There’s no denying that a happy workplace is a productive workplace. Not only is high morale linked to productivity, but it is also positively linked to staff retention and a sense of satisfaction. With this in mind, ensuring that you foster a great work environment and look after your staff is important. But, how do you go about ensuring that your staff are happy and have everything they need to succeed in your business? It isn’t as hard as you might expect. Take a look at our top employee incentives to help keep morale high and why it’s so important.

Why employee morale matters

There are a variety of reasons why you should always aim to keep your employee morale as high as possible. It has been estimated that over a lifetime, people will spend an average of 85,000 hours in the workplace. This is a huge portion of our adult lives. With such a significant amount of time being spent in the workplace, creating a great work environment, where your employees want to come to work, is essential. 

Increased performance and profit

Happy employees are staff that are going to work harder for you and will likely help to increase the overall profitability of your business. It has been shown that happy workers who enjoy their job and have a great workplace dynamic going to work harder, have a higher performance level and will help to increase productivity for your business. 

More Creativity

Happy employees are staff that are relaxed enough to let their creativity soar. This creativity can help to create innovative new procedures, inspire better ways of solving problems and produce a lot of out-of-the-box thinking that can benefit your business significantly. 

Less absenteeism

When staff morale is high, the occurrence of consistent staff absences due to sickness and the need for mental health days are often much lower. Happy staff are not only much happier to be at work but they are also less likely to call in sick as they will be healthier overall. 

Reduce burnout and increase staff retention

When your employees are overworked and become burned out, the chances are high that they will begin looking for other employment. Employers can spend a lot of time training staff on their systems and procedures, so staff retention should be a top priority. Staff a much less likely to look for other employment if they are provided with an environment where they can thrive without being overworked. 

top ways to keep employee morale high

There are many ways that you can foster a workplace environment that will help to keep your staff happy and your workplace morale high. Some of our top suggestions include:

Promote a work-life balance

Promoting and encouraging a work-life balance in your staff is a great way to keep morale high. This could include ensuring that your staff don’t overwork themselves, letting them work hybrid or remotely or even encouraging them to leave in time for school pick-ups. Work-life balance will look different to every employee, but taking the time to see how you can assist in this will go a long way toward keeping employee morale high. 

Take the time to have fun

Taking the time to have some fun at work or organising an after-work event is a great way to foster a quality workplace environment. This can help break up the regular workday and is a great way to release a little stress and tension, especially if your team has just completed a huge project or milestone. Organising an event that everyone enjoys are great employee incentives to work towards. 

Train better leaders

Trading in your managers to not only lead by example but how to identify unique talents among your staff is key in having a happy and healthy workplace environment. Managers that can bring out the best in your staff rather than simply telling them what to do and micromanaging will not only create a great workplace with happy staff, but they will become assets that can help your business to grow and evolve. 

Show your appreciation

Taking the time to show your staff that you recognise their hard work and the time they are putting into your business is a great way to help keep morale high. When staff feel under-appreciated and ignored, they are not going to want to put in their best efforts and will be blasé at best. Letting your staff know that you appreciate everything they do for you and your business is essential. It’s important to remember that staff that feel unappreciated can and will go to a workplace where they are recognised for the work they do. 

Offer employee incentives

In addition to ensuring that your staff are not overworked and are appreciated, offering up staff rewards and other corporate incentives is a sure way to let your team know that you recognise and appreciate their hard work. These incentives can include everything from a physical gift card or digital gift card to their favourite store or a gift basket to an outing such as a spa day or a night in a nice hotel where they can pamper themselves. Thoughtful gifts and employee incentives like these are a great way to show your appreciation and provide your team with a way to decompress after a busy work week. 

Additionally, you could also offer employee incentives as a goal to work towards or a bit of friendly in-team competition. Offering sales incentives or corporate promotions for reaching a huge KPI or work goal can help bring out the best in your team. 

Get in touch today

Understanding why employee morale is important and how you can help to improve it are essential to any good business. Your staff or team are your most important assets and knowing how to keep them happy and healthy will not only keep your team happy but will benefit your business overall as well. If you are looking for tips and tricks on business performance or other related business topics, we can help.

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