Very often employers underestimate the importance of building morale in the workplace. Managers are rarely concerned about team spirit, employee morale etc. All that matters is results and performance. Yes, results and performance and results do matter, but what managers must realize is that if they really wish to extract par performance from their juniors, it is vital that there is minimal employee stress and good team spirit. Here are five key tips on how to go about this.
1. Empower Employees with Learning & Performance Support
The essence of empowering your employees with learning and performance support is so you encourage them to reach their full potential. This ultimately leads to numerous benefits to the company in terms of increased productivity, higher staff morale and reduction in staff turnover. Constant learning and performance support give your employees a better understanding of their boundaries and most importantly empower them to make tangible decisions in their respective dockets. There are several valuable performance support software options (WalkMe being one example) which put learning into the hands of the learner, when he/she needs it most.
2. Flowing Multi-Directional Communication
Constant communication is essential to proper people management. Simply put, how and when you talk to your employees has a significant implication for the wellbeing of your business and your community. Maintaining multi-directional channels of open communication will help you enormously in other ways such as building a strong and cohesive team and retaining peak-level motivation.
3. Creating a Relaxed Work Environment
Yet another perk to help reduce employee stress and maximize individual productivity is by providing them with a peaceful, casual working environment. You basically want to create an environment that inspires and motivates your employees. After all, any organization that inspires its workers to perform at their best levels will always perform better in the packet place that its less-inspired counterparts. Not micromanaging employees is yet another smart way to create a laid-back work environment at the workplace.
Try as much as possible to add a sense of fun to work by for instance introducing break room games that help your employees de-stress after a tiring day. Surprise them with breakfast once in a while to show appreciation for a job well done. Send them gift cards and at times even schedule a day out together. Most importantly ensure that you recognize and pamper them individually so they feel part of your organization. In other words, the possibilities for creating a rewarding work environment are unlimited, you just have to check around you and see what is best for attracting and rewarding your employees.
4. Enable Collaboration Between Employees
Creating a collaborative working environment in a company does not come easy. The spirit of collaboration and togetherness comes right from the top. Only by breaking traditional barriers in the organizational pyramid can one expect to achieve the right team culture. Note that teamwork is entirely based on honest communication and healthy interactions among employees. And given that not all people are born team players, it is important that you are hiring only people with the right sorts of traits for teamwork so you easily build effective teams. Now teams are not born, they are built through open communication, uttermost accountability, efficient conflict resolution and high morale.
5. Create a Sense of Ownership
Research shows that the more control people have over their respective duties, the greater their job satisfaction and the higher the quality of their work. It is also a fact that organizations that succeed in creating a sense of ownership among their employees record minimal cases of employee stress. For this to work well it is imperative to first invest in training and coaching to safeguard the level of intelligence in decision making.
A recent survey by Harris Interactive shows that some top causes of employee stress are: low pay, unreasonable workload, fear of being fired and commuting. Be sure to put in place measures to eradicate such bumps before they start taking their toll on your business performance.
