Morale in the Workplace

I once heard Jack Welch say that there are 3 things that he say are the real judge of how well a company is doing, Customer Satisfaction, Employee Engagement, and Cash Flow. That seems pretty simple. If the customer isn’t satisfied there won’t be much cash flow. I’m going to talk a little today about employee engagement and more specifically morale.

One thing that I guess everybody learns quick is the boss is the boss and us employees are just that, employees. One way of looking at it is if you don’t like the way things are going at the job then you can just move on. If the boss and management have the belief that it’s my way or the high way and that all employees are on a need to know basis, then I predict employee turnover will be at a high rate. I’m not suggesting that the boss needs to make important business decisions with the employees in mind but let gets one thing clear, a happy crew is a more productive crew.

Depending on how big your company is or what sort of size or geography the workspace is, you might have people working closely together. It helps if the people get along or at least respect one another. The worst scenario in a tight working situation is when an employee is brought in that all of the others have issue with. This is obviously seen as an unfair tactic and an act of complete ignorance towards the other employees. This situation, while sometimes may seem like the right move for the company, should be avoided at all costs.

Employees at every level like to feel like they are more than just contributors of labor, but part of a team including management that put together a top notch finished product. They like to know that they are valued and appreciated. Only pointing out when mistakes and errors are made are not the way to get positive results. Owners and managers should make it a habit to point out good performance on a regular if not daily basis.

Any opportunity to bring in employee’s opinions and ideas are a great way to build a team, even if those ideas do not get put in place. Many companies now are giving ownership by way of stock and profit sharing in the company giving the employee a real stake in the success or failure of the business.

The more ways to make the company a team and less like a competition amongst rivals the better the work environment and the more production.