemented global company holidays and mental health support to maintain a strong team morale and support team members as they learned how to work from home . 

Why should you care about employee morale?

Building team morale and company culture is an important step to establishing long-term employee satisfaction. But why is it so important to ensure that your company maintains high employee morale? Here are a few reasons:

Higher morale means happier employees

When employees are happy and have good work-life balance, they're more likely to produce higher quality work. Employees who experience less stress are more focused, creative and open to changes and new ideas. 

Less stressed employees also mean healthier employees. According to the Mayo Clinic , individuals who are chronically stressed can have an increased risk of health problems, such as digestive issues, muscle tension, headaches, high blood pressure, and mental health problems. When people are less stressed, these health problems are less likely to occur. Employee wellness, both physical and mental, can lead to higher productivity and less absenteeism due to health problems.

Higher morale means increased employee retention

When employees are happy and engaged and have a positive outlook on their company, they’re less likely to search for a new job. Not only that, happy employees are the best recruiters for new talent. Engaged employees are more likely to refer people to an open position and speak positively about the company.

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I strongly believe that collaboration is the key to solving the world’s biggest challenges. Working at Asana gives me the chance to help teams tackle some of the world’s biggest tasks, even if it’s in a small way by preparing our incoming new hires with the tools they need to succeed.”

High morale starts with great leadership

Your company’s leadership and culture are the foundation for strong employee morale. Interested in learning more about how you can improve leadership at your company? You can find more articles on leadership in Asana’s resource library .

10 Ways to Boost Company Morale

Table of contents.

business plan for employee morale

With stress, anxiety and uncertainty often at high levels today in and outside the workplace, it’s crucial for businesses to seek morale-boosting measures to establish and maintain a happy workforce and a positive company culture. If your business suffers from low employee morale and burned-out workers, you can implement several strategies to improve optimism and boost employee satisfaction.

How to boost and maintain employee morale

If your team’s morale is dipping, it’s time to make some changes. You can implement several strategies to boost and maintain employee morale. Instead of considering these methods as one-time solutions, integrate them into your company culture permanently.

We spoke with business leaders to identify 10 ways to boost and maintain employee morale. Here’s what they advised.

1. Align your employees with your company values.

Although many business owners subscribe to the false notion that employee morale is based on gifts, free food, Ping-Pong tables and happy hours, Rachel Lanham, a fractional CMO who advises early-stage startups, said the most important consideration is ensuring your team fits with your company’s values and goals. Clear communication is the only way to genuinely align your employees with your company’s mission .

“First, you must clearly articulate the company’s mission, vision, values and goals,” Lanham advised. “Then, it’s critical to continually and transparently communicate and reinforce this information while sharing progress (and setbacks) along the way.”

When employees understand and care about your organization’s direction, they are more likely to be invested in its success.

Share your company’s mission statement and vision statement with job candidates during the hiring process to ensure you hire employees for a cultural fit .

2. Create an open line of communication.

Your company must facilitate and encourage communication. Effective employee communication should be a two-way street. Employees should feel comfortable asking questions, speaking up during meetings and collaborating with managers and colleagues. And leadership should set clear expectations for employees so that all team members know what’s expected of them. 

“Have managers organize one-on-one catchups with each employee to make sure that communication channels remain open for employees to voice out problems they are facing or provide ideas,” suggested Kevin Lee, director at JourneyPure. “Provide managers and employees with guidelines so that employees can discuss private issues without fear of reprisal.”

3. Encourage employee feedback.

Alongside open communication, your company should foster a culture that encourages honest employee feedback and elicits input on how the company could improve. You can do this through one-on-one or companywide meetings and internal employee surveys .

“Organize town halls and meetings to update employees on company strategy and plans and invite them to provide feedback and have a discussion,” advised Edgar Arroyo, president of SJD Taxi. “Getting buy-in from employees can help you gain new ideas and make employees more invested in the company.

4. Build a culture of positive thinking – from the top down.

If you want a positive and encouraging culture, it must start with company leaders. Employees look to leaders to see how to act within a company. If you lead by example, it will create an enjoyable work environment and boost company morale.

“Positive thinking really starts with the top management of a company,” noted Monroe Gang, CEO of Atlantic Partners. “If the CEO’s mentality isn’t positive, then it will trickle down throughout the rest of the tiers within the company. As a leader, it is your responsibility to remain optimistic in the face of adversity, as well as serve as a role model for everyone else in all situations – no matter how challenging or frustrating they may be.”

5. Organize team-building activities.

Positive morale is closely tied to how employees feel about their team members. For this reason, it’s essential to host team-building activities to bring employees closer. If your team works in an office together, you can host team lunches and happy hours. However, organizing events for remote teams can be a little more challenging. Consider hosting virtual happy hours, and encourage employees to have one-on-one video chat meetings.

When it comes to team building, think outside the box or ask your team to suggest activities they’d like to do together. Whether you manage a remote workforce or a traditional, in-office workplace, show employees you care by celebrating birthdays, anniversaries and other important milestones.

Team-building activities can improve workplace collaboration , communication and performance.

6. Create an employee recognition program.

Acknowledge your staff’s exceptional and hard work through an employee recognition program. It can be formal or informal, but it should allow everyone in the company – from entry-level employees to C-suite executives – the opportunity to recognize others’ contributions. Letting employees know their hard work is being noticed and allowing them to acknowledge their teammates can boost morale and improve employee engagement .

“Have a recognition program where managers and other employees can nominate a person to be recognized for their achievements,” Arroyo suggested. “Send emails to thank or recognize employees publicly for good performance. You can also organize celebrations or treat meals for completing an important project milestone.”

7. Give performance-based incentives.

To boost employee morale, Lee suggested creating career growth opportunities for your employees based on their excellent performance. For example, give promotions internally before seeking external hires for senior positions, and provide opportunities for employees to change teams based on their skill sets and interests.

By doing so, you will encourage employees to work hard, develop their skills and achieve career goals . You can also give monetary, performance-based incentives, like employee bonuses and raises, whenever you have the financial means. This will encourage hardworking employees to stick with your company instead of seeking other career opportunities with higher pay.

8. Prioritize employee mental health.

It’s crucial to pay attention to your employees’ mental health, especially if they work long hours or have jam-packed days. Workplace stress is an all-too-common occurrence for many professionals that can adversely impact their mental health. 

Remote employees are not immune to workplace stress just because they’re not in a traditional office setting. Many remote workers have challenges achieving a healthy work-life balance and unplugging from work, which can lead to employee burnout . 

To prevent employees from becoming overwhelmed, companies should be disciplined about boundaries and encourage team members to take time off, even if just for staycations. “Demand that your team blocks time off for vacation, as well as daily time off for lunch … or an afternoon workout,” Lanham advised. “Honoring time off is the highest-impact thing you can do for your team.”

Other tips for improving employee mental health include offering flexible work policies , providing additional paid time off and encouraging frequent employee breaks throughout the workday.

9. Implement a health-and-wellness program.

In addition to mental health, your employees’ physical health is imperative to business success. Many employees with office jobs have a very sedentary workday, especially if they’re working remotely, so it can be helpful to implement a wellness program that gets them up and moving.

“Have a wellness program where your company organizes fitness classes or health education classes for your employees to learn more about improving their physical and mental health,” Lee suggested. “One fun way to improve fitness levels is to give everyone a wearable tracker, like a Fitbit, and have an office competition on who has the highest number of steps.”

10. Encourage employee development.

Employee satisfaction tends to drop when your staff doesn’t see opportunities for professional development . Encourage your employees to take on new responsibilities, and give them time to work on passion projects or development courses.

“A strategy that is oftentimes overlooked is to offer professional development courses so that employees can either build upon their current skill set or learn new knowledge that can help to propel them into an advanced position within the company,” Gang said.

