Keeping employee morale up might seem challenging during difficult times, like during a global pandemic. Business leaders and owners are always looking for ways to make sure their employees and their work environment are positive. It’s a fact that when employees are happy, they are more productive, and business is better.
While amid a global pandemic, it may seem more challenging than ever to keep morale up. However, there are some tools you can keep in your arsenal that helps you ensure that your employees are happy. Below are some tips that you can keep in mind to help keep morale up.
Open Communication
Effective communication is more critical now than ever before, with many businesses throughout the country having no choice but to have their employees work from home. Having open communication lines helps ensure that employees still feel part of a team, are aware of expectations and are kept up to date on what is going on with the business. Some ways you can do this is by holding weekly meetings with your team or department, hosting monthly staff meetings with the whole staff, and make sure you are meeting with individuals on your team as often as possible.
Provide Regular Recognition
Who doesn't like to get recognition for their hard work? That feeling of knowing that your hard work is appreciated is a feeling that sticks with you. One way you can make sure your employees feel recognized is by setting up a consistent recognition program. Your recognition program can go beyond the employee of the month or year award. Set up monthly recognition meetings where you recognize employees who have stood out from the previous month. This recognition can focus on anything from finishing a big project to going above and beyond on a specific task or pointing out particular employees that have done something right to help the team. Whatever way you decide to recognize your employees, they will appreciate and remember that their hard work isn’t for nothing.
Professional Development
Even during a global pandemic, professional development is always essential for any business. Employees thrive on knowing that they can expand their skills and learn more in their field of work. You can support this by providing online training, in-person training, or conference attendance. These different avenues of professional development will not only show that you support the growth of your employees, but it will make them feel as if they are bettering themselves.
Employee Perks and Activities
When work is fun, morale is high! You can make work fun by providing perks and different activities for all employees to participate. Employee perks go hand in hand with recognition programs. Recognizing your employees is a perk and setting up a way to reward with gift cards, bonuses, or products. For example, you can have gift cards on hand that you can use when an employee or a team meet a goal, or you can have a program set up where if the sales team meets a specific monetary goal, they get a gift card. Company outings and activities are always a great way to keep morale up. However, doing so, while social distancing is not easy during this time. But you can set up virtual meetings or hangouts with your employees. These would be separate from staff meetings and would not include any business talk. Think about setting up a virtual happy hour (alcohol or no alcohol), or even a "bring your kids to work" day to bring your kids to the virtual meeting. Being creative and setting up different virtual meetings or activities will go a long way in keeping employees happy and cheerful.
Providing Feedback and Reviews
Don’t forget about performance reviews! Even during a global pandemic, employees want to be reviewed and get feedback on their performance. You can easily set up virtual yearly reviews with your employees. While working from home, providing feedback to your team is essential now more than ever. Without the face-to-face gratification that they're doing a good job, employees might feel that no one sees their hard work. Managers and leaders can counteract that feeling by providing feedback monthly to all employees. Giving feedback doesn't have to be as extensive as a yearly performance review but can be a simple virtual meeting where you offer input on projects and tasks that are going on.
Lastly, don't forget that taking care of yourself is crucial! When leaders or managers seem upbeat and happy, employees will feel comfortable and start feeling the same way. This year has not been easy for anyone, but remember that we're all in this together, and making sure that you're interacting with others will go a long way in ensuring that your morale stays high!