5 ways to boost morale in a small business

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It is less likely than you think. Even if you truly feel the morale within your business is high, it can never harm to improve. Happy employees boost productivity and overall success, and treat customers better, so you gain by retaining your customers too!

Here are five ways to improve morale within your business:

Show appreciation

There are lots of ways you can show appreciation to your employees. Suggestions range from verbal recognition of their work like saying thank you, to letting them go home early or take a paid day off, or organising an office lunch or function for a change of scenery. Employee recognition awards are also a good idea, on a monthly basis. You could also give flowers, chocolates or another token gift with a thank you note attached.

Let employees catch up on sleep

Although this is much more off-the-wall than the previous idea, providing a darkened room for employees to have a half an hour nap to recharge their batteries and lift their moods. This is a rare perk that employees will love!

Provide schedule flexibility

This could mean allowing employees to come in early and finish early, working some hours from home, or even allowing employees time to fetch children from school before returning to work for the afternoon. Anything to make their lives a little easier whilst still keeping productive will keep both you and your staff happy.

Talk to them

Have an open door policy, where your employees can come and speak to you about any concerns or ideas they may have. Let them express both positive and negative thoughts, and do your best to take any suggestions or worries on board and deal with them actively. To take this one step further, it is a good idea to simply ask your employees what it is that they want and what would make them happier at work, even if this is done via anonymous surveys or online forms.

Criticise less, smile more, and notice the positive

Obviously employees will need some constructive criticism and guidance, but a surefire way to crush morale is by constantly criticising work and never praising good work. Start to try and appreciate the small wins, any good performance from employees, and praise more than you criticise. A positive attitude will go a long way in motivating your employees.