Employee Morale | Best 10 employee morale boosters in 2021?

Keeping employee morale in large organizations is a challenge by itself. Here is an exclusive list of employee morale boosters in 2021. Read on!

Employee morale

Employee morale drives the productivity enhancements and continuous service improvements of an organization. Organizations design and deploy creative morale boosters to increase the motivational and inspirational level of employees.

The result is greater dedication, and a positive attitude towards work since morale and productivity complement each other. Companies benefit by earning better customer experience and higher revenue.

Question is, “How to improve morale and how to increase morale?”

In this article, we will extensively discuss the techniques to improve employee morale, the different fun office activities to boost morale, and the best practices on how to improve morale in the workplace.

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What is employee morale?

Before proceeding to the details on employee morale, let us first try to define employee morale or find an answer to what is employee morale?

Employee morale is the psychology or attitude of an employee towards the norms, processes, culture, way of working, and policies of a company. Positive morale has a direct impact on the company’s growth and prosperity. Low morale in the workplace jeopardizes a company’s progress to a considerable extent.

Hence companies lookout for morale boosting ideas to stimulate and improve employee morale. Various elements contribute to boosting employee morale like compensation policies, work-life balance, benefits and perks, transparency in communication, etc.

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Benefits of having a high team morale

There are several benefits of good and high team morale, the key among them are,

1. Employee morale ensures smooth continual of business operations and higher productivity leading to better customer satisfaction and higher market presence
2. Boosting employee moral results in higher dedication and commitment from the associates in performing their assigned activities and tasks
3. Employees with good morale eventually create a greater positive influence on others and hence turn out to be efficient leaders and managers in the organization. Therefore conducting morale boosting activities needs dedicated focus and attention for better results.

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Psychology of high morale and company’s productivity

Employees with high morale are bound to accelerate the company’s growth and ranking in the market. Employee moral activities are the means to create a healthy and positive work environment that promotes an effective work culture.

They feel the zeal to contribute to the organization and work towards achieving the company’s objectives and goals. The employees gain trust and confidence in leadership while they are inducted into company morale boosters.

Remote employees specifically can overcome the feeling of isolation and be inspired in meeting deadlines and timelines. Therefore employee morale is significantly important and working on a robust employee morale proposal is mandatory.

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Challenges – why managing company morale is not easy?

Managing company morale is not easy. There are hurdles you need to overcome while you design and devise ways to boost morale at work. Here are the key challenges faced by companies trying to improve morale,

1. Constant interference and micro-managing employees are to a greater extent hindrance in improving morale in the workplace
2. Frequent asking for working extra hours results in low moral in the workplace. The absence of proper compensation for additional efforts result in poor employee morale
3. Not trusting employees in critical decision making may also result in hampering morale boosting initiatives

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5 indicators showing signs of low morale in team

It is essential to early identify signs of low morale in the team and introduce corrective actions faster. The 5 key indicators of low employee morale are illustrated below,

1. Constant leaves and absenteeism from work, without proper planning and on crucial deadlines
2. Lack of zeal and enthusiasm in the regular activities with a subdued work morale
3. Reduction in the productivity percentage, a result of low morale at work
4. Lack of cooperation and dedication in employees opposed to high morale at work
5. Errors and mistakes in assignments and framing excuses as explanations, a sign of low worker morale

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Metrics to measure improved morale in team

It is critical to measure improved morale in team after deploying a morale builder framework to improve workplace morale. Here are some of the key metrics for guidance,

1. Absenteeism Rate – Detects the count of employees restraining to be present in the office due to low job morale
2. Retention Rate – Aids in evaluating the number of employees staying within a team or department. Assists in deciding the impact of morale boosters for work
3. Turnover Rate – Measures % of employees leaving your team or department within a time duration. Helps in judging the efficiency of team morale boosters.
4. Productivity percentage– You can measure productivity by introducing work morale boosters. Employee morale and productivity are interdependent.
5. Quality of Work – Determines the quality and efficiency of employees, a key metric for evaluating employee morale

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Top 10 morale boost ideas at work

We understood the definition of employee morale and the benefits of raising morale. The question now is, “How to improve team morale?”

For your benefit here at the top 10 employee morale boost ideas and methods for easy reference. They will guide you in building employee morale, thereby increasing the inspirational and motivational level of employees. The office morale booster ideas, listed below, are effective in creating a positive impact on the attitude of employees. The turnover rate is reduced, the satisfaction level of employees is enhanced thus boosting office morale.

Perks and incentives to boost morale

Highly motivated employees are the pillars of a company’s success, especially those who are associated for a considerable time and are high-performers. Therefore if you are wondering how to increase employee morale?

