Boosting employee morale and engagement with your employees will help you curate a positive workspace. Your team will be more productive and have a healthier work culture. However, it can take time to figure out where to start making changes to reach this goal.
So, make sure you keep reading. We’ve gathered all the best ways to boost morale and engagement among your employees.
1. Have a Work Anniversary Party
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Most people don’t expect a surprise work anniversary party. You can host an annual lunch party for your workers on the days that they started with your company. You can recognize their achievements and how far they’ve come professionally.
You can bring treats, like cake and cupcakes, and other food that your team enjoys. Try catering from local restaurants or order a pizza. It’s also nice to get the employee a card and have everyone on their team sign it with well-wishes.
You can tailor the party to the interests of your team. It’ll give them a chance to take a break during the work day and decompress surrounded by things that they enjoy.
Work anniversary parties are a kind gesture and an outstanding way to make your team feel appreciated. They’re not super common among most companies, so it can be a pleasant surprise for your employees.
2. Provide Incentives
Next, a bonus is a sure way to make your employees feel motivated and appreciated for the work they do. You can set up a bonus plan to design, serve, and track these incentives.
Your employees will want to reach the goals of the plan, so they’ll try harder, and focus more, at work. You can offer bonuses for sales goals, referrals, holidays, profit goals, and much more. You can even give them out as gifts for any occasion that you can think of.
Providing monetary incentives to your team is a tried-and-true method for raising morale and engagement at work. Using a bonus plan software can help you map out the incentives you want to give.
3. Have Fun Themed Events
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You can also try having themed days. For example, you can have a game night, Taco Tuesday, pizza days, and more. You can even swap out the themed days from time to time to keep things fresh.
Themed days give your team something to look forward to during the work day. They can relax for a bit and enjoy a fun break.
Talk with your employees and see what sort of themed days they would like the most.
4. Allow for Decorating
You can encourage your staff to personalize their workspaces. They can decorate their offices or cubicles if they have them. Plants, family photos, and motivating posters are all great ideas. They can even decorate for holidays and birthdays.
By allowing your team to decorate, you’re also giving them some creative freedom over their spaces. By doing so, they’ll feel more motivated.
A boring white-walled space would have the opposite effect, bringing them down and reducing productivity. Even adding some plants could boost productivity by 15% because they make the space feel more natural and add some color to the space. Plants also help people feel more creative and welcome.
Overall, you want your team to have control over their space. As long as the decorations aren’t inappropriate, they should be able to change their workstations as much as they want to boost morale.
5. Offer Time Off
Well-rested employees are much more productive. You can offer surprise time off when your team reaches set goals and milestones. Having a break is sure to boost morale.
You can even offer a full or half day off for birthdays, anniversaries, and important events. You’ll want to learn more about what dates are important to your team and encourage them to share these details with you so you can plan for their time off.
In short, giving your team a break is essential to their morale.
6. Consider Flexible Scheduling
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If you can, try making your employees’ schedules more flexible. You can do this by offering remote work or by letting them have more control over when they work. Compressed work weeks are a popular option today. Your employees will create routines that work for them, giving them a better work-life balance.
With a better balance in their life, your workers will be more relaxed and have better job satisfaction. All of these aspects factor into motivation and morale. They’ll be much happier at work when they plan times that work better for them.
Everyone has different schedules that would benefit them more. Some of us are morning people or night owls, and some have children and other responsibilities. Giving your team a flexible schedule allows them to meet all obligations in their lives and still come in feeling refreshed and ready to complete their shifts.
So, consider offering flexible scheduling whenever you can. Even small changes can make a significant difference in your employees’ lives.
7. Try Using the Buddy System
Finally, you can try creating a buddy system for your team. Pair your new hires and trainees with experienced team members. Doing so can help the new workers adjust, learn, and receive support. They’ll also feel welcomed.
You’ll want to choose experienced employees who volunteer for the role in the buddy system. They’ll be more excited to help the new team members. From there, try to think about who would be the most compatible with who. Consider personalities, work positions, and teaching styles to get the best buddy matches together.
Take some time to check in with both buddies to see how things are going. You can learn where your team’s strengths and weaknesses are this way, too.
Boost Morale and Engagement With These Surprising Methods
In short, you can boost employee morale using these ideas. Your team will feel more engaged at work and be more productive as a result. Try offering time off, buddy systems, and fun themed parties to keep them rested and interested in work.