Show employees a clear path for advancing within the organization. When your employees know they can grow professionally within the company, they’re more likely to stay there over the long term.

Importance of employee morale

Employee morale is crucial for multiple reasons. For one, happy employees tend to be more productive and engaged: A 2020 Gallup meta-analysis showed that employees who were engaged in their work increased profitability by 23 percent and productivity by 14 percent while decreasing absenteeism by 81 percent.

Especially as remote work remains common, businesses must pay close attention to the employee experience if they want to attract and retain top talent .

“The rise of remote work means that job-switching costs are much lower for star talent,” Lanham said. “Companies that ignore things like morale, culture and alignment will rapidly lose their edge, particularly in the knowledge economy.”

Effects of low company morale

Many companies have seen a downturn in operations as a result of poor morale among employees. If your business does not take steps to address the issue, you may suffer long-term problems, including:

  • Loss of income: The financial effects of low employee morale are staggering. According to Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report, poorly engaged or fully disengaged employees lead to $8.8 trillion in productivity loss. This figure is equivalent to 9 percent of global GDP.
  • Decreased productivity: Unhappy employees are less likely to perform job duties to the best of their abilities. According to a study by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School , happy employees are 13 percent more productive than their unhappy co-workers.
  • Chronic absenteeism: Employees who feel their supervisors don’t appreciate their hard work may miss more days at work.
  • Increased conflicts at work: When employee morale is low, disagreements among staff may be more common. Conflicts may also frequently occur between management and employees.
  • Higher turnover rates: Human resources costs increase if employees are unhappy working for your company. You will need to invest more money in hiring and training due to increased employee turnover .
  • Lack of talent retention: If your company has a poor reputation in the industry, you will have difficulty attracting quality employees.
  • Poor brand image: Consumers are less likely to remain loyal to a company that does not treat employees well.

What causes low employee morale?

Here are some reasons employee morale might be low at your company.

Employees sense a lack of communication and trust.

When employees don’t feel like they have open communication and feedback with their managers, it can lead to low morale. For example, maybe they feel they can’t safely ask questions without being ridiculed or reprimanded, or maybe they think company goals aren’t being communicated clearly. Whatever the case, ineffective communication and a lack of feedback can cause employees not to trust company leaders.

Employees are burned out.

Employee burnout is a modern business crisis. It can happen when companies place more importance on productivity than employee well-being. Employees who feel their company doesn’t care about their happiness, long-term professional goals, or company culture are more likely to burn out.

Employees feel like their work is going unnoticed.

Low employee morale can occur when workers feel like their work isn’t being recognized and there is little or no incentive to perform well.

“If there is no performance bonus and employees only receive a fixed pay, employees have no monetary incentive to do well and may seek to do as little work as possible,” Arroyo explained. “Employees who don’t receive recognition after performing well or going the extra mile for the company can lose motivation.”

Employees are overqualified or have no clear career advancement opportunities.

These two issues may be separate or intertwined. For example, if you hire overqualified employees, they will likely get frustrated or bored with their work. That could ultimately cause them to quit, thereby increasing your employee turnover rate. Similarly, low morale can occur when an employee outgrows their position and sees no clear career advancement or professional development opportunities within the company.

Additional issues relating to low morale may include inconsistent employee treatment, favoritism, low performers and office politics .

Getting your employees emotionally invested

Employees who feel deeply tied to your company and its mission and vision will do better work. That’s even truer if you set up your workplace and company culture so employees feel seen, heard and not overly stressed. This starts with encouraging clear and open communication – especially the philosophy “no question is too stupid to ask” – and continues with employee appreciation and recognition. In short, it’s just about being a kind and good person.

Max Freedman contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.

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SnackNation

How To Improve Employee Morale + 29 Ways To Improve Staff Morale In 2024

Low company morale isn’t all that tough to identify. When your employees seem more stressed and pessimistic than productive and upbeat, these are some of the warning signs of potential retention issues to come.

Can you afford to lose your top talents?

Ultimately, it’s time to evaluate ways to improve employee morale in your organization.

Improving employee morale isn’t something that gets checked off a list when it’s “done.” Frequent and sincere motivation and encouragement are key to creating a happy and healthy workplace culture. When implementing ways to boost employee morale , consider the factors that directly affect your employees’ satisfaction.

employee-morale

The company culture is driven by how each person feels about their job. These factors can include their paycheck, performance management, workload, individual responsibilities, vacation allotment, work hours, and environment, just to name a few.

Identifying your team members’ pain points and working towards improving them where you can, speaks volumes to your employees.

To help you hit the ground running, we’ve got 25 ways to improve staff morale that you can put in place tomorrow.

Ways To Improve Employee Morale

1) plan a small team activity for a random day.

Mindfulness-Bingo

Keep a small team activity ready for those days when team stress seems to be at an all-time high and employee morale is sinking fast. Your team will love you surprising them with a game seemingly out of the blue just when they need a refreshing change of pace.

There are so many small team activities available there’s literally no reason to have a few up your sleeve for critical days like these when you need to showcase your leadership abilities. Even better – incorporate wellness into your team activities!

Tip: Try Bonusly’s Mindfulness Bingo ! This free downloadable and shareable work activity provides unique mindfulness exercises that teams can incorporate into their work day!

2) Solicit Feedback And Act On It

Giving employees a voice when it comes to their work environment is a solid way to upgrade the company culture. The ripple effect of accepting and implementing employee feedback ideas can be seen and felt throughout the organization. Asking for feedback boosts employee morale, and improves job satisfaction, and the overall employee experience.

Providing channels like anonymous surveys and user generated content apps where employees can comfortably share feedback, ideas, and perspectives allows leadership to gain valuable insights into company culture and make improvements based on what matters most to their people.

Check out these employee engagement ideas for some fun and effective ways to solicit employee feedback.

Tip: You can use an employee feedback tool like WorkTango to help streamline the process.

3) Provide Healthy Snacks For Your Teams

SnackMagic

Food is fuel to our bodies. Having healthy snacks on hand while working is proven to help regulate blood sugar to avoid mid-day crashes and keep us energized and productive. Real talk… they also keep our “hangry” sides at bay so ultimately, snacks make us all a little more pleasant.

For snacks to satisfy every pallet, slow your scroll and check out these tasty office (and home office) treats .

Tip : SnackMagic offers snack boxes of all sizes so even small teams can enjoy a huge variety of healthy office snacks.

4) Provide Employees With A Suitable Workspace

Whether it’s organization, ergonomics, or aesthetics, having a convenient and comfortable workspace is a necessity. Products that make their lives easier are great and super helpful when it comes to staying organized and on track. But also, items that help to create a calmer working environment for the space where they spend quite a bit of their days.

Helping your employees define and create their workspace gives them control over their work environment and boosts morale in the ways most effective to them.

Tip: You can provide a home office stipend with a tool like Awardco to help employees create the ultimate remote workstation.

5) Allocate Projects Effectively

Employees who feel overloaded are less likely to have a positive attitude towards their jobs. The same can be said for those looking to step up and take on more responsibility but not being allowed to do so. Both are morale buzzkills. Evening out their workload not only opens up opportunities and reduces the chance of burnout, but it also shows you listen and care about their career goals and their mental health. That’s what we call being a good manager !

Prioritize these conversations and show your employees that their work-life balance and job satisfaction matter. Improving morale starts with each individual.

Tip: Providing the right tools can help to better manage how much work your employees are taking on. Tools like monday.com allow managers the best vantage point to see who’s working on what projects.

6) Organize a Team Wellness Challenge

Employee Wellness

Team wellness challenges can be hugely motivating even for otherwise passive employees. That’s simply because when you’re at work, you have no excuses! Plus, employees will love the fact that the company has taken such a visible interest in improving their health and wellness.

Getting a workout provides an instant boost to both mind and body wellness. Physically active employees get a quick happy hormone (i.e., dopamine) fix, which reflects in their ability to focus, stay engaged, and enjoy their job!

