You practically jumped out of bed from another one of those horrible dreams. Your partner rolls over and asks, “Another one of the night terrors, honey?” You nod sheepishly between chest-heaving sobs as your hands shake uncontrollably. “I just, I just,” you stammer. “I just hate my job so much.”
Sounds a bit extreme, doesn’t it? Well it’s not; a Forbes article stated that, “seventy percent of your employees hate their jobs.” What’s more, according to the University of Cambridge, work-related stress can lead to raised blood pressure and cardiovascular disease and may even contribute to substance abuse. That’s right. Not only do your employees hate their jobs, but it’s killing them.
Not to worry, though, you can implement these two simple ideas to boost morale in the workplace: Taking breaks and focusing on your mission.
Your mind works super hard. Give it a break already.
10/10 Fun people agree: if you want your employees to be happy, try having some fun! A nine-to-five workday can be monotonous, it can be wearisome, and it can be painful; but it doesn’t have to be. Figure out ways to give your employees mental breaks during their day. This doesn’t have to be complicated or costly like employee base jumping / team building / caviar tasting weekend. Here are some low budget workplace morale booster activities:
- Trivia Contest: Split your group into teams. Ask some questions about the history of your company or about your product line. Winning group gets to wear t-shirts to work on Friday.
- Hopscotch Contest: Have some chalk? Have a parking lot? Take your employees outside for a quick 10 minute challenge. Winner gets their picture taken and immortalized for the next 30 days.
- Eating Contest: Have some leftover doughnuts in the break room? Turn yesterdays treats into today’s challenge.
- Fun With Products: Sell something? Try getting pictures of those products and sticking them to your employees heads with rubber bands. The employees need to ask questions and guess the card on their head to win.
Building special days into your work schedule is also a great way for your employees to de-stress. It gives them something to look forward to and something to work towards. Here are some fun examples:
- Pizza Friday: Remember how excited you were as a kid for pizza nights? Try buying pizza’s for your office or a department one Friday a month.
- Baseball Night: Organize a work trip to a baseball game. If you buy tickets in bulk and have >20 employees chip in, you can usually get tickets for lower than face value.
- Celebrate Random Holidays: Pick a few random holidays out during the month and schedule something fun. Did you know today was ‘National Chocolate Parfait Day’? How pumped would you be if 2 weeks ago you received a memo and itinerary for today’s choco-madness celebration.
Your mission: Focus on how your company helps others.
One of the most important steps in maintaining high employee morale is to work with a purpose. This is an absolutely liberating shift in mindsets, and one that will reverberate throughout your office. If people feel like the work they do is meaningful, they will find it more fulfilling, and, in turn, they will be happier. People will look forward to going to work when it matters to them, even if the work they do is difficult.
Establishing this purpose may seem difficult if your company is working in the private sector and is for profit, but keep in mind, all work helps people in some way. Find the way that your company helps people, and motivate your employees to this end. For example, our company (SAS) is a call center service provider that helps small businesses stay competitive by offering on-demand receptionists 24/7. Our mission is to further the growth of small businesses with affordable and reliable multi-channel communication.
All conversations and meetings should center around this mission. It certainly does on our office! It is the driving, motivating factor in our business and should be in your business as well. In this way, if you have a disagreement with an employee or there is some type of dispute amongst your staff, you can avoid making things personal; instead, it all comes down to the job. If your employees know what is going to help our company and what is going to help our customers, you will reach a Zen-like morale in your office.
In the end, you need to make sure that work is something that your employees look forward to being a part of. Create a positive team dynamic, motivate your employees with fun activities and events, and always bring things back to your central mission. You will have healthier employees, and a stronger company, too.