Avoiding workplace burnout and improving employee wellbeing are becoming key areas of focus for HR leaders. A key component to achieving both goals is employee morale - a concept that has been shown to have a powerful impact on all aspects of the employee experience, including retention, engagement and productivity.
01, What is employee morale?
Employee morale is a description of the satisfaction, outlook and happiness of employees at work. It should not be confused with employee engagement, which is closely related to employee morale, but not the same thing.
The easiest way to consider morale is as a component of employee engagement. For example, consider all the factors that go into keeping fit: you need to sleep well, eat healthily and exercise consistently. You can't achieve optimum physical health without combining all of these factors. Similarly, to achieve high levels of employee engagement, you need to have many things in place - one of which is a high level of employee morale.
02, Who influences morale?
It's easy to assume that morale is just a 'human resources issue'. While people teams do influence how employees feel about their work, they are not the only ones that do. Here is a breakdown of other workplace groups to consider and their impact on employee morale.
Executives
Although most employees do not interact with top management on a regular basis, they are still heavily influenced by leadership decisions. For example, if your company is undergoing an acquisition, a communicative, empathetic and supportive executive team will maintain and even improve employee morale during this transition; a mysterious top management suddenly announcing this decision without context will lead to suspicion and dissatisfaction.
The manager
This is not surprising. This relationship is probably one of the most important bonds in the workplace, as the manager is most familiar with the employee's workload, strengths and weaknesses and career goals. While we are more supportive of the idea of people leaving the company rather than the manager, it is hard to deny that this group has a considerable impact on employee morale.
Partners
The individuals employees interact with on a daily basis are likely to influence the way they view their work, and people are more likely to enjoy their work when they work with colleagues they respect and can laugh with. On the other hand, if employees clash with their colleagues on a daily basis, going to the office can feel stressful.
03, How can you improve employee morale?
Whether you are an executive, a manager or a colleague, there are countless things you can do to boost the morale of your company's employees. To make the advice easier to digest, we've boiled it all down to three pillars and shared actionable tips that correspond to each one.
Communication
It's important to engage employees and involve them in everything from team updates to product changes - even if it seems small. People don't like to be surprised by changes that others seem to be aware of, which can lead to feelings of isolation and negativity.
Explain decisions. This is particularly relevant to managers and top management. Don't make decisions in silos and then expect everyone to be involved. Provide background information, communicate early and often, and consider everyone's reactions.
Solicit feedback. Communication is a two-way street. Give employees the opportunity to share feedback with you on a regular basis - and act on it! Seeing this will make employees feel like they are an important part of the team.
Feedback
Provide positive feedback on a regular basis. Providing positive feedback is just as important as keeping staff morale high, and consistency is key - don't let months go by without sharing words of thanks with your team.
Reward good work. This goes further than providing feedback. If your employee or team has doubled their efforts on a project or achieved extraordinary results, make sure you reward quality work with a lunch or a small thank you.
Create a culture of collaboration. Encourage everyone to generously praise and recognise each other's great work, to feel part of a team, and to collaborate and support each other more than in a brutal environment to boost employee morale.
Empowerment
Believe in your employees. Employees want to feel like adults who can be trusted to get the job done, and constantly checking their progress or questioning their behaviour is a surefire way to cause dissatisfaction. Instead, if your employee in charge needs a day off, don't hesitate to approve it and know they will complete their project when they return.
Support goals. Whether you're a manager or a colleague - make it clear that you're there to support your employee's goals. Whether it's through providing learning opportunities or acting as an advocate, feeling supported by the company is good for employee morale.
Provide autonomy. If your employees consistently produce high quality work, encourage them to take creative risks and take the lead on challenging projects - it's a great way to give them real ownership of their work.