Tip: Use team wellness challenge apps like Yumuuv ! Aside from the many challenges available onsite, employees can even create wellness challenges and invite up to 10 colleagues to join them.

7) Use Spot Bonuses And Awards

business plan for employee morale

Courtesy of Bonusly

Spot rewards are typically performance-related rewards, randomly given to employees as recognition of their hard work. Spot bonuses are often smaller monetary rewards, spontaneously given, and usually in the form of cash or gift cards. Spot awards come in many varieties including public recognition, reward points, and experiences.

Dishing out spot rewards is a great way to recognize employees and the positive employee morale will show you returns on your investment for years to come.

Tip: On-the-spot recognition can be a great tool when used effectively. You can even use spot awards with remote workers via recognition points !

8) Celebrate Employee Milestones

business plan for employee morale

Milestones are monumental moments and dates that can be pinned for any reason you choose. The obvious ones like work anniversaries, birthdays, and promotions are celebratory. But whatever milestones you decide are notable, be sure they’re memorable.

Try thinking outside the cake-and-balloons box to commemorate employee milestones for a little more fun and flair. These are the moments to really show employees how vital they are to the organization.

Tip: You can enlist a service that caters directly to celebrating all kinds of employee milestones. Caroo even has a dedicated platform to make sure each milestone gets its due.

9) Plan Ways For Employees To Bond Via Team Building

Team building activities are a refreshing way to improve your company morale so you’ll want to check out these crazy fun ideas .

Tip: From virtual jeopardy to murder mystery parties , there are endless kinds of activities for your group. Looking for some more team building games and activities?

Check these out:

➤ 🏃🏽‍♀️ Wild Goose Chase

➤ 💼  Coworker Feud

➤ 👾  Team Grab Bag

10) Build Rewards And Recognition Into Your Culture

Banner-rDNA

Creating a culture of recognition is very different from simply recognizing your employees. The culture is a living, breathing force in the work environment that dictates the overall attitude of the organization. Employee recognition is no longer just a top-down concept. Allowing everyone the opportunity to express gratitude to their coworkers drives that cultural effect and improves morale across the board.

Recognition can be given in a variety of forms so here are a few ideas to help get you started.

Tip: You can recognize employees the old-fashioned way through a one-on-one meeting, but there are also several platforms that can help build daily rewards and recognition into your company culture and make it much easier to recognize a distributed workforce.

Hey! Are you looking to upgrade your employee recognition program? In just a few minutes, you can  discover your unique workplace personality for FREE and unlock insights into the types of recognition that matter most to you (and your team). Learn My Workplace Personality

11) Plan Ways For Employees To Bond Organically

City Brew Tours Beer Tours

Creating space for organic team building allows for natural interactions with no pressure to complete a task or solve a puzzle before a buzzer. Simply having some fun and sharing an experience as a group builds trust and strengthens relationships among colleagues. And a little laughter is guaranteed to reduce stress and get everyone feeling better about their day.

From sharing your playlists to Groupon days out of the office, there are a ton of ways to plan organic, morale-boosting moments with your teams. Having fun at work is an important part of creating a culture where employees feel comfortable working together.

Tip: Sometimes getting out of the office can help employees bond in a new setting. Whether it’s a beer tour through your city or a trip to the local park, a stress-free (and work-free) event can do wonders for improving employee morale.

12) Utilize Employee Incentives

Gift Card Recipient Choice

Who doesn’t like being recognized for their hard work? Maybe not on a billboard along a busy highway, but appreciation – whether subtle or bold – has a big impact on your employees. Creating reasons to reward them for the impactful things they do is priceless.

Remember! Employee incentives don’t have to be monetary. There are a TON of stellar ways to “dish recognish” with no cash involved.

Tip: If you don’t know where to start you can try sending out “Recipient Choice” gift cards that let your team members select which gift card they want the most.

13) Provide Opportunities For Your Employees To Grow & Learn

growth-development

Employee development programs create opportunities for education and advancement. Providing training builds confidence and puts your employees in charge of their futures. These advantages make employees feel valued, they help them to align more closely with your company’s goals and values, and they cultivate a loyal workforce.

Empowering employees with the skills and knowledge they need to be successful is an investment in employee satisfaction that you can’t afford to not make.

Tip: Allocating a budget for personal and professional development classes and programs can encourage employees to learn new skills without worrying about their paychecks!

14) Audit Your Tech Stack

Best Workflow Automation & Management Software Platforms To Maximize Your Productivity

Is it really necessary to enter the same information in 4 different systems? If so, why? Where do they each go? And most importantly, how can you simplify? Do a tech check! Get the right tools in place for the job without all the extras.

Streamline your systems to ensure you’re not creating more noise and unnecessary “clicks to save.” Shedding some of the excess steps and actually creating less work is a much bigger deal to your employees than you may think.

Tip: Check in with your team directly to see what tools they use, how often they use them, and which ones they can live without. You can also check out SnackNation’s list of office management tools to see if there might be blind spots in your current tech stack.

15) Create An Employee Wellness Program

Employee Wellness

Being supportive of your employees’ well-being is a perk worth talking about. Wellness programs can be easily implemented and reap huge rewards for your employees. These activities should be fun and engaging.

Wellness programs support mental health and reward employees with stress-relieving events and activities that play a big part in keeping the company morale on the upswing.

Tip: The folks at Terryberry create wellness programs centered around experiences. Wellness gifts are nice, but can’t come close to experiencing something new!

16) Review Which Perks You Offer And Which Perks You Are Missing

Not every employee will find value in each perk you offer. Do a check-in. Poll the audience. Find out which ones are utilized and appreciated and which ones, not-so-much, then clean house. Also, consider how perks for remote employees may vary from those working on-site and cater to them accordingly.

Having a bucket full of benefits that no one takes advantage of is useless. Perks come in all shapes and sizes so be sure you’re offering the right ones to your team.

Tip: Options! Not all employees are the same which means from office snacks to 401(K) matches, offering a wide variety of perks can directly affect employee retention and staff morale.

17) Provide More Transparency Regarding Company Decisions

Keeping employees in the dark when it comes to their bread and butter is like lighting a match to your employee morale. Allowing them to understand also empowers them to make a difference. Informed employees are aware of the state of the business and engaged in how their roles contribute to the bigger picture.

Transparency from the top down builds trust from the bottom up. Motivated employees who trust their leaders are less likely to be sending resumes elsewhere.

Tip: A company all-hands-on-deck meeting can be an easy way for leadership to speak directly to all employees.

18) Create A “Culture Team” To Dedicate Time Towards Promoting A Positive Company Culture

Transforming your company culture isn’t one person’s job. This too takes a village. Recruiting a team that’s able to identify the causes of employee dissatisfaction and correct them where possible, not only shows your employees they have a say in their work environment, it empowers them to want to make the changes necessary to improve morale.

Getting the right people to volunteer for your “Culture Team” can make a dramatic difference in your staff morale, employee satisfaction, and turnover rate.

Tip: This can’t be forced! If there are employees who are excited to join, make it happen and give them the freedom to try new things.

19) Send a Personalized Message From the Team

CareCards

A digital greeting card or eCard can be a great way to boost team morale by shouting out one colleague in particular. Simply select the eCard of your choice, distribute it to your team members, and let them send personalized messages thanking their coworkers.

One ecard service, CareCards , allows you to add memorable photos, personalized categories, emojis, and all sorts of fun add-ons to your card.

Tip: Try out CareCards for FREE and send your first eCard out to celebrate your colleague!

20) Institute Summer Fridays

Depending on how you work the schedule, this could essentially equate to half-day Fridays, every other week… ALL SUMMER LONG! These kinds of nonmonetary rewards are just as (if not more) valuable than tangible gifts. On average, this comes down to 24 extra hours of summer sunshine, peace, and time for them .

