How To Boost Employee Morale

By Indeed Editorial Team

February 22, 2021

If you are exploring ways to improve the overall productivity of your workforce, raising employee morale is one solution. Good employee morale typically means that employees will be absent less often and more productive in their work, both of which contribute to the productivity of a company.

Learning how to evaluate the morale of your own workforce is a good first step in determining whether there is an opportunity for improvement. In this article, we discuss what employee morale is, why it's important and how you can determine employee morale in your organization.

Related: 7 Ways To Improve Team Morale

What is employee morale?

Employee morale refers to the attitudes, satisfaction, confidence and overall outlook that employees have about their work environment. When employees feel good about their workplace and believe that their jobs can help them meet their career goals, morale tends to be higher.

Benefits of positive employee morale in the workplace

There are many benefits of positive employee morale, including:

Better production

Production is usually higher when employees feel good about and enjoy the environment they work in. This can increase the likelihood that a company will achieve its organization-wide goals. It can also lead to higher compensation levels for employees and promotional opportunities.

Improved attendance at work

When employee morale is high, employees' attendance at work tends to be more consistent. Strong attendance can increase revenue and maintain high production levels, contributing to the company's ability to reach its goals. More attendance among employees also means they are more likely to keep up with their workloads, which can help maintain low stress levels among the workforce. Also, increased attendance can result in more positive relationships among co-workers.

Greater teamwork

Companies that have high levels of morale tend to have greater feelings of teamwork and increased collaboration. When morale is high, workers tend to be comfortable with one another and are more willing to work together for the good of the company.

How to determine employee morale

Here are the steps you can take to evaluate the employee morale within your own workforce:

Observe behavior.
Conduct surveys.
Perform periodic interviews.
Measure productivity.
Examine conflict.
Evaluate retention.
Assess attendance.

1. Observe behavior

Employers can begin measuring the morale of employees by simply observing their behavior and actions. A manager can systematically evaluate the level of morale by taking note of an employee's overall demeanor, quality of work and productivity. Common behaviors that accompany low morale include a decrease in enthusiasm, turning assignments in late or not performing at the quality levels to which a manager is accustomed.

2. Conduct surveys

Surveys are another easy way to measure the morale of your workforce. Some questions you should cover within the survey include whether the job is fulfilling, whether the employee feels content, whether they believe there is room to grow and how likely they are to stay with the company. You should also give the employee room within the survey to comment in their own words and offer suggestions.

Different personality types may respond differently to feedback methods, so it's important to choose a method that works best for the different personalities in your office. This may mean anonymous surveys so employees don't fear being identified, employee focus groups or asking employees to fill out questions without anonymity.

If you ask individual employees the questions directly, without anonymity, you can have them complete the survey and then meet with you to discuss the results. This level of transparency can help create trust, and when done regularly, fosters a healthy work environment.

3. Perform periodic interviews

Another approach is to periodically interview your employees and gauge their overall satisfaction. These interviews can help give employees the opportunity to tell you how they feel about the work they are doing, identify the things they need to work on and give feedback on what the company could do to support them more effectively. Allowing employees to offer input can increase employee satisfaction and productivity.

4. Measure productivity

Productivity can be an indicator of employee morale, although it's important to view productivity as just one component of the broader view. For example, there are cases where companies with high morale may have low productivity, which is a byproduct of a problem elsewhere. However, if you notice that productivity is high and other indicators point to high levels of employee satisfaction, you can safely assume that your overall morale is good.

5. Examine conflict

Examining the frequency of conflict appearing in your office can be a good way to measure the morale of your staff. While conflict will occur in offices as a result of differences in personality and opinions, if you are frequently being asked to help resolve conflicts between employees, it can indicate that your employees are not getting along well and that the overall morale of the team is low.

If you notice that conflict within the workforce is minimal or nonexistent, it generally indicates that your employees are working well as a team. This, in turn, shows positive employee morale.

6. Evaluate retention

Retention of employees is often a strong indicator of how satisfied your employees are in the workplace. High retention rates typically signify that your employees are happy and that a company is taking the right measures to keep employee morale high. If you notice that turnover is increasing, it can be a sign that morale is low and that you need to take steps to increase the satisfaction of your workforce.

7. Assess attendance

When employees enjoy being at work and find satisfaction in the work they do, attendance rates are typically high. If morale is low, employees tend to take extra time off or call into work sick more frequently. Ask your HR department for reports on employee attendance over the last 12 months and evaluate whether there is a noticeable trend in employee attendance increasing or decreasing.