Boosting employee morale pays for itself in productivity. This article explores ways you can maximize productivity by achieving excellence in increasing staff morale.
Research shows that a little recognition goes a long way in the workplace. According to the Harvard Business Review, recognition contributes to staff wellbeing. Since positive staff morale relates to better productivity and lower staff turnover, it is fair to say that celebrating, rewarding, and promoting employees who do well has a knock-on impact on your business’s profit margin.
How to Maximize Productivity by Boosting Employee Morale
Increased staff morale means better productivity for your company. Enhanced productivity means enhanced profits, which supersede those invested in boosting morale in the first place.
1 – Throw a Teambuilding or Reward Event
There is no better way to thank your employees than by throwing an employee-focused event. There are right ways and wrong ways to do this. For example, you should never charge employees for their own event and nor should you sell tickets. You should always plan a fun itinerary and spend big on entertainment. You can find an accurate list of do’s and don’ts thanks to RH Nuttal’s handy infographic, here.
Remember – setting a realistic events budget is one of the first things you ought to do if you are planning a day especially for your employees.
2 – Employee Recognition
Strategize and implement an employee recognition program. By offering incentives to members of our team, we can expect them to work harder to achieve their set goals. Employees given monetary rewards work extra hard to earn their commission. You do not have to add incentives as commissions, though. Instead offer a bonus.
3 – Hold Celebratory Team Meetings
There’s no rule to say you can’t randomly call a staff meeting that afternoon so that employees can chill out for an hour, eating cake and drinking tea. There’s no reason not to send gifts to your remote staff to make them feel included as part of the group. Isolation and lack of team spirit is a huge problem for WFH employees… and you could save it with birthday cards.
4 – Buy Lunch
If you want to make your SME employees feel valued and you don’t have a big budget, simply buy everyone lunch. Buy fruit for the break room to encourage a healthier employee. Bring donuts once a month as a treat, or order in a nice, prepped lunch for everyone to tuck into.
5 – The Little Things
It is the little things that make employees feel valued. Things like lockers, parking spots, and saying “thank you” when they do well. You can even invite them into the office to speak to them about their lives, thank them, and get permission to send their partner a hamper.
Recognising Good Work Pays Off
The upshot of all this is that recognising and rewarding hard work is good for business. If you have a good scheme in place for bonuses, reward those who do well with special group meetings, occasionally buy a cake for the break room ‘just because’ and continue to reward your employees, you will reap those rewards back in profit.