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| Communication and Employee Morale |
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Wednesday December 29, 2010 Topic: Employee Management Resource: Nelson, Bob. “Fixing Employee Morale. ”Workforce Management, http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/hr-management/fixing-employee-morale. Improving your work environment to make it more effective, efficient and more productive often turns on improving employee morale. It is not difficult to take steps to improve employee morale, but it is difficult to improve and maintain it without a substantial stream of time and resources. Seemingly, like perfection, improving employee morale is an elusive goal that constantly moves. I have found that pay raises improve employee morale immediately, as does the payment of unexpected performance bonuses.Wednesday December 29, 2010
Topic: Employee Management Resource: Nelson, Bob. “Fixing Employee Morale. ”Workforce Management, http://www.workforce.com/archive/feature/hr-management/fixing-employee-morale.
Improving your work environment to make it more effective, efficient and more productive often turns on improving employee morale. It is not difficult to take steps to improve employee morale, but it is difficult to improve and maintain it without a substantial stream of time and resources. Seemingly, like perfection, improving employee morale is an elusive goal that constantly moves. I have found that pay raises improve employee morale immediately, as does the payment of unexpected performance bonuses. However, these things require resources that many companies have not had or have been unwilling to release during these difficult financial times. In the referenced article, the commentator amplifies these themes and seeks to combat poor morale through the improvement of key elements that have a negative impact on employee morale. Citing a survey by Accountempts of 1,400 CFOs from U.S. companies here are some of the biggest problem areas and remedies for poor employee morale. “Lack of honest communication 33%; failure to recognize employee achievement 19%; fear of job loss 14%.” Improving communication, recognition programs, and unexpected rewards were among the best ways to boost performance. Frankly, I am not surprised that communication is on the list. It makes just about every list as a major stumbling block for improved employee morale. What is surprising is that in this age of Intranets, Wiki’s, electronic signage, newsletters, and email campaigns, that communication remains a major stumbling block. I suspect that the reason is not that communication is not taking place, or face-to-face meetings are not taking place, but rather that the employees do not trust the communication or do not like what is being communicated. So until the trust gap is closed and the level of information transparency satisfies a critical mass of employees, communication will remain the elephant in the room. Honesty remains the best policy, as does getting bad news out early. More tactical mistakes are made trying to avoid or minimize bad news than just about anything else. Here is a word to the wise; build your trust first and communication with your employees will improve. Your employee morale should improve as well, but if it doesn’t communication will not be the main reason. |