Good morale in a company is a valuable thing. Happy
people are safer, and, more productive, people. Employees that feel good about
their job, more often than not, put in a little extra effort each day.
Employees not feeling good about their job begin to develop the “don’t care”
attitude. When the “don’t care” attitude sweeps through a workplace,
productivity is sure to drop.
Since morale is a mindset, companies can’t just
issue a new rule and make everything better. Morale isn’t raised just because management
doesn’t like everyone’s sour attitude. Morale is raised when positive things in
the workplace begin to happen. Morale is raised when the majority of the
workforce feels that management have their backs. Morale is lowered when the “us
against them” mentality creeps in.
When favoritism is shown in the workplace, morale
will drop. If an employee feels that he or she doesn’t have the same
opportunity as “the bosses pet” their morale is lowered. These types of things
are wrong but unfortunately they happen all across the country every day. When
rules are put in place that penalizes everyone, for abuses by a few, morale is
lowered.
What should happen when a company realizes they have
a morale problem? Can it be fixed before more and bigger problems arise? In
most cases the answer is yes. Problems need to be addressed from the upper echelon
of the company and work their way down to the lower tiers. Do new rules
constantly need to be put in place, or perhaps the old rules just need to be
enforced properly. Have rules already in place simply been ignored for so long
that things got out of hand. That seems to be the fault of management.
At some point in a low morale crisis, management
needs to find a way back in the good graces of the floor workers. The workers
need to once again know that what they do is appreciated. They are not numbers
in a log book; they are people and should be treated as such. That doesn’t mean
all the bosses go around handing out cookies and cool-aide. They do need to
show their employees respect. Without their employees they are like a coach
without a team…useless.
