An employee’s morale can seriously impact how work within your company gets accomplished. Positive work cultures are more likely to be productive than negative ones, yet many businesses have a negative work culture that they aren’t trying to fix. Keep in mind that a negative work culture is fixable so long as you put in the time and effort to do so. Here are a few ways you can create a positive work culture and raise your team’s morale.
Work-Life Balance
Having a healthy work-life balance is crucial not only to an employee’s morale but also to their health. It’s far too easy for work to creep into your life after hours—what’s one email off the clock, after all? One email can lead to two emails, and next thing you know, you’re doing much more work off the clock than you should be doing. This can quickly lead to burnout, which in turn will make your employees less productive at work and potentially stir negative emotions about the job as a result. In order to combat this, make it a rule that outside of office hours, no one can send work emails. Monitor email traffic to make sure people are abiding by this rule, and if they aren’t, speak with them to remind them of the rule.
An employee’s life should be about more than just work. Remind your team of that, and you’ll likely find your office more energised and productive as a result.
Communicate Properly
As a leader within your company, you should always make sure to communicate clearly with your team. Did something happen that your team needs to improve on? Let them know! Did your team do something great? Let them know! Is there important information they should be informed about? Let them know! If you don’t communicate with your employees, you only leave room for confusion, which can lower your team’s morale significantly.
Also, make sure to check in with your team! See if they’re happy with their job and coworkers, if there are any challenges they need assistance with, and how they feel about their job overall. As a leader, it’s your job to make sure morale is high. If there’s anything you can do to assist them in this, let them know.
Encourage Breaks
Many people go without taking a break while working. In fact, only one in five people take a lunch break, and white-collar workers are the least likely to take a break while on the job. Furthermore, many employees eat their lunch at their desk rather than stepping away to enjoy their meal. Staying glued to their work all day can add more stress to an employee’s plate and decrease morale, so actively encourage your team to step away from their desk for at least five minutes every hour. The work won’t go anywhere if you step away for a moment, after all.
Plus, the change in environment will boost your creativity as well as your morale.