Provide perks and incentives to employees as per industry standards to improve staff morale. A constant evaluation of the compensation packages must be performed as part of the increase employee moral program.

Surveys and interviews can be conducted to collect information on employee morale and satisfaction level. Any dissatisfaction to be handled urgently as part of the employees morale and productivity enhancement techniques.

Design continual learning programs as morale boosters

Providing opportunities for increasing the competency level of the employees through continual learning programs is one of the vital morale boosters. Check both internal and external learning courses and programs as part of your ways to improve employee morale. Achieving growth in a career is the ambition of many employees.

Hence their interest will be to upskill or cross-skill their knowledge. If the company can provide all the requisite knowledge bank and expert guidance, then you can increase your employee morale. Besides, providing certifications free of cost can be one of the good ideas to boost morale at work. This hopefully answers your question on, how to boost team morale.

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Encourage innovations and creativities for an employees morale booster

Encouraging and promoting innovations and creativity is beneficial for both the company and the employees. The company earns a positive competition edge in the market. Employees can nurture their thoughts and ideas in the latest digital technologies thus upgrading their competencies.

Hence the technique act as an employees morale booster and aids in improving office moral. It helps to build employee morale and achieve consistency in employee morale. It is one of the best staff morale boosters companies can deploy for improving moral in the workplace.

Accept feedback and suggestions to enhance staff morale

Feedbacks and suggestions must be obtained from employees to enhance staff morale and providing due importance in the company’s decision-making on policies and norms. Employee morale is impacted considerably if associates are granted equal opportunity in crucial discussions and thought-provoking innovations.

One of the best ways for improving morale at work and an answer to the question on, “How to boost morale in the office?” The feedback can be collected in the form of surveys, interviews and questionnaires. Open forums may also be organized for accepting suggestions from employees to build morale. This strategy has proven to be very effective in building morale at work.

Transparency in company communication for building team morale

A company’s top leadership and management play a vital role in building morale in the workplace. Sharing the company’s vision, mission and objectives frequently must be considered in the company morale booster program.

You need to ensure employees can raise their concerns and there are listening ears for providing adequate resolutions; impacting the employee moral. There must not be any hidden facts while communicating with the employees.

This is one of the prominent morale boosters for staff adopted by companies for building team morale. Employee morale is enhanced considerably along with an increase in trust and confidence in the leadership.

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Assign work as per skills for improving employees morale

You must be aware of the skills of each employee and assign work as per a person’s competency. This technique helps in improving employees morale and delivering quality work. The employees can relate faster to their tasks, bring in innovative ways to execute their activities and more importantly boost up the employee morale.

Hopefully, this is one of the answers to the question, “How to increase morale in the workplace?” Employees love to enhance their inherent skills through hands-on experience at work. Therefore assigning the appropriate roles and activities are a major contributor to improving staff moral.

Gestures of appreciation for uplifting workplace morale

Small appreciation messages, thank you emails, and arranging themed parties are some of the small but effective ways for uplifting workplace morale. Employees feel a sense of belongingness and value within the organization; thus assisting in improving staff morale.

Companies must understand the importance of employee morale for better functioning in the market and think of innovative ideas to build team morale. Star of the month, star of the quarter, consistent performer of the year are few more ideas on how to boost morale in office. These gestures are powerful ways to boost employee morale.

Offering an engagement platform as a morale booster

Employees in an organization prefer interacting with others for discussing technical or domain-related issues or problems. Offering them an engagement platform within the company portal will charge up the morale booster; a way to build morale. The platform must be accessible via mobile devices for better usage and connectivity.

The strategy is one of the happening methodologies for improving employee morale and answers, “How to improve morale at work?” It is one of the best team morale ideas specifically among the employees of gen Z. Even HR-related issues can be discussed on such a platform.

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Promote work-life balance to boost morale at work

Employees nowadays need a guarantee on spending a healthy personal life vis-à-vis their professional life. Hence to boost morale at work, you need to ensure employees can maintain a comfortable work-life balance. Employee morale is significantly elevated by following this technique.

An answer to your query on, “How to improve staff morale at work?” Over-stress and burnouts result in high turnover rates, hampering boost moral activities. Companies must not force long hours. Therefore one of the best ideas to boost employee morale is to allow time for relaxation and vacations for spending time with family and friends.

Arrange team-building activities for boosting morale in the workplace

Planning and organizing team-building activities are very important for boosting morale in the workplace. Employee morale earns positive nurture as employees are encouraged for thinking out of the box while engaging and interacting with each other. The team building activities can be games, quizzes, casual discussions, group activities; thus lifting the workers morale.

