5 Ways To Boost Morale in the Office
The difference in productivity when employees are happy versus not is major. If you’re a business leader or business owner hoping to increase employee morale, there are a variety of things you can do that will keep employees happy and working harder for you. If you’re looking for ways to boost morale, read on for five ideas.
1. Offering Great Benefits
A key to high employee morale is in successfully showing employees how much your company values them. One way to do this is to provide a great group benefits package, including health insurance, profit sharing, life insurance, and more. The benefit to an employer who offers great group health coverage is that healthier employees will call in sick, reducing overall absenteeism.
Whether you’re a large employer or a small business, step one in increasing employee morale is to look at what you’re doing for employees regarding healthcare and other coverages. Even if you run a smaller business in the United States and can’t offer health insurance coverage, giving your employees an employee health benefit of money each month could make a big difference when they sign up for an insurance plan through the Affordable Care Act. The more you do to improve your employee and overall workplace wellness, the healthier your bottom line will be, too.
2. Incorporating Wellness Programs
Many employers see great improvements to employee satisfaction after implementing workplace wellness programs. Here again, you can address employee wellness differently than through direct health benefits through insurance. Employee wellness programs can include everything from smoking cessation to health education aimed at improving employee quality of life and seminars on mental health and the importance of physical activity. Research shows that active participants in their company’s optional health wellness programs have more active lifestyles and are happier at work. All of this can lead to higher productivity, fewer absences, and better work performance results.
3. Allowing Hybrid Schedules
The global pandemic and Covid-19 taught employers and employees alike the pros and cons of working from home. For many companies, life after the pandemic will mean making changes to employee schedules. Because they’ve seen employee productivity increase through remote working, some employers are even considering making hybrid models the norm.
If you’re hoping to increase employee morale in your agency or company, one way to do it is to offer employees more choices regarding their schedules. Giving them more autonomy to design their lives around healthier lifestyles, time with family, and balance without sacrificing employee productivity, you’ll put employees in a better position to succeed. A typical hybrid model could look like time in the office in the morning and time at home in the afternoon or simply switching days employees work from home or the office each week.
4. Hosting Fitness Challenges
Company-wide optional fitness challenges are another way to build teams and healthier lifestyles. Some companies are looking at different ways to help with team cohesion. Something as simple as a monthly fitness challenge could help a group of employees feel more connected through friendly competition.
5. Providing Incentives
A financial incentive for high employee productivity is one of the easiest and most effective ways to encourage better employee morale. Whether this is done through profit-sharing options, cash pay-outs, bonuses, or gift cards to local restaurants and spas, employees will be happy to work harder with a little financial incentive.
In the end, how you structure your business is entirely up to you. By giving your employees incentive programs, being more flexible about schedules, and offering fantastic benefits, you’ll not only see an increase in productivity but a lack of absenteeism, too. With happy employees, you’ll be sure to notice a bump to those profits, too.