6 reasons why staff morale is important
You may not realize the financial cost to your business when your team members are unhappy. An effective leader knows how to check, maintain and, when necessary, improve staff morale. If he can monitor staff morale, he’ll be surprised how easy it is to make improvements when it starts to slip. When you complete a leadership training course, you can begin to understand how to maintain high levels of morale in the workplace as part of the balance between achieving goals and leading people.
These are just six of the reasons why staff morale can have such a big impact on your bottom line.
improved productivity
When staff morale is high, everyone works well. Overall productivity improves when staff love coming to work. You will find that some people will show up early or stay late without expecting rewards, simply because they love being at work and enjoying the tasks. If you want an effective workplace with high levels of productivity, work to make your people enjoy the workplace.
Improved performance and creativity.
People perform better when staff morale is high. Try holding a problem-solving brainstorming meeting on a project when staff morale is high, and you’ll be surprised how quickly creative solutions come. Hold the same meeting among a team of depressed, bored, or distracted workers, and you’ll find that the meeting drags on with no answer to the problem.
Reduction in the number of vacation days
A large cost to any business is the number of leave days staff take. If your morale is down, it’s easier to take a single day off rather than drag yourself to the workplace. Positive staff morale reduces sick and sick days as staff enjoy the work, want to attend and are less inclined to let the team down. When someone is sick or on sick leave, you have to pay for the person’s sick leave, replacements, and the corresponding loss of productivity.
High attention to detail
When staff enjoy their work, people will pay attention to what they are doing. When morale is low, people are more likely to get distracted, make mistakes, or work slower.
A safer workplace
People pay attention to safety rules when staff morale is highest. With fewer distractions and more focus on the task at hand, accidents are generally reduced.
Increased quality of work
Finally, the work itself becomes of higher quality when people enjoy what they are doing. Staff members with high morale produce higher quality work than staff with low or negative morale.
How to improve staff morale
The first step to improving staff morale is to create a culture where your team understands that their well-being and workplace morale are important to you as a leader.
To improve staff morale, you need to understand what has caused morale to drop in the first place. Arguments between team members, intimidating supervisory actions, or the possibility of losing a job are among the common reasons why staff leave work. A heavy workload or feeling unappreciated are other reasons people will leave the workplace. Listen closely to your staff and see if you can figure out why morale is falling.
So how do you raise the morale of the staff?
Show interest, provide appropriate feedback, and be enthusiastic and genuine in your appreciation of your team. These are basic facets of leadership. However, you can go further. Find out what motivates the individual staff member and give rewards that match that motivation. One individual may appreciate having a free hour, while another will want a movie ticket.
Of course, you need to know how to listen, motivate, and show appreciation for your team members in order to increase staff. You can learn these skills through leadership training.