Employee morale involves your workforce’s mental and emotional state. This includes their sense of purpose and confidence in future outcomes at work. It also involves how your employees feel about the company, their work, and their roles.
Employee morale impacts engagement, performance, and productivity. This is why boosting morale through rewards and recognition, team-building events, and other empowering activities is important. The higher your employee morale, the better your employees’ performance. All of this impacts employee engagement, productivity, and your bottom line.
Discover some methods to measure and increase employee morale to improve the performance of your workforce.
Ways to Measure Employee Morale
Determining the current state of your workforce helps you understand where employee morale is and how it changes over time.
- Employee surveys: Distribute anonymous surveys regularly. Ask specific questions with answers ranked 1-5. For instance, “Are you happy in your current position?” “Do you feel your hard work is recognized?” “Do you believe there is room to grow in your role?” Or, “How likely are you to remain with the organization?”
- One-on-one interviews: Talk with individual employees regularly.
- Track workforce changes: Changes in productivity, tardiness, absenteeism, and turnover rates indicate changes in employee morale.
Causes of Low Employee Morale
Understanding why employee morale may be low helps leaders and HR resolve the issues.
- Poor leadership: Many employees leave their jobs due to an ineffective manager.
- Unclear expectations: Employees who lack goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) do not know what to work toward and how to measure success.
- Lack of rewards: Employees who lack incentives for their results feel their contributions go unnoticed.
- Negative work environment: Even one coworker who frequently complains brings down other employees.
- Fear: Listening to unfounded stories about the business losing money or employees being laid off reduces security about the future.
Methods to Elevate Employee Morale
Leaders and HR must work together to increase employee morale and performance.
- Touch base with employees: Managers should have regular one-on-ones with their employees to enhance their well-being and professional development.
- Be transparent: Senior leadership must regularly update company strategy, objectives, and key results. Managers should highlight how each employee’s role contributes to the bigger picture.
- Promote team-building: Ask managers to organize in-person or virtual team activities to promote collaboration.
- Celebrate accomplishments: Encourage managers to provide employee recognition and rewards for achievements.
- Encourage feedback: Ask employees to share what helps them feel valued and respected at work and specific ways for managers to improve their performance.
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