If your employees don’t seem to have the same levels of energy and enthusiasm for their jobs that they once used to, it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what the cause of the issue is. A one to one or even a group chat with your team is unlikely to shine any light on the cause either. It is unlikely that any of your employees will want to stick their head above the parapet and tell you what’s wrong in your workplace.
If you’re left struggling to figure out what’s changed in your workplace, you’ll find our article useful. Here you’ll find our top 5 tips for improving employee morale. Read on to find out more.
Keep Everyone Informed
You will no doubt have a carefully formed business strategy, but are your employees aware of your plans for the future development of the business? Effective communication with your team is essential for good morale. When your team are informed and engaged with the goals of the business, they’ll work towards them in a positive manner.
Knowing that the company has a strategy for the future and the part employees have to play in it on a departmental or individual level is really important for individual job security and employee wellbeing.
Don’t assume that your departmental managers and team leaders are filtering down information about your strategy to your employees. Ensure your employees are informed by meeting with them to communicate your strategy personally.
Keep Your Promises
If you make a commitment to your employees, ensure that you keep it. There may be times when it might seem better to cancel a training session in favour of keeping productivity up. This may well be counter productive and seen as the business not fulfilling its promises.
If a change to the routine or expected conditions really is essential, then, as we said above, keep everyone informed. Let them know why there is a change and when you will be able to meet your commitment to your staff.
Provide A Uniform
Studies have shown that employees feel united and work more effectively as a team when they wear a uniform to work. The effects of this go beyond those of not having to wear personal clothes to work, a uniform re-enforces an individuals sense of belonging to a bigger team.
In the UK there are further benefits for employees if you issue a uniform. When an employee is required to launder their work uniform they can claim a small tax rebate from HMRC. You can find out more about the conditions of the tax rebate here on the HMRC website . The rate of tax relief depends upon the occupation of your employees, but even at the lowest level they’ll pay around £60 per year less in tax.
The initial cost of uniform for your staff and its continued upkeep might seem like an unwanted capital outlay. We recommend speaking to an employee work wear specialist such as Lancashire based Stitch Embroidery.
We spoke to Sarah of Stitch Embroidery who told us “The costs for uniform vary depending on the number of units ordered. Larger employers will find that the costs per item are greatly reduced, especially when ordering large batches of uniform for initial uniform issue.”
Recognition For A Job Well Done
It costs nothing to recognise a job well done. Taking the time to thank your staff individually or departmentally for their achievements never does any harm, but don’t leave it at thanking the staff themselves, communicate these successes out to the wider team. Whatever means you use for company wide communications, be it an email or print newsletter, set space aside for communicating notable successes to the wider workforce.
There’s a lot that can be learned from the psychology of reward and recognition, far more than we can hope to cover in this article. If you are interested in delving deeper into the psychology of employee morale, in particular how reward and recognition works, we’d recommend this Forbes article as a good place to find out more.
Personal Development
Whether you offer structured in-house training or allow employees to suggest external courses and training that they feel would help them work more effectively, make sure that every employee knows how to access this training.
We hear of many employers who see time off for training as non productive time, but in the longer-term, improving your team’s knowledge and skills will be of direct benefit to the business. Don’t be afraid that you are giving staff skills that they will take elsewhere, think of it as developing the next managers and leaders to promote when senior team members retire.