So if you are eager to improve staff morale, follow this particular strategy to improve morale in the workplace. In the modern era, conducting group activities and games or group presentations is one of the happening employee morale ideas to improve morale at work.

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How to boost morale at work in remote teams?

Remote employees need special attention to raise morale since they operate in isolation. Constant engagement and work appreciation are a necessity while improving office morale of remote teams. The techniques applied for increasing employee morale for remote teams need to be a bit different than that of professionals operating physically in the office.

Employee morale needs special focus for remote teams, to boost and motivate them to carry on with their day-to-day activities. They need special inspirational employee moral boosters to keep them energized. In the below sub-sections, we will discuss the ways on how to boost employee morale of remote teams.

Providing development and growth opportunities as an employee morale booster

One of the suggested and key employee morale booster initiatives is to guide the remote team in their future growth and career opportunities. Share with them the company’s hierarchical structure and allow them to opt for higher roles; one of the crucial ways on how to raise morale of remote employees.

Employee morale is significantly impacted on the positive side by providing a prospective career path in the organization. Promotions are also another way to help remote employees in achieving their ambitions. Remember, a motivated and inspired employee will help you to achieve higher productivity and higher revenue than one with low employee morale.

Frequent casual discussions as morale boosters for employees

To retain employee working remotely, the recommendation is to interact with them frequently via audio and video conference calls. Engage in casual and friendly discussions, enquiring about their well-being and health; one of the best remote staff retention ideas adopted by companies.

Guide and support them to help maintain a seamless work-life balance. Assure them of all help in any crisis. Provide them with the contact numbers for any emergency assistance. Appoint mentors to assist them as part of your employee retention guidelines.

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Performance awards and recognitions to increase office morale

The best way to increase office morale for remote teams is to announce performance awards and recognitions within the organization. It can be in the form of giveaways, vouchers, leaves, vouchers for travel, etc.

The work moral of the remote employee is immensely impacted resulting in higher dedication and a positive attitude towards work. It is one of the best office morale ideas on how to improve office morale while dealing with teams operating remotely and located in various regions. They will remain devoted towards the company and the employee morale curve will heighten up.

Conduct virtual activities and games to foster team moral

A proven way to foster team moral in remote employees is to arrange for virtual cooling sessions through fun-filled activities and theme games. It is one of the best office morale boosters to generate a feeling of bonding and togetherness among remote employees. They feel motivated and committed to the organization.

An obvious answer to your question on, “How to build morale of remote teams?” The employees can de-stress themselves through remote games and virtual cooling sessions. The result is greater concentration on their assignments thus remarkably increasing employee morale. You can conduct quizzes, and contests for a positive impact on employee morale.

Ensure a Balance workload as one of your workplace morale boosters

Balancing the workload of remote employees as per their bandwidth and work hours is one of the established workplace morale boosters. Burdening a single person with too many activities are the result of poor project planning and management. Hence to answer the question on how to improve employee morale, never ignore the workload factor.

Distribute the tasks and activities among the team, calculate the effort required for each task and the available bandwidth of employees. One of the best staff morale ideas to enhance employee morale and boosting moral in the workplace.

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How to boost employee morale during Covid times?

COVID-19 has posed multiple challenges in conducting work comfortably at a workplace. Organizations have realized that if proper initiatives are not undertaken to boost employee morale, they may fail in the long run due to reduced employee morale. Here are 3 ways of how to improve employee morale during the pandemic,

1. Allow them to claim their internet costs and remote connectivity tools costs, a moral booster in a pandemic situation.
2. Conduct mental and physical wellness programs for the employees, one of the best ways to boost morale during COVID-19
3. Allow flexibility in work schedules allowing time for family; an effective way to improve office morale

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Best software to boost team morale

The three best software to boost team morale are,

1. unremot virtual watercooler is one of the best software for increasing employee morale especially for those who are working remotely. Morale in the workplace is enhanced via social interactions. Employees can create a virtual watercooler corner, add teammates and start chatting. People can discuss hobbies and interests, play games, conduct quizzes or riddles.
2. Google Play provides online games for free like virtual cricket, virtual football games, and so on; good for building morale
3. Zoom, a prominent cloud-based conferencing and virtual meeting platform; allowing moral boost in employees

How to boost employee morale and motivation?

To answer the question on, “How to boost employee morale and motivation?” First and foremost employees must be provided due importance and recognition in the organization. Creating a well-defined reward mechanism, planning social interactions, assisting, and guiding are some of the techniques to improve employee morale and boosting morale in the office.

How to improve employee morale and job satisfaction?

It is critical to understand the ambitions of an employee. It helps to improve employee morale and increase morale. Deploying them in proper roles as per their skills and curating a career path for them are the best ways for improving employee morale.