About Increasing Employee Morale

An increase in employee morale also increases productivity.

Employee morale can be defined as the relationship that an employee has with his work, company and colleagues. If morale in the workplace is high, then employees are happier, more productive and stress is reduced. In times of low morale, productivity can be severely affected and the employee can suffer mental, emotional and even physical difficulties.

Causes of Poor Morale

There are a number of causes of poor morale.

There are a number of factors that can influence an employee and result in a lowering of morale. Morale within many businesses suffer at times due to the global economic instability that causes many companies to make cutbacks and redundancies. This can have a great impact on an employee's morale, as can the promotion of an unpopular colleague, especially if the employee was overlooked for the position.

General workplace relationships can cause morale to suffer; if there is a clash of personalities between colleagues, it affects an employee's resolve to dedicate her time and effort into being productive. Other causes of poor morale include a consistently high workload, a feeling that managers do not appreciate an employee's contribution, or poor management and supervision.

Significance of High Morale

Good morale promotes team spirit and loyalty.

Increased and improved employee morale is imperative for a higher level of happiness within the workplace. These positive business relationships and attitudes are revealed through higher productivity and results that are of a high standard.

Employees working in a company in which high morale is nurtured and becomes part of the workplace culture will also be more loyal to the business, because they enjoy their place of work, the responsibilities involved and their colleagues. The Human Nature at Work website states, "Because of this [high morale], they trigger empowering emotions in their people. These emotions then fuel high productivity and fierce loyalty."

Role of Management

Managers need to play a part in improving morale.

Managers and supervisors play an integral role in the improvement of employee morale, and there are many things that they can do in order to motivate their respective team to greater productivity.

The HR World website listed "15 Ways to Boost Employee Morale" and the underlying theme to the majority of these is respect. If a manager treats his employee with respect, compassion and friendship then the employee will feel more valued by the company, therefore improving morale.

A rewards scheme will also boost workplace morale and attitudes, with individual members of a team or the team itself receiving a reward for a completed project. This can be in the form of financial payments, gift vouchers or something as simple as treating them to a meal.

Role of the Employee

A stack of work can be broken down into chunks.

An unhappy worker should not look only to her manager to improve morale; a large part of the responsibility for improving morale rests on the shoulders of the affected employee. Again, there are a number of ways in which motivation can be increased, leading to higher morale and improved productivity.

If an employee is suffering from a high workload, she should endeavor to break it down into manageable portions, and tackle each one at a time. Once she sees a marked improvement in her productivity, coupled with a reduction in workload, her morale will improve. A demotivated employee should remind herself why she has followed her career path, with a view to reigniting the passion that she may have once had. Once this is achieved, motivation will improve--along with morale.

Importance of Communication

Communication is the key to high morale.

Recurring sources of poor morale in the workplace stems from poor communication between management and employee. As a result, rumors abound, hearsay becomes rife and organizational objectives become blurred and unclear, leaving the employee with a lack of direction and anxiety over the health of the business and the stability of his job.

Helium.com highlights the need for "organizational transparency," whether it be good or bad news. Employees learning about the future of their business from rumors and news stories alone will become disorientated, and thus suffer from poor morale.

References

• Human Nature at Work: 8 Ways Managers Can Improve Morale
• Helium: The Relationship Between Morale and Profitability in a Company
• HR World: 15 Ways to Boost Employee Morale