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Boosting employee morale is an essential part of building an engaged, positive, and productive workplace. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report, organizations with engaged employees experience an 18% increase in sales productivity and a 23% boost in profitability — proving morale has a real impact on business performance.
High morale can also improve employee satisfaction, foster team collaboration, and contribute to overall organizational success. By prioritizing these best practices to uplift and motivate employees, organizations can create an environment where people feel engaged, valued, and inspired to do their best work every day.
What is the meaning of employee morale?
Employee morale is the overall level of engagement, emotional attachment, and outlook that workers have toward their jobs. It encompasses their feelings of wellbeing and enthusiasm for their role within the company.
High employee morale often corresponds with productivity, improved team communication, as well as a lower turnover rate. On the other hand, low employee morale can lead to poor performance, burnout, and detachment from the company and the work at hand.
Ultimately, prioritizing morale is crucial for organizational health and success, and employers can gather timely data on employee sentiments through tools such as pulse surveys.
What causes low employee morale?
There are many factors influencing employee morale, and what matters to one team member might not have any impact on another. However, the following are key elements that universally lower morale:
- Burnout: When employees experience burnout, it affects both their well-being and productivity. Over time, this can cause employees to feel disconnected from their work, resulting in decreased engagement and morale.
- Poor leadership: Poor leadership can manifest in many ways — micromanagement, and lack of transparency and support. When leaders fail to inspire, communicate effectively, or recognize employee contributions, it creates a disconnect that undermines morale and trust.
- Lack of growth opportunities: A lack of opportunities for skill enhancement or promotion can lead to frustration and a decreased sense of purpose, making it hard for employees to stay engaged or excited about their work.
- Micromanagement: Constant oversight not only reduces creativity and initiative but also creates a work environment where employees feel they can’t make decisions or contribute meaningfully. Over time, this can severely impact morale and hinder productivity.
- Lack of communication: Without clear communication, employees may not get the regular feedback and