Maintaining high workplace morale is important for many different reasons, one of which is that it helps you retain your employees. If someone is satisfied with their workplace, then their morale is going to be much higher and they are going to be way more likely to continue working at the job for many years. Otherwise, you will likely see a lot of turnover in employees and a subpar performance in the work that they do. Luckily, this issue can be solved by implementing these helpful tactics for bringing up morale at work.
Of course, it's obvious that retaining employees is important. A better question to ask is: how?
It’s a big task to retain great employees. However, we can easily break it down into smaller tasks that can overtime, boost morale within the company. It all starts with creating an environment that employees enjoy, and want to be a part of.
Establish Full Lunch Breaks
When someone walks through the office doors and is expected to work for eight or more continuous hours with only a couple of coffee breaks in between, it can cause them to become burnt out before the day is over. Especially when they get into the last couple hours of the workday, their energy and morale have significantly dipped and their work suffers as a direct result.
Unfortunately, this is the reality for many companies since they expect employees to work through lunch. This doesn't allow employees to actually go off to a break room and sit down to have a nice peaceful lunch. By giving employees an established full lunch break, it gives them time to mentally check out for several minutes during the workday without any negative consequences or stress because of it. This brief mental recharge can go a long way in improving overall morale at the workplace.
Host Themed Days
A lot of adults like to occasionally dress up and get a little silly, even at work. That is why more companies should start embracing themed days at the office every now and then. Themes can be as simple as Hawaiian day or maybe even more outgoing like a Disney character day.
Giving the employees the opportunity to come to work dressed in something other than their standard work outfit and have fun with their co-workers in a themed environment can have a massive positive impact on overall office morale. It gives them an opportunity to step out of their confined space and inject a little bit of fun into their workday.
Celebrate Employee Birthdays and Anniversaries
An employee's birthday or work anniversary is the perfect opportunity to take a moment and celebrate them as a valued part of the team. Unfortunately, not nearly enough companies do this. Instead treating these milestones with very little significance, like the standard email, make it more impactful with lunches, small events or team outings.
A much better option is to make a company-wide announcement about it and maybe even bring in some cake or other desserts in order to celebrate. For larger companies that have hundreds of employees, it might be a better option to celebrate birthdays within individual teams. Encourage departments to celebrate everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries, and give them a budget to have more fun!
By implementing one or more of these effective strategies, it can help to vastly improve morale at work. In order to improve morale and other elements of the business even further, contact us today.
