Does the energy feel off in your workplace? You have a case of low employee morale. Here are 10 root causes of poor office morale and what to do about it.
Let’s face it, office work can be pretty hard going sometimes.
Stick a bunch of people with different personalities into a room every day and you’re bound to have conflict.
Conflict helped to cause over half of us to want to leave our jobs in 2017.
The fact is, office morale can play a huge part in how your team works together and how much work they manage to complete day to day. If your team isn’t working efficiently, it might be down to morale in your office.
But can you spot the reasons for poor morale?
If you can’t, don’t be too worried. We’ve got 10 common causes for poor morale in your office that you can look out for.
1. Employees Not Treated Well
If you or others in your team aren’t treating your employees well, the impact on morale can be significant.
After all, we’re all adults. No-one wants to work in an environment where they’re treated poorly.
If your employees are shouted at, talked down to, or made to fear for the security of their jobs, they aren’t going to want to be there.
That fear can and will spread throughout your team. Ensure that your employees can work in a professional and respectful environment to prevent morale from lowering further.
2. Work Not Appreciated
Another reason for poor office morale is often when an employee or their work isn’t properly appreciated.
Would you feel good if you spend all day working hard on a task and then being told it isn’t good enough? If your employees are criticised unfairly or without helping them to improve, their confidence will suffer.
Praise your employees and ensure that their achievements are recognized. Even a simple can have a positive impact on your staff with little effort.
3. No Opportunities for Progression
There’s nothing more depressing in an office than being stuck in a dead-end job without any opportunity to progress.
We all recognize that, especially in the early days of our career, the first jobs we have aren’t always going to be the most interesting or exciting. However, if you don’t have routes for progression in your company, your employees won’t feel inclined to work to improve.
What’s the point for them if they can’t move forward?
5. High Turnover in Staff
If your staff know that employees in your office don’t tend to stick around, it could indicate a problem.
A lack of progression for your employees is one reason, but any number of these reasons could be relevant. If your office isn’t working properly, then why would staff want to stay?
It can indicate stress and distress amongst your employees, so if you notice that your turnover is high, you should investigate.
5. Too Much Work
Employees are there to work, but there’s a practical limit on how much we can do every day without burning out from exhaustion.
If your employees are being worked too hard without time to rest, or without enough time to complete their tasks, office morale will rightly suffer.
Ensure that your employees are given goals that are manageable and achievable.
6. No Support from Managers
What happens if you leave your employees adrift without support or encouragement?
Support is important because it shows that management isn’t removed from the day to day concerns of the office. Communication means that concerns can be aired and resolved, which will improve office morale overall.
If your employees need help, and the support is readily available, it will reduce the likelihood of problems that could have an impact on your business.
7. No Consistent Goals
Consistent goals that are achievable help to break down the workload in your office while making work manageable for your employees. They also offer encouragement, with successes helping to improve individual morale (especially if they’re recognized by management.)
However, if goals aren’t consistent, this can have a negative impact on morale. If an employee works hard on a task, only to have that task changed on a whim, they could end up wondering about the purpose of their work.
Give your employees consistent goals that help to increase productivity in your office while improving the morale.
8. Employees Not Trusted
It’s important for your employees to feel valued, but it’s also important to trust them to complete the tasks they’ve been set.
If you’re constantly checking up on the quality of their work, it could reduce their morale. It could make them question their own abilities, or make them resent their employers, or you.
Train your staff well, and trust them to do the jobs they’ve been trained to do correctly.
9. Personal Troubles
If you’re working in a stressful environment, your employees might not be taking care of themselves, and this could have a knock-on effect on office morale.
Ensure a professional working environment for all of your staff, while keeping watch of any personal problems in your employees.
It’s important to watch out for any signs of troubling drug and alcohol dependencies in your employees. If they’re struggling with a cocaine addiction, for instance, make sure they get proper cocaine addiction treatment to overcome it.
10. Talent Wasted
Recognise your employees’ talents, and ensure the right staff for the right jobs.
If your employees are overqualified for the jobs they do, or they’re not sufficiently challenged, boredom will set in. Ultimately, bored staff will not be inclined to work hard, and office morale will be poorer for it.
Recognise the talents of all of your staff and make sure that they are working jobs that suit them.
Don’t Let Office Morale Suffer
Don’t let strife or conflict upset your office, and don’t let grievances boil over. By taking the right steps to look after your staff, you can stop your office morale from slipping.
By communicating with your staff and making sure they’re treated well, you should be able to deal with any potential problems before they become issues.
With proper support, guidance, and encouragement for your team, productivity will improve and, more importantly, your team will be happy.
If you want to hear more ideas on how to improve your office, take a look at .