Rewarding employees with a few extra hours each of personal time, especially during the brightest months of the year, supports their mental health and encourages a healthy work-life balance.

Tip: Let employees choose which Fridays they want to take to exercise this morale-building perk. Just make sure their managers know!

21) Offer Flexible Work Hours

Optimal productivity time isn’t exactly a standard 9-5 expectation anymore. Making time for vet appointments, dental cleanings, and life, in general, can be taxing. Ultimately, seeing an effective and efficient performance is more important than whether they work better at 11 am or 11 pm.

Allowing flexibility in their remote or hybrid work hours builds trust in your employees and your leadership teams. Being able to plan both business and personal meetings without scrutiny lets employees take ownership of their responsibilities and fuels their drive for success.

Tip: Scheduling a daily check-in can be a good way to communicate directly if you and your employees are working at different times. You can also work with a company like Bambee to create customized work schedules and policies by department, team, and employee.

22) Provide Structures In Place So Employees Can Log Off After Work

business plan for employee morale

Everyone deserves time to unwind and let go of the workday. The pressures and stress don’t have to follow your employees home to their families. Setting hard stops lets everyone know it’s okay to flip the switch off until tomorrow (or Monday).

Setting healthy work boundaries is a great way to help employees destress and unplug from their days. Respecting their free time is a morale booster you can’t measure in a survey. Good leadership teams know the importance of recharging. Finding the balance between pushing hard and resetting is important to staff morale.

Tip: It starts with you! If leadership takes this time off, their employees will follow.

23) Identify Employees Who May Be Getting Burned Out And Set Up One-On-Ones To Check-In

employee-burnout

Employee burnout is a direct line and a very short trip straight to poor morale and high turnover. Having an opportunity to express their frustrations can be the best 15 minutes of your employees’ entire week, simply because they’re being heard . Touch base. Check-in. Find out how you can help lessen the load.

Identifying employees’ pain points and reducing some of the stress that’s leading to burnout is invaluable for them as well as the company’s morale.

Tip: Not every work problem can be eliminated but if you can minimize the impact, it’s well worth your time to try. Slow down, pump the brakes, and engage in these conversations. Most importantly, listen to understand , not necessarily to respond.

24) Provide Opportunities For Employees To Give Back To Your Community

community engagement is one way to keep employees happy

Working in the community has a profound effect on the people you’re serving and those performing the work. Creating opportunities for charitable team-building activities or volunteer events benefits your collective community, as well as provides an opportunity for employees to get involved in causes they’re personally passionate about.

For some feel-good charitable community ideas, check out this list of charity team building activities we have on deck.

Tip: We tried out the Bike Buildathon and had an amazing time! Never underestimate the power of giving!

25) Establish Dedicated PTO Time So Employees Don’t Have To Worry About Scheduling Vacation Days

Establish Dedicated PTO Time

Some employees actually struggle to use all their vacation time by the end of the year. Others battle scheduling conflicts with other employees and may not have enough seniority to be approved. Setting up dedicated paid time off ensures that everyone can make their plans with no threat of work getting in the way.

Employee rewards and recognition aren’t just applicable to individuals, they can apply to your collective group as well.

Tip: Ask your employees when they most prefer to have off and do your best to please the majority while keeping the state of your business in mind.

26) Cut Down On Unnecessary Meetings ( “This could’ve been an email” )

We’ve all been there. Deep into a project and a meeting reminder pops up. You stop everything, switch gears, and ultimately lose that momentum. Two minutes in, you realize it didn’t need to be a meeting at all. Cutting out the unnecessary calls and meetings that disrupt your employees’ day allows them to focus on their more impacting and gratifying responsibilities.

Pop into SnackNation’s Productivity Guide for some other surprisingly simple ways to increase your employees’ efficiency and productivity.

Tip: Identify when your meetings are intended to be interactive vs informational and consider making the latter an email instead.

27) Kick Off Summer With A Field Day

business plan for employee morale

Courtesy of Outback Team Building

Shake off the spring showers and get everyone out of the building for a field day. You could plan a team-building activity like a scavenger hunt through the city, or something quieter like a museum tour. Getting out of the office for some coworker fun can have a profound effect on employee morale.

Whatever you plan for your field day, be sure everyone is represented in your company’s custom swag !

Tip: As the seasons are changing, this is a great opportunity to provide your employees with some new summer swag !

28) Offer a Raise

Percentage Raise

A pay raise is one of the easiest ways to boost employee morale. Typically, companies allocate in the range of 3 to 5% as a baseline, but this can vary depending on the performance of your employees.

Tying the raise to performance is ideal, but it isn’t always necessary. You can provide a raise for maintaining a great “can do” attitude throughout the years, long service, and even consistently going the extra mile.

Tip: Pay raises are worth investing in if your business has the budget for it simply because cash is so motivating and morale-boosting. Employees can spend or save the extra income on their personal needs as they see fit.

29) Improve Your Onboarding Process

Rippling

The first six weeks of a new job are the most crucial for employee retention. This period sets the tone for the employee experience and teaches new employees what to expect from you.

Having a solid onboarding process means your employees are informed and empowered, not confused and overwhelmed.

Tip: Utilizing a platform like Remote  can help streamline the entire onboarding process so that you and your human resources department can focus on the people.

Why Is Employee Morale Important? 

Cultivating a healthy workplace culture can be derailed if the employees have a negative attitude toward their jobs or their working environment. Your employees’ attitudes at work play a major role in their interactions with colleagues, their ability to perform to their potential, and their overall happiness in their roles.

Working in an environment with low employee morale is directly linked to job dissatisfaction and ultimately, higher turnover rates.

What Are The Benefits Of A Strong Staff Morale?

staff-morale

If you’re wondering how boosting employee morale is advantageous to your organization as a whole, here are 5 benefits to consider:

✅  Benefit 1 – High employee morale equals high retention rates because happy employees stay where they’re valued .

✅  Benefit 2 – Teamwork makes the dream work and high team morale drives better collaboration among colleagues.

✅  Benefit 3 – Happy employees sleep better at night and well-rested employees are less stressed and more focused.

✅   Benefit 4 – Strong employee morale makes it easier to simply show up each day, so your employees aren’t as likely to need those “mental health days” quite as often and absenteeism stays low.

✅  Benefit 5 – Positivity breeds productivity, so when your teams feel good about what they do and where they work, they’re more detailed and creative in their roles.

People Also Ask These Questions About How To Improve Employee Morale

Q: what are some ways to improve employee morale in 2024.

  • A: Some ways to improve morale include establishing effective rewards and recognition programs, soliciting feedback from your employees (and using it to make improvements), and planning regular team building activities.

Q: How do I know when my staff morale is low?

  • A: You’ll know your staff’s morale is low when you notice an uptick in your turnover rate. Ultimately, you don’t want to get to this point so keep an eye open for performance issues, increased absenteeism, and overall poor attitudes.

Q: How do I improve staff morale?

  • A: You can improve staff morale by keeping employees informed, motivated, and engaged. Find out what they want and do what you can to support their requests.

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About SnackNation

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Employee Morale: Why it Matters and 9 Ways to Boost It

business plan for employee morale

Free Case Study!

Glassdoor recently released its top 100 best places to work , and we weren’t surprised to see several of our customers — including Qualtrics, Workday, Adobe, and Meta — on the list.

Because our customers believe in the power of employee influencers and invest in their people, which contributes to high levels of employee morale.

Let’s take a look at exactly why employee morale is so important, as well as how you can measure it and steps you can take to improve it at your organization.

What is Employee Morale and Why is it Important?

Employee morale is the attitude or outlook that people have about their work and place of employment.

However, it’s about more than just how an employee feels about their job. It’s also about how they approach their daily tasks, how invested they are in the company’s mission and values, and what kind of attitude they have about the company’s direction.

