How to improve morale

There has been a lot written about how to improve the morale of people in the workplace. It involves making people feel valued for their contributions, being there to listen to them, and making sure that they get the support they need to do their work.

However, sometimes what is overlooked is that low staff morale is often a build up of lots of little problems that, as they accumulate, cause morale to drop because they have been overlooked. It can be a case of not seeing the wood for the trees!

Have a look around your place of work as if you were a new employee starting, not as a person at Team Leader level or above. Is it a little dull? Is the furniture old and perhaps in need of repairs? What about the kitchen? Does it need a good clean – or a bit of a makeover?

Quick fixes
Then look around your own workspace. What are some of the little things that irritate you? Perhaps the pens that are bought tend to leak after a few days. Or it may even be something as small as the coffee is cheap and tastes awful. Or there is no cold water to drink.

If these things irritate you, then chances are, they also irritate your staff.

And so we see the beginnings of low staff morale. The first mistake many Managers make when they try to improve morale is to ask the staff what is wrong. Staff will provide a list of grievances, some real, some imagined and many of them unfulfillable. Or, even worse, they will not provide anything at all through fear or just a certainty that nothing will happen.

Improving morale is the duty of everybody who has a supervisory role – from the Team Leaders to the CEO. Part of their role is to watch and listen. Team Leaders should be encouraged to share their experiences with senior management. More importantly, they should be listened to, as they are usually the ones who know what the real problems are.

Of course, more expensive doesn’t always mean better quality, but in many cases a few extra cents per item can mean a huge improvement in quality. Perhaps the more expensive box of pens works out cheaper in the long run – you don’t have to buy as many, and they last longer.

Think your solution through
The following is an example of how something small like cheap coffee and a partial solution can lower staff morale to the point where the staff take matters into their own hands.

There was a large corporation who purchased a very large tin of very cheap instant coffee. The staff was told, when they raised the issue of the bad taste, that that was the approved product, and if they didn’t like it they could go and buy their own. This continued until one of the senior managers came for a presentation, and made himself a cup of coffee and tipped it out after one sip. He made a joke of it after the presentation when he was “mingling” and learned that the staff had been complaining about it for some time.

He then gave them an undertaking that, in the future, a better quality would be supplied. In fact, he guaranteed that he would ensure that all coffee provided on all floors would be the same that they had on his floor. Unfortunately, he didn’t undertake to fix the problem immediately, only for future purchases.

There was still half a tin left, and the staff knew that their own manager would not authorise another purchase until this tin was all but finished; especially since he knew that if a new tin was bought, the existing one would not be used.

One of the staff members took matters into his own hands. He tipped the coffee into the sink, and then tried to get rid of it using hot water. They ended up, at first, with a sink full of coffee, but it achieved the purpose.

This story is an example of good and bad listening. One more senior manager identified the problem and fixed it, but instead of an immediate fix it was a “future” fix, and the immediate line manager thought that it would be a waste of money to dispose of the remaining tin.

Each manager usually has a budget for things like furniture, stationery, etc. Many managers try to spend as little of this as possible, to try to save it for the future in case there are future large expenses. This is, again, a false economy. The money is allocated to be spent and when it comes time to replace large capital items, you always find that the Financial Controller has thought of this, and there is always a maintenance schedule for these replacements.

It’s no surprise that, when it comes time to upgrade computers, the money is always in the budget, without the previous year’s having to be saved!

Personal Touches
Improving staff morale is more than words of praise or thanks. It is making the physical workplace a pleasant place; after all, if you spend 8 hours a day there, you want to at least have it nice!

What harm is there in plants? In allowing staff to have some personal items – even if it’s a coffee cup or a pen holder? How about the next time you have to paint the walls, getting together with your staff and asking them what they would like?

It may even be as small as putting in a water cooler, or re-covering chairs.

One company improved staff morale immensely when they bought some board games and packs of cards for the staff room. The staff then organised “tournaments” and even provided prizes for winners of these tournaments.

Improvements in staff morale have big financial payoffs: happy staff are productive staff. If the changes needed cost $500, but your income improves by $1000, then you have more than covered the cost. You also have to remember that sometimes it’s a once off cost as well.

Finally, take the time to sit with your staff at breaks. Listen to what they are saying, and once more become part of the “staff”. Who knows, you may even improve morale without spending a cent!