Each employee may be responsible for fostering and maintaining their own positive attitude toward work, but sometimes low morale can become such a problem in the workplace that employers must take even the most rudimentary steps to overcome it.
“Happy workers produce more,” noted Susan E. Esposito, business developer at Express Employment Professionals in Warwick.
While Esposito agreed in part that each worker ultimately controls his or her own attitude, she stressed that employers should step in when low morale results in such problems as constant absenteeism, the repeated departure of valued employees or frequent conflict among workers.
Low morale is a serious problem that can have far-reaching effects. “It can even affect home life,” she suggested. Solutions can be as simple as having an office pizza party to show workers they are appreciated or as long-range as taking on a team-building project to benefit a favorite office charity, according to Esposito.
These are among the steps her company offers clients in an ongoing initiative to address workplace morale, a problem she noted has been on the rise due to a sluggish economy that in general has seen workers take on larger workloads when colleagues are laid off or vacant positions left open. “There are [fewer] people doing more,” she said.
Express Employment Professionals, with a staff of five managing an average of 180 temporary workers every week, is part of a national chain with 600 offices across the country, based in Oklahoma City, OK. Esposito said the firm is more than a temporary employment agency. It also offers counseling and human resources services and regularly sponsors nationwide surveys on employment and hiring.
Findings from a recent Express hiring trend survey conducted by the Gallup organization found that 42 percent of the employers responding have seen a recent drop in morale, with 51 percent seeing higher turnover, greater absenteeism and/or lower productivity as a result, according to Esposito. Some 32 percent of those surveyed attributed the morale drop to a lack of communication.
Tom Stocker, owner and operator of the Owner’s Edge, a consulting firm in East Greenwich, agreed that a lack of regular communication between management and employees is one of the top reasons he sees for workplace morale problems, along with a need to better empower employees.
“Employers do not always realize and take into account the human capital that they have,” Stocker said. “We always look at how you [an employer] treat your employees. Are you treating them as part of the solution or is your solution to throw bodies at things after you have decided what to do?”
Carmen Diaz-Jusino, program director at the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) in Providence, said her agency regularly offers free workshops featuring human resource professionals discussing various employment issues. She agreed that lack of communication is a key reason for low morale.
It is important for business owners and managers “to include your employees in your vision and your strategic plan” and “make employees feel part of the company,” she advised. “Sometimes you can do this by putting together a better benefits package, because you don’t always realize how important that is to your workers.”
Other possible solutions that Express Employment explores with clients, Esposito said, include: recognizing employees for their accomplishments; creating a fun environment by, for instance, organizing a social event such as Express Employment’s recent sponsorship of a PawSox baseball game; supporting a charitable cause to foster team spirit by, for instance, organizing a raffle to benefit a charity or sponsoring a local blood drive; and offering health and wellness initiatives in the workplace because exercise can relieve stress.
“Some companies are participating in their own version of [the reality TV show] “The Biggest Loser” because that can help team-building,” she said, where employees compete with each other to lose weight.
Any of these steps should bring a solid return on the resources invested because, Esposito said, “workers will appreciate what you do and will work even harder.” •