Employee morale is significant because it’s tied directly to such important things as employee engagement , job satisfaction, employee retention, and overall productivity.

Organizations with high employee morale tend to have healthy cultures, engaged employees, and enviable employer brands .

Those with low employee morale…well, let’s just say they’re not the kind of companies your people will advocate for . At least not in a positive way.

How Can You Measure Employee Morale?

Any workplace could benefit from a morale boost, but the best way to know if your workforce is in dire need of a pick-me-up is to actually measure employee morale. Here’s how to do just that.

Conduct an employee morale survey.

Send out an anonymous survey company-wide to see how people feel about their work, benefits, company culture, and more.

Here are the kind of questions to include:

  • On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate employee morale at the company?
  • How do you perceive morale at the company?
  • Do you get recognition for your work?
  • What is your relationship like with your manager?
  • Do you feel that leadership cares about you as a person?
  • How satisfied are you with your compensation and benefits?

Also, be sure to include a field where employees can provide feedback and make their own suggestions to improve employee morale.

Conduct employee interviews.

Asking your employees directly can be an effective way to gauge employee morale and generate ideas to improve it — but only if people feel comfortable providing honest feedback.

To get the most out of an employee interview — whether it’s one-on-one or in a group situation — you must already have a culture that welcomes feedback and fosters psychological safety.

If employees don’t feel safe expressing their thoughts or feel like the company values them or their opinions, conducting an in-person interview can be a waste of time and an anonymous survey will be a much more effective way to measure employee morale.

Assess engagement levels in your employee influencer program.

If you have a social-sharing or employee advocacy solution in place, you’ve already taken a huge step to boost employee morale. But a tool like EveryoneSocial can also provide excellent insights into how happy and engaged your workers are.

Take a look at how your team uses the program and answer these questions:

  • Who’s participating?
  • What are they creating and sharing?
  • What kind of conversations occur?
  • How engaged are employees with internal and external content?

everyonesocial roi dashboard

EveryoneSocial makes this kind of assessment a breeze with our ROI dashboard that gives you immediate insights into engagement, reach, clicks, and shares.

everyonesocial leaderboard

Plus, our leaderboard reveals your most engaged users — and motivates them to get more involved.

Observe employees.

Managers are accustomed to keeping an eye on employees to assess their performance and ensure things are running smoothly, but it’s also important to train them to recognize signs of low employee morale.

This can be more challenging in companies that are entirely remote, but managers can still take the pulse of employee attitudes by paying attention to workers’ behavior during calls and video conferences and by observing how they collaborate and communicate via email and other communication tools like Slack.

What kind of behaviors indicate low employee morale? Negative attitudes, missed deadlines, poor work quality, uninformed employees, and an uptick in gossip can all point to a workplace in need of a morale boost.

Analyze the available data.

You may not already have results from a recent employee morale survey, but you no doubt have access to other data that can provide useful insights.

Review employee performance data, training participation records, absenteeism, grievances filed, and any other data your organization tracks that could shed light on workplace morale.

How to Boost Employee Morale

Measuring employee morale — even if you discover that your workforce is in desperate need of a pick-me-up — is a great first step to improving morale because you’ve already demonstrated that your employees’ happiness and job satisfaction is a priority.

Now let’s take a look at several other ways you can boost employee morale at your organization.

1. Live the company mission.

Seventy-five percent of employees believe that well-defined goals and values cultivate a positive work culture, but only 23% of U.S. employees say they can apply their organization’s values to their daily work.

This disconnect contributes to lower morale because employees feel disconnected from their work and the organization as a whole.

The answer? Define your company values and identify ways to incorporate them into every aspect of the organization so that the company truly practices what it preaches.

REI is a great example because its mission to “inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship” is central to every aspect of the employee experience, from hiring and training to service projects and company perks, so it’s not surprising the company is consistently rated one of the best places to work .

Organizations like REI that truly live the company mission effectively attract workers whose own values closely align with the company’s, and employees are happier and more engaged as a result.

2. Keep employees informed.

Employees want to be in the know about important company information — this contributes to employee empowerment and allows them to make better decisions.

However, about 75% of employees say they miss out on important company news, and they often cite breakdowns in communication as the cause for most failures at work.

Streamlining your company communications is an effective way to boost employee morale, and it impacts your bottom line as well — connected employees show productivity increases of 20-25% .

Want a simple and effective way to do this? EveryoneSocial’s content newsletters are the answer.

everyonesocial content newsletter

Easily set them up one time and schedule them to send to employees on a regular basis. They automatically pull in trending posts, specific group updates, employee-generated content, and more.

Plus, every employee receives a newsletter customized specifically to them filled with content they haven’t yet engaged with.

3. Make regular feedback part of your culture — and take action.

Employees need to feel they have a voice and that their opinions matter, so give them plenty of opportunities to provide feedback — way more than just an annual engagement survey.

A formal feedback process is great and can include regular surveys and reviews or a virtual suggestion box that employees can submit to anytime.

However, to truly make feedback part of your culture, feedback should be welcomed at every possible opportunity. You can do this by concluding meetings with question-and-answer sessions or encouraging managers to ask employees for their opinions about matters on a day-to-day basis.

Once you have this feedback, show employees that their opinions matter and that you’re committed to making improvements by actually implementing change.

Workers who feel “heard” by leaders are five times more likely to do their best work and the entire organization will experience higher employee morale.

4. Provide top-notch benefits that prioritize employee well-being.

Employees are happier and more productive — and they feel more valued — when their employer provides them with more than just the bare minimum of benefits.

So if you truly want to boost employee morale, take a look at your benefits package.

What do you give your workforce besides a paycheck? Do you provide more than just basic health insurance?

Your benefits package should prioritize well-being, which encompasses not only employees’ physical health, but also mental health, happiness, and professional development.

Workers who feel like their employers invest in their overall well-being are more engaged, more likely to stay, and more likely to recommend the company to others.

Benefits packages can be expensive, but not providing them can take an even larger toll on your bottom line. A Gallup poll found that when employees are least happy and least engaged, the annual per-person cost of lost productivity totaled nearly $30,000.

These days, health insurance, paid vacation, and 401Ks are expected benefits of full-time employment, but there are countless other perks you can provide that’ll show your workforce that you value them and their well-being.

Need a little inspiration of what else to give your employees? Check out the enviable benefits these top companies offer .

5. Strengthen manager relationships.

Managers have an incredible impact on employee morale, and management’s engagement directly affects team engagement.

In fact, 34% of U.S. employees are engaged at work, which aligns with the 35% of U.S. managers who also report being engaged.

Plus, workers say that 75% of great managers have a good attitude and are passionate about their work, which research shows is contagious, positively impacting their subordinates.

But there’s more to great managers than just their own personal engagement.

One of the most effective ways to boost employee morale is to provide workers with managers they trust and respect, and that training begins at the top by coaching leadership on communication, giving and receiving feedback, emotional intelligence, and how to foster psychological safety in the workplace.

6. Offer development opportunities.

To improve employee morale, workers need to feel supported not only in their current roles, but also in future ones. That’s why it’s so important to provide employees with opportunities for their professional development and advancement.

This can take many forms, such as offering one-on-one professional coaching, providing access to programs like LinkedIn Learning, or encouraging employees to attend classes or conventions that the company foots the bill for.

linkedin learning for employee empowerment

Managers can show their investment in their people by working with employees to develop personalized growth plans to establish goals and outline steps to achieve them.

7. Include them in your advocacy program.

Companies reap numerous benefits from social-sharing programs: they have greater reach, higher engagement, and a better employer brand, just to name a few.

But advocacy programs also provide numerous perks to employees, allowing them to expand their networks, grow their personal brands , improve their industry knowledge, and much more.

Inviting every employee to participate in your social-sharing program also shows that you value them and want them to have a voice, which can do wonders for boosting employee morale.

