It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day aspects of business and ignore whether people are actually enjoying their work. But when you remember that a happy employee will give their all for your company, it makes sense to take time out to build positive employee morale. Here are ten tried and trusted ways to achieve a happier workplace.
Get a coach in
Career coaching, team coaching, leadership coaching: these are all great ways to boost morale and improve your business at the same time. A business coach is often seen as someone who helps the big boss, but leadership teams can reap huge benefits from coaching as well.
A coach can help you find solutions to long standing problems and give your employees the chance to look at their roles from different angles. It also gives them space to discuss issues they may have felt unable to talk about before. It can be a difficult process, but the results can transform your business as well as individual employees.
Team Building Days
A natural extension of coaching is the team-building day out. This is a staple of building employee morale because it the effects can be long lasting. Taking people out of their normal working routine and putting them in unusual and fun situations can help them bond more closely with their work mates. It also shakes them out of old patterns of thinking.
However, planning is the key. Don’t just arrange a wadi bashing day out without first considering what problems your team is facing in the office. Create a team building day that will reflect the challenges at work. You’ll all reap the benefits of more focused planning at the outset.
Training matters
Nobody likes to feel that they’re falling behind in their skills, so make sure you employees have the opportunity to keep their qualifications and soft skills up to date. Some of the bigger international companies take this a step further and encourage their staff to take language courses, and more esoteric courses like quilting and wood carving.
Training helps people grow as individuals and the benefits to your business is a happier person who feels the company is really interested in them as a person, not just a cog in the wheels of business.
Share your business goals
Knowing where the company is going, and what part they play in that helps employees have a greater understanding of their role in the company. It gives them a real sense of ownership that their work matters and contributes to the overall direction the company is heading in.
Identify an individual’s goals
Understanding what is driving your employees can help them be happier and make your business more successful. You may discover that someone wants to advance to a management role, or they are simply using the job to pay for a hobby they’re really passionate about. This knowledge can help you design better training, courses, and motivational targets to retain them as happy employees.
Don’t ignore problems
If you see there is a problem brewing between individuals or departments, don’t let it slide. As soon as you become aware of any discord or issues, get the people involved into a meeting and find a way to resolve it. If a problem isn’t dealt with quickly it will fester, impacting on morale and the overall performance of your business.
Employee benefits
For many the pension, free gym membership and healthcare plan are real motivators for staying with a particular company. It’s worth taking some time out to find out what other benefits your employees would like such as vouchers for local restaurants.
Improving employee morale means creating an Employee Morale code for your business. It will take time, but the rewards will make it worthwhile.