Things That Ruin Employee Morale
Employees often leave their jobs because they are unsatisfied. The cost of replacing an employee can be as much as or more than his entire annual salary, according to the Sasha Corporation, which specializes in reducing employee turnover. This means that your company takes a financial hit whenever morale is low and employee turnover increases. Poor morale also leads to lower productivity, which will affect your bottom line even more. Awareness of practices that can contribute to low morale among workers is a company's first line of defense.
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Nepotism
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Nepotism, the practice of favoring friends and family members for plum assignments and promotions, can demolish employee morale. Make certain that people know they will only gain a promotion if they're related to the CEO and you can count on having very poor morale among workers. People respond well when they are treated with fairness. Employees should know that hard work will be rewarded, regardless of who they know with higher standing in the company. Nepotism leads to cynical employees who are not interested in advancing the company, since they believe that they have a limited future there. Such employees will soon look for greener pastures elsewhere, where their work is given equal value to that of others doing the same job and where they have a genuine opportunity to advance within the company.
Creating a Divide
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To ruin employee morale quickly, invite upper-level staff to go to expensive corporate retreats and leave support staff behind. This will create a divide that can cause a toxic "us versus them" attitude to permeate the company. To make morale plunge even lower, ensure that hourly staff clock in right on time while looking the other way when a salaried employee shows signs of chronic tardiness. Treat employees like members of the same team to prevent these morale busters from affecting your company.
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Disempowering Employees
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Employee morale will take a hit if you hire micromanaging supervisors who refuse to delegate meaningful work and trust workers to do their jobs. When you have competent employees, they should be trusted to make some decisions on their own. Requiring them to go to a supervisor to get clearance on trivial matters can indicate that upper management has control issues and will decimate morale, according to human resources experts The Rainmaker Group. To prevent this from happening, hire intelligent people you can trust and give them responsibilities in which they can take pride.
Constant or Unnecessary Change
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Change is a good thing, but only when it's necessary. If you change routines and procedures without getting workers on board, you'll be certain to end up with low employee morale. Often, new managers enthusiastically make changes that may not be needed in the first place, or that have uncertain results. Make sure that if change is going to happen, everyone understands the rationale behind the change and is ready to support it.
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