8. Recognize and reward employees.

According to Harvard Business Review, 82% of employees don’t think their managers recognize them enough, and 40% say they’d put more effort into their work if they were recognized more.

Giving out this kind of recognition — even if it’s simply acknowledgment during a meeting or an internal thanks via Slack — goes a long way in boosting employee morale.

Recognized employees feel seen and appreciated, and their teammates are often motivated to earn their own recognition when they witness their co-workers’ public acknowledgement.

Employee recognition also has several other benefits, including higher employee engagement, improved retention, and stronger’ relationships with leadership.

You can establish a formal recognition system and even award employees with gifts or bonuses, but don’t underestimate the value of a simple public thanks for a job well done.

15five employee high five

Another great way to acknowledge employees is to use a tool like Lattice or 15five to easily allow everyone in the company to recognize each other.

Keep in mind that employee recognition doesn’t have to be entirely work- or performance-related.

laurajmoss employee recognition

Recognize your people for their passions, contributions, and activities outside of the workplace as well. This shows employees that you see them as more than just workers — and it shows your followers just how awesome your people are.

9. Organize team-building activities.

People who feel connected to their managers and co-workers and are invested in those relationships experience greater employee morale, so be sure to provide opportunities for workers to get to know one other.

This could take the form of in-person meetups or team outings, but with the rising number of remote workers , these kinds of activities increasingly take place virtually.

From virtual happy hours and monthly “watercooler chats” set up via Donut to online office games and virtual break rooms, there’s no shortage of things you can do to build rapport among workers and boost employee morale.

Recently, our marketing team participated in an art heist via a virtual escape room, and now we’re thick as thieves.

virtual escape room

Here are ten virtual team-building ideas your remote team will actually want to participate in.

Improve Employee Morale with EveryoneSocial

Remember those best places to work we mentioned earlier?

They use EveryoneSocial to keep their employees informed, connected, and engaged, so it’s no wonder they foster such incredible employee morale.

If you’re committed to improving employee morale at your organization, try us out. You might as well.We have a free-forever plan and you can get started today , so what are you waiting for?

More posts related to human resources, why b2b companies should invest in employee advocacy for career development.

Staying relevant is essential for any business, but staying ahead of the curve isn’t always easy. Areas that many companies…

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Home Employee Engagement

Employee Morale: Definition, Affecting Factors, and How to Boost Morale

Employee Morale

It is no secret that employees with good morale levels have a better perspective regarding their work. They feel more secure in their role, inspiring them to work hard and accomplish more as a team. They have a shared vision and know teamwork is the best way to ensure their company’s long-term success. After all, happy employees want your company to thrive.

LEARN ABOUT:   Workforce Planning Model

Content Index

  • Employee Morale: Definition
  • 5 Factors Affecting Employee Morale

Importance of Employee Morale

4 simple tips to boost employee morale, employee morale.

Employee morale is the attitude, satisfaction , and overall outlook of employees during their association with an organization or a business.  If your organization has a poor culture then there will be adverse effects like low productivity, low employee satisfaction, etc. It can most certainly lead to greater employee attrition , just to begin with. 

Tips For Your Workplace

1. Stay connected with your employees: Feedback is an effective mechanism to stay in touch with your employees. For example, deploy an employee engagement survey at timely intervals to get first-hand employee feedback about how engaged or motivated are your employees. 

2. Your managers must be coaches: Over the last decade or so, the definition of a manager has slightly shifted from being a taskmaster to a coach. Your managers should be like coaches. They should be able to help employees learn and grow within the organization. A good manager or a supervisor will not only motivate an employee to perform better but also help them resolve problems and related issues.

3. A good workplace culture: Like you cannot simply induce employee engagement , you cannot expect that a negative work culture will help induce high morale. Good company culture will help employees settle in faster especially the new employees. New employees are most susceptible to workplace gossip. One negative word can make them doubt their decision to be in the organization thus affecting your employee Net Promoter Score .

LEARN ABOUT: Work culture

Employee morale is important because it’s linked directly to employee engagement, job satisfaction , employee retention, and overall productivity. With good employee morale, employees are more likely to be engaged, be more productive, and have a better quality of life. Low employee morale limits productivity and can affect your employee’s health and wellbeing.

5 Factors To Consider

Employee morale is a complex phenomenon and depends on various factors. Here is the different criterion that affects employee morale:

1. The organization’s employee morale:

While it may sound surprising, the organization itself is one of the biggest and most important factors that affect employee morale. An organization influences an employee’s attitude towards his/her work. The corporate reputation of an organization can certainly build up for better or worse, their attitude towards it.

2. Type of work:

The nature of work an employee is performing at his/her workplace also is greatly responsible to determine the morale.  It can make situations worse for an employee. Therefore, an unorganized organizational structure also affects employees, if the employee feels that he/she is just a cog machine in a factory line, instead of a real person, this too may adversely affect their morale.

3. Personal attributes:

Mental and physical health play an important role in determining employee morale. There are also other important factors that concern their progress and in turn their morale: age, education qualification, years of experience, occupational levels, reward perception, and similar factors.

LEARN ABOUT:  Employee Rewards Ideas for Employee Engagement

4. Supervision and feedback:

The level of supervision received by an employee is a tremendous factor that affects morale. If the employees feel they have no direction or don’t understand the organizational goals and commitments, then it is the job of the superiors and the leadership in the organization to get them on the same page. But there should not be too much interference too if the employees are given the freedom to work their morale will be high.

5. Work-Life balance influences employee morale:

Most organizations fail to recognize the importance of a healthy work-life balance. It is important that the employees have some activities to relax while they are at work. It’s not just about the foosball culture or an inventory stuffed with food. Forbes magazine emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle for employees to increase productivity and boost levels of employee satisfaction. 

Learn more: 15 Employee Morale Survey Questions You Need to Ask

Employee morale is determined by how employees view their work environment and their overall level of satisfaction in their workplace. Employee morale has a direct effect on employee retention . A disinterested or unhappy employee will not stay for long in an organization where he/she cannot rationalize their goals and progress with.

Here are the 4 simple ways of boosting employee morale in your workplace as mentioned by HR leaders across the globe:

Tips to Boost Employee Morale

1. Streamline work based on skills:

It is important for Human Resources to recruit and assign people based on their skill set. You cannot hire a lawyer and expect him/her to carry out tasks that you would expect an engineer to do. Allowing people to work based on their competency is a win-win situation for both employees and employers.

2. Train them well for professional development:

Most organizations fail to understand the importance of training their staff. Be it employee onboarding or any other formal training process, employees should be well-equipped to perform their tasks at work and achieve their goals. There should be a budget assigned at the start of the financial year that facilitates the training and development program.

This training will help employees sharpen their skills, which will not only employee benefit them but also the organization. A well-organized and self-sufficient workforce is every organization’s dream, so pay for these courses that ignite imagination and spark curiosity, build confidence and lead to a high morale workforce.

3. Recognize and reward employees to boost employee morale:

Employee recognition and reward keep your workforce motivated. When, as a leader, you create an environment where good work is appreciated, employees feel empowered and take a personal interest in the tasks they are assigned to them.

The purpose of employee recognition should be to reinforce what an organization wants an employee to do more. When an employee performs well make sure to applaud his/her hard work and achievements. 

4. Be open to feedback:

Many organizations today, promote the open door policy, where an employee is free to express what they feel to their superiors or their reporting authority because they are open to continuous feedback .

LEARN ABOUT:  Behavioral Competency

Employees need to feel they can come to their managers. Therefore, this will create a healthy and reoccurring feedback loop that will improve your team. Instead, be receptive to feedback , transparency is the need of the hour for most organizations and so it should be.

