We are now over three months into the coronavirus pandemic, and teams across the world continue to work from home. While many employees are happy they are staying safe and well, they are also getting antsy – having not seen their coworkers in person in many months.
Additionally, employees with children are building a new routine as many schools have ended both their year and at-home learning.
All of this is to say that many employees need a boost or a pick-me-up to retain their focus and dedication to their work. It’s not enough to simply have a job; people need comradeship and empowerment to achieve job satisfaction and perform at their highest level.
Morale and Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction and morale comes from a few factors:
- Completing work at the quality and standard to which your employee holds him or herself.
- Being recognized for good work when accomplished.
- Constantly moving on one’s career path.
- Clear communication among team members and between teams and leadership.
- Engaged and caring team members and leadership.
While you have likely put in clear lines of communication and excellent management systems during this time, it’s crucial to also focus on growth within your company. Employees need to know that you care about their well being and their situations, no matter what is happening in their homes right now.
Five Fun Morale Boosters
With this in mind, we have compiled some fun ideas to help employees know that you care about them – and to foster a more collaborative and supportive environment in which your teams can perform at their best.
1. Morning Coffee Hangout
Many employees miss the camaraderie they felt around the water cooler or coffee machine at work. Foster this by telling leaders to set up a 10-15 minute coffee break a couple of times a week, where employees can chat via video conference or on a coffee break channel on Slack and just take some time to connect.
You can add to the “breaktime” feel by providing the occasional gift card or voucher for a meal delivery services so they can order their favorite latte.
2. Set up a “Career Day”
Many offices offer a “take your child to work day” – which is a lot of fun for kids and for their parents. This is not feasible right now, but you can still set up something similar for your employee’s children through online conferencing software.
Not only can you work within your company to create some seminars which older children can attend, you can hire some of the entertainers you would have hired at a career day event and have them perform for young ones over video conference.
Additionally, this can be a collaborative effort with a complimentary company or a networking partner. They can work with you to create the online conference and entertainment schedule, and children of employees from both companies can attend.
This is not only fun for your employees and their kids, but it also provides the break that distance learning may have given during the school year.
3. Encourage growth
A lot of employees have spent this time trying to work hard and focus while also caring for children or checking the news. It’s been a stressful time. You can help to alleviate that stress by refocusing them on growing within your company.
Growth in any career generally means learning new skills and increasing one’s network.
Encourage learning by:
- Asking employees to find a class, webinar, or seminar they can take to better perform their job, then give them the funds and time to do it. Be sure to provide a budget before asking them to do this research.
- Setting up small break-out webinars within the company leadership to provide guidance and coaching in each department.
- Signing appropriate employees up to online conferences that include seminars and break-out sessions.
- Giving employees a daily learning time slot wherein they can take a class, catch up on informative newsletters and articles, or practice a new skill.
Support networking by:
- Setting up cross-company discussions with complementary businesses or companies local to you.
- Asking relevant employees to sign up to online networking groups.
- Supporting employees who wish to reach out to local charities to volunteer.
4. Play a game
Many offices have interdepartmental games that encourage production and provide an alluring prize at the end. Now is a great time to set up games of this nature and get them played throughout the company. Not only will it inject some fun into your employee’s days, but it will also provide additional incentives for them to perform at their peak.
5. Create a “recognition” channel or area
Spread awareness of good works within the company – and the effect these works are having. Create a Slack channel or a board that is just for recognizing excellence within your company. This channel should not only share when someone does a great job, but also the effect that work created.
For example, if the marketing team created a fantastic campaign and sales is now flooded with calls because of it, that should be recognized. If the IT department has been keeping everything running at tip-top efficiency while everyone has been working at home, so therefor no employees have gotten sick during this time, that should be recognized.
Not only is it nice for employees to feel appreciated, but it’s also important for them to see their contribution to the company as a whole.
Creating Your Business Environment
There are many ways for you to foster a fun and productive work-from-home environment for your employees. It all starts with your strategy in achieving your company goals.
As you work toward building growth and longevity into your company, no matter the economic environment, it’s important to consider the people that are supporting you and your business. Your staff is your team – and they are what make your business.
It’s important to keep this fact in mind when creating company goals, strategies, policies, and procedures. Your attitude toward your staff and your compassion during this time will shine through as you build procedures and as you continue to grow your company.
At Business Success Consulting Group, we work with businesses that want to foster a healthy and supportive company culture. We help companies lay the foundation for a bright and productive future. Contact us today to get this process started!
