Boosting Employee Morale, creating a better employee experience and being the model of a great workplace is not such a difficult thing. Really; it’s not. As a matter of fact is’t as as easy as ABCD.
Ask for their ideas – Have you seen the TV show What Would You Do? Have you seen the bracelets WWJD (What Would Jesus Do? Guess what…….people want to be asked their thoughts and ideas. People want to get involved. People want to be able to use their brainpower to create a better organization. Ask for opinions. Ask for ideas. Ask everyone. And of course, use some of those ideas too!
Brag about them – I don’t know one person who doesn’t like to be recognized. It’s inherent in human nature. And it’s so easy to brag about people. Every single person on your team has probably made a difference, helped another, found a shortcut, closed a deal, salvaged a customer, saved the company a few dollars, made a valid point, etc. Every single person. Brag about them. Often. Daily. It’s not hard. Just yesterday I took a moment to write a simple post on the Facebook page of One Less Meal, Inc. to acknowledge the work of our summer interns. It didn’t take a lot of time at all. Why not put it as a daily reminder in whatever format of calendar you use?
Change it up - There is nothing worse than coming to work each day and doing the same task. Back in the day when I was an accounting/financial guy I used to look (and volunteer) for any task that was not accounting related. Crunching numbers was one thing; but sitting in on the discussions or strategy meeting that led to the number crunching was always more fun. Spending time in the field seeing the equipment and what it did was much more exciting than determining the ROI of an AS400. Can you give an employee a new task today? Can you let that employee see a different part of the business that might make their job a bit more interesting? Sure you can. After all…….we’ve all had this thought rammed down our throat…..”Change is good”, right?
Develop them – I’m tired of hearing you have no money for training and development. I’m tired of hearing you have no time. You seem to have time to fill open positions. You seem to have time to have endless meetings and create initiatives around engagement, morale, and a host of other employee issues. You seem to have time to deal with sick employees; and workers who are stressed, feel neglected and are overworked; workers who end up suing you. Why not spend some of that time training and developing your team instead. There’s a ton of things you can do; from free to cheap to expensive. You don’t always need a corporate training department. And even the expensive is often times still cheaper than the cost of a new hire or the hours spent in weekly initiative meetings – that seem to go nowhere. Here’s a free idea to get you started from my blog post of June 12, 2010 But whatever you do just make sure the learning has a purpose and is interesting and fun.
That’s it; the ABCD’s of a keeping employees engaged, increasing morale, creating a great workplace, decreasing absenteeism, and retaining people. You spent a lot of money and time attracting and hiring these people. Now take this simple approach to keep them happy and productive.
And I’m always here if you need help. Don’t be afraid to get in touch.