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Human Resources | How To

Top 5 Ways to Boost Employee Morale

Published October 20, 2023

Published Oct 20, 2023

Heather Landau

REVIEWED BY: Heather Landau

Robie Ann Ferrer

WRITTEN BY: Robie Ann Ferrer

1. Measure Employee Morale

  • 2. Provide Growth & Teambuilding Opportunities

3. Train Managers

4. encourage disconnection from work, 5. offer great benefits.

  • Why Employee Morale Is Important
  • Common Causes of Low Morale

Bottom Line

Maintaining positive employee morale is essential for a successful business. Boosting employee morale can be done through various means, such as creating a positive work environment, providing feedback and recognition, and developing a sense of community. By implementing these strategies, businesses can also improve employee satisfaction and productivity.

The best way to know how to boost employee morale is to review data regularly and then act on it by speaking with your team about their needs, training your managers, encouraging people to take time off, and reviewing your benefits package. Below are five ways to boost morale at work.

Before you can take action, you first need to measure employee morale to identify what you must improve on. Here are some approaches you can take to measure it.

Conduct Anonymous Surveys

One of the best ways to get a genuine sense of employee morale is through anonymous surveys. Some employees are understandably suspicious of whether a survey is truly anonymous, so use an established platform to gather these results. Many platforms gather and compile results for you, using aggregate data that shows trends in your company.

SurveyMonkey, which is one of our recommended employee survey tools , offers a free platform where you can create unlimited surveys with up to 10 questions each. Responses are anonymous and can integrate with third-party software, such as Salesforce—delivering your results right to your network.

Visit SurveyMonkey

You can also create your own survey or customize our free Employee Engagement Survey below.

FILE TO DOWNLOAD OR INTEGRATE

Employee Engagement Survey

Employee engagement survey page 1.

Thank you for downloading!

Your survey should be short, consisting of at most 10 questions that ask employees about their happiness at work, if their manager supports them in their role, if their productivity has been recognized, if they would refer someone to work at the company, and more. These items specifically can help you understand where your employees’ morale sits.

To obtain a more concrete figure, use a scale of 1-5 to determine the morale of your employees.

1 = Not at all/never/no/poor 2 = Rarely/probably not/not great 3 = Sometimes/occasionally/maybe/decent

4 = Often/most likely/pretty good 5 = All the time/very much/yes/awesome

Surveying workers also gives you data from across the company. While you won’t know which employees answered each question, you will be able to chart this data and gain impressions. Say you asked all 10 staff members to rate their happiness on a scale of one through five—if more than one gave a low rating, you need to take action, as low morale can spread like wildfire.

According to statistics, there is a 14.9% lower turnover rate in companies that regularly conduct employee feedback surveys.

Analyze Turnover & Absenteeism Patterns

High employee turnover is usually a sign of problems in your organization and can exacerbate morale issues. When employees see colleagues leaving in droves, they get concerned about what’s going on and may become disengaged.

There are many causes of turnover, some outside of your control, so taking proactive steps to combat it can help change the trend. It’s important that you calculate staff turnover on a monthly basis and look at your historical turnover data over the last quarter, six months, and year. If you see high turnover rates at any point, you may have a morale problem.

The same is true for employee attendance issues like absenteeism. It is a problem that can have serious consequences for an organization. It can lead to decreased productivity and morale, as well as increased costs. To reduce absenteeism, employers should focus on prevention by providing remote work for commuting or travel issues, a family-related paid time off (PTO) policy for caring for loved ones, and good employee benefits, such as health insurance (i.e., free annual checkups) for those with health concerns.

According to research by the University of Warwick, happy employees work harder and are 12% more productive. As such, by working on the pain points of your employees regarding their work, not only will they have higher morale and be happier, but your business will improve in the long run.

Conduct Performance Reviews

Great managers support employees and give them the space required to succeed. While every manager should know what their team is working on and do whatever they can to support them, they shouldn’t micromanage.

Managers should review performance with each individual on their team at least once per year in a formal setting and more frequently in less formal environments. Even for informal discussions, managers should record information discussed and any relevant performance data. This data can be used to spot patterns of poor performance, which can be a clear indicator of falling morale.

Did You Know? While many companies follow an annual schedule for conducting performance reviews, employees who received meaningful feedback from their managers in the past week are four times more likely to be engaged at work , according to a Gallup survey.

2. Provide Growth & Teambuilding Opportunities

Employees want to feel like they’re a part of something bigger than themselves. They also want opportunities to grow and develop within their company and in their personal lives. If a company is stagnant or doesn’t encourage employees to better themselves, morale often drops.

Plus, without growth and new challenges, workers frequently become bored, disengaged, and unmotivated. You might even lose them, further increasing turnover and decreasing morale for those who remain.

Offering growth opportunities through training and development is one of the best ways to bring about positive changes and boost employee morale. Providing your staff the chance to know more about the teams they work with through company activities will also help them understand how to effectively interact with their colleagues in order to accomplish work goals.

We highly recommend that you do both: offer formal training programs to enhance their skills and schedule informal sessions like team building exercises to build camaraderie and trust between team members.

Did You Know? According to a Namely survey, you can keep employees motivated by inspiring them to participate in growth opportunities and setting work goals.

  • Training Programs
  • Teambuilding Activities

Training programs can help improve morale and loyalty among employees, which can be beneficial to your company. There are different types of employee training programs. Some of the most common include learning new skills, taking courses in new areas of expertise, and participating in professional development workshops.

You can enroll workers to classroom-based workshops or online learning sessions to help enhance their skills and make them better prepared for promotions. However, if you have an in-house HR team that can manage employee training tools, you may want to consider getting a learning management system (LMS) for your company.

Here are a few solutions that you can check out:

If you’re looking for more LMS options, check out our guide to the best personnel training software .

Teambuilding activities are great morale boosters at work. It allows team members to discover each other’s skills, strengths, weaknesses, and personal traits. Aside from positively impacting employee morale and productivity, these informal training sessions can lead to improved communication, stronger work relationships, and increased trust between members of the team. Ultimately, it will make employees feel more connected with their colleagues.

This can be a three-day outdoor event or simple one-day or one-hour exercises that you hold at the office. It can be for small or large teams and typically includes fun games—although, some activities can be physically taxing (like a sports challenge). For other suggestions, check out our article on teambuilding exercises for work , which contains more than 20 ideas and activities.

A quarter of the companies that joined a TravelPerk survey said that they arrange teambuilding events like simple get-togethers once every month . Nearly 70% of the respondents also prefer team lunches or dinner, while 50% are planning teambuilding activities with venues that are near their offices.

Effective staff management is crucial to improve employee morale and retention—and that begins with your managers. Your managers must have solid people management skills . Too many lack good people skills or don’t prioritize their colleagues when managing a team. Because they work directly with your employees on a micro level, they may directly affect your company’s morale levels.

Remember, workers rarely leave companies—they leave managers. When managers are overbearing, aggressive, unsympathetic, and constantly looking over employees’ shoulders, that sets a bad tone. Managers must understand that their behavior directly affects the team and be able to react to employees who need different management styles .

Training them on managing people effectively, executing proper communication, and giving recognition and feedback is crucial. Even if they aren’t the cause of low employee morale, it is their job to fix the issue. So, you must train them to spot and deal with faltering morale.

Nearly 80% of the HR professionals who joined the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) State of the Workplace survey believe that training their people managers in their roles to support their talent management strategy is a top priority.

Here are some tips on how your managers can serve as morale boosters at work through open communication and employee recognition.

Communicate Expectations Clearly

Strong communication is a key skill of managers who enhance employee morale. Your employees need to understand what you need from them. That starts by setting clear and realistic expectations for each employee and position. Leave no ambiguity when discussing what’s needed with each worker and department.

The most effective way to communicate transparently is to hold regular check-ins—tell your team what’s coming and what they can do to push an existing project over the finish line. This is also a great opportunity to speak about their morale and make sure they’re happy and getting the support they need. If it’s clear that one employee or department is struggling, don’t ignore it or try to hide the issue—that’ll only make matters worse.

