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Are your employees happy?
If you cannot answer that question with certainty, pay closer attention. Boosting morale increases productivity, which increases your profits.
Assess your employee satisfaction so that you can make improvements when necessary. Read on to learn five signs of low morale in the workplace.
1. Negativity
When you walk into a room, the vibe will reveal itself quickly. Notice how you feel overall when you walk into your employee’s workspace.
Your intuition will catch fake smiles and pretend positivity. Hints of sarcasm may even shine through from extremely frustrated workers. Even reading the reports, you may notice negativity and pessimism coming from the people who write them when morale is low.
Happy employees smile more, joke around, and make the workspace feel light. They tend to look at things optimistically, even when they run into hiccups.
2. Arguments
Do your employees get along? Since they spend most days together, they often function like a family.
A happy family works in tandem to finish tasks. They act kind and joke with one another.
An unhappy one will argue and step on one another toes to the point that it interferes with productivity. You might even notice unhealthy rivalries that create rifts in a toxic work environment.
3. Absences
Attendance speaks volumes about employee satisfaction. Satisfied employees generally will not miss work unless necessary.
Unhappy workers, however, will find any excuse to play hooky. Many may actually fall ill due to the job causing undue stress.
One or two employees skipping out may simply speak to their irresponsibility. Look for trends among all of your employees.
4. Employee Turnover
A career gives people stability in multiple areas of life. Company culture can greatly influence retention. When it feels welcoming and safe, people tend to hold on to their jobs.
Switching careers causes stress, takes you away from familiar faces, and can create financial instability. So if you see a high employee turnover rate, people are running away from something that makes them more unhappy than a lack of security.
Keep in mind that some people will leave even the best businesses. An average company will see a turnover rate of about 12-15%.
5. Dwindling Productivity
Low morale correlates with lower production rates. As noted above, people skip work or quit more often.
Those who do stick around feel stressed and may not work well with their peers. This environment leads to burnout for your best employees as they burn the candle at both ends to pick up all of the slack.
You will probably notice decreased production before you even see the rest of it. Boost morale with a fun teamwork event, paid day off, or bonus incentive to see if it picks up productivity.
Make Employee Satisfaction a Priority
As upper management, you should care about employee satisfaction. It directly affects everything from the vibe of your workspace to profit margins, so make the happiness of your employees a priority.
We know that the workplace consists of many moving parts that you must master for true success. Find helpful tips on our business page.