It’s that time of the year again… the weather is starting to get a bit gloomy and everyone is feeling sad to see that ball of brightness in the sky less frequently. We thought this might be a good time to talk about office morale and how to keep it high.
1. Celebrate work anniversaries. Work anniversaries are relationship milestones between an employee and a company. According to a survey from Globoforce, 82 percent of people would feel good if people noticed and recognized their work anniversary, but only 36 percent of people say a work anniversary made them feel valued. Have a conversation with your staff about the best way to honour work anniversaries.
2. Encourage real lunch breaks. Research suggests that only one in five people take lunch breaks and that white-collar workers are least likely to step away from their desks for a break. Management professor Kimberly Elsbach told NPR that “staying inside, in the same location, is really detrimental to creative thinking.” Get managers on board to take a coffee break, go for a walk or check out a new restaurant every day. Those people have the greatest leverage to model morale-boosting habits.
3. Recognize personal milestones and losses. Individuals experience higher morale when employers appreciate them as people first and employees second. You can still recognize personal milestones and losses while respecting privacy — even a simple note from you would do. Respond as you would to a friend, with kindness and consideration. Seeing as how 78 percent employees spend more time with co-workers than they do with family, a supportive community will go a long way to fostering happiness.
Some Halloween fun from DLO!
Have a look…