  • Offer Job Clarity
  • Collaborate With Remote Employees

Employees need to understand what their role is and how it fits into the bigger picture of their organization. Too often, however, they are left with insufficient job descriptions and poor management—so they are just figuring it out. That’s not a good way to get support from your team.

If they don’t know what’s expected of them, then you can’t hold them accountable, and they won’t have any motivation to get the job done. Communicate with your team clearly and often about what’s expected of them and how you will support them.

Gallup reports that barely one-third of workers are engaged in their work . That low level can lead to toxic workplace behavior and relationships, which further reduce morale in your organization.

While employees enjoy remote work, and many companies have found it to increase productivity, it also creates collaboration problems. Video calls, chats, and emails grow stale and lack the impromptu collaboration you get by being in the same physical space. So, make sure you proactively manage morale and engage remote employees , as both are increasingly vital to your company’s success.

Did You Know? Even though collaboration with team members is typically lower with remote employees, a Gallup survey found that employees who work exclusively remote are 32% more engaged than those that work only on-site.

Recognize Employees

While maintaining good communication is key, you should also train your managers to recognize deserving employees for their contributions and achievements at work. Remind them to be on the lookout for small to big accomplishments to help workers feel valued and inspire them to do better at work.

The recognition can be a simple “pat on the back” or a formal award with a monetary reward. Managers can also verbally acknowledge their employees’ contributions during one-on-one sessions, or publicly congratulate them via an announcement posted on the company’s intranet. You can also check out our guide to showing employee appreciation , which contains more than a dozen suggestions.

Be mindful that the recognition is genuine and meaningful. Employees consider authentic recognition as a sign that they are treated with respect at work , according to a Gallup survey. Plus, workers who receive recognition are 20x more likely to feel engaged.

When companies think about ways to boost employee morale, they often overlook genuine breaks and disconnection. They think that the way to overcome a drop in morale is to dig deeper and focus intensely on work. Unfortunately, that can have the opposite effect.

Workers today are pretty terrible at taking even a lunch break, let alone a full vacation. That’s because so many companies offer PTO as a benefit but don’t encourage employees to use it. By reminding employees to disconnect, whether it’s for an afternoon or a week, you can help them get refreshed. You might be surprised by the productivity increase you’ll see.

A survey of more than 20,000 millennial and Gen Z workers, found that they want more flexible working environments . Encouraging these employees to use their PTO and allowing them flexibility during the workweek will improve their morale and productivity.

The most long-term solution for boosting employee morale is providing great employee benefits that support workers. There are different benefits types —from high-quality healthcare and retirement plans to PTO and vacation incentives. Building an exceptional benefits package will not only help you attract qualified candidates but also retain top talent.

While it can be costly at first, investing in your staff members will improve morale and productivity, increasing your company’s profitability in the long run. Some common benefits to include are:

  • PTO and other leave types (e.g., birthday leave)
  • Medical insurance (including dental and vision)
  • Retirement plans
  • Life and disability insurance
  • Flexible or remote work options
  • Employee referral program
  • Wellness programs
  • Computer equipment stipend

Did You Know? Around 52% of organizations have plans to improve flexibility and leave policies to better fit the needs of their current workforce.

Why Employee Morale Is Important to Your Business

Employee morale is critical to a business’s success for a number of reasons. Morale influences and interacts with a host of other qualities, including motivation, engagement, satisfaction, and happiness.

Employee motivation vs morale vs engagement: Although closely related and often used interchangeably, these terms are distinct. Motivation is your employees’ drive to get a task, project, or job done; it’s a personal and individual trait that can fluctuate. Meanwhile, morale is the overall satisfaction employees have with your organization. Morale is a key element of engagement, which goes even deeper, representing the internal commitment and enthusiasm an employee has for their employer.

High employee morale generally corresponds with positive developments in the other areas mentioned above, ultimately resulting in increased productivity, reduced turnover, and better-served customers. Low employee morale, of course, generally indicates the opposite and may result in lower productivity and higher turnover.

By understanding the importance of employee morale, businesses can develop strategies to improve how their employees feel about their jobs and employer.

Addressing Employee Morale & Engagement: A Case Study

Let’s take a look at how Google (and parent company Alphabet) has focused on employee morale and engagement to drive results . As one of the world’s largest companies, there are aspects of Google’s corporate culture that won’t be applicable to small and midsize businesses, but the overall approach is worth examining.

In addition to its financial success (it’s one of the world’s top 5 most valuable companies ), Alphabet/Google has consistently been named the best place to work by Forbes, Fortune, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor, among other sources.

So, how has it managed this? In large part, by aligning with the tips we’ve covered in this article.

  • Measurement: Google’s HR department is guided by science, relying on data analytics (employee turnover rate, manager-to-employee ratio, number of promotions, etc.) to provide insights and steer decision-making. Additionally, it uses Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), an annual gDNA survey, and tools such as Manager Upwards Feedback to regularly solicit feedback from across the organization.
  • Growth Opportunities: The company has made development a key tenet of its culture, which can be seen in its highly lauded Creative Time Program. This program allows employees to devote 20% of their work time to innovative projects of their choice that will challenge them and enable them to explore areas of interest or areas outside their traditional duties.
  • Management Training: Managers at Google are trained to be leaders, with a focus on what they do to support, encourage, and drive their team members to success. Being a good coach, listening, and focusing on team member well-being are some of the behaviors emphasized.
  • Breaks and Disconnection: Flexible work hours, work-life balance, and work autonomy are all major components of Alphabet’s corporate culture. The idea of disconnection is also built into the company’s actual workspace, with areas of the office meant to enable relaxation, reading, and exercise, among other nonwork activities.
  • Great Benefits: Alphabet is known for best-in-class benefits and has historically been a leader in benefits. For example, its transferable stock option program (2006) and employee death benefits (2012) were both cutting-edge offerings. It provides subsidies for various purchases, from gym memberships to electric cars, has cafeterias and snack rooms on its campus, and uses spot and peer bonuses to recognize and reward good employee work.

Another important lesson to learn from Alphabet/Google: Boosting morale and engagement is not a one-time deal. You must continuously evaluate your offerings, initiatives, and culture and make changes when necessary. In 2022, for example, when the company saw that its twice-a-year review process was hurting employee morale, it moved to annual performance reviews.

Common Causes of Low Employee Morale

There are many factors that may negatively impact employee morale. Here are some of the common causes:

  • Poor communication between the managers and employees : This can lead to confusion and misunderstandings, ultimately resulting in workers feeling unmotivated and disengaged at work.
  • Low job satisfaction: Employees who don’t feel challenged or are overworked may struggle with keeping their morale high at work.
  • Poor leadership: If the managers have poor people management skills and fail to support, guide, and inspire their teams, then it can negatively impact morale.
  • Insufficient recognition, incentives, and preventative care options: Employees who feel unappreciated or find the company’s benefits and rewards programs unattractive (or don’t meet their needs) will likely have low morale.
  • Internal changes or reorganizations: Employees may feel some frustration, anxiety, or confusion when dealing with major company changes, such as mergers, staff layoffs, restructuring, and leadership changes. If not properly managed, these scenarios may affect staff morale.

Knowing how to boost employee morale is essential to a productive and successful workplace. There are many ways to achieve this, including training your management team, providing employee development opportunities, and offering strong benefits. By implementing these strategies, you can help improve your employees’ attitudes and increase their productivity.

About the Author

Robie Ann Ferrer

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Robie Ann Ferrer

Robie Ann Ferrer is an HR expert writer at Fit Small Business, focusing on small business HR and payroll software content. She has over eight years of content writing experience, handling different topics. Robie also worked as an HR specialist for 10 years where she managed various facets of HR—from payroll and benefits to employee services and HR systems.

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