Preventative Care: Low Employee Morale

With the chilly weather kicking in, it’s important to watch your health. Kids are back in school and germ sharing is on the rise! In fact, one out of four adults get sick with the flu or a cold every year. But rather than stay home and recover, many of these individuals continue to go to work. Statistics by NPR shows that “half of restaurant workers and more than half of workers in medical jobs say they still go to work…when they have a cold or flu.”

Regardless of the reasons why people come to work sick, the effects of coming to work when ill is nevertheless detrimental. Not only are you unable to work as effectively, but before you know it, the whole office is sick, and no one is working at 100 percent.

Just like people, companies can also suffer from depleting health. The sickness that affects companies is low employee morale. Low employee morale is infectious and has the ability to spread quickly throughout a team or organization. As we covered in our previous blogs about eNPS, when employee morale is low, there is a decrease in productivity. This in turn affects the quality of products or services, which reduces customer loyalty and a company’s ability to attract and retain talent.

Thankfully, though, there are things companies can do to better their health and prevent low employee morale from spreading.

Ways to Increase Low Employee Morale

Companies have the ability to take preventive steps to reduce the chances of a low employee morale outbreak. Besides obtaining a cultural profile, here are some healthy activities you can do to keep your company fit:

Build trust. To prevent low employee morale, it’s essential that trust is established between employees, team leaders, and those in executive positions. Especially when conflicts arise, employees need to know that they have someone to speak to and that their concerns will be addressed. Without trust, there will be a lack of communication, which makes people feel powerless.

Define expectations. In order for a company to function smoothly, people need to be held accountable for the things they do. Employees need to know what their expectations are and need to be held to those standards. If not, employees may end up taking on the responsibilities of co-workers who are slacking, which will only cause frustration, stress and an unhealthy work environment.

Motivate employees with a clear vision. In a world where people are searching for growth and meaning, it is crucial that your company has a clear vision that will motivate employees. When work simply becomes work, people lose interest and may look elsewhere to find meaning. This then results in high turnover rates and the loss of valuable employees. Because of this, a company’s vision should encourage employees to continuously strive for more and make them excited about what they do. Your vision is the glue that will keep your organization together.

In order to keep your company healthy, you need to make sure employees are healthy. Physically, mentally and emotionally. Although there are many more things you can do to keep employee morale up, building a foundation of trust, accountability and meaning will make it harder for low employee morale to settle in.  And if you’re looking for a little bit of guidance, connect with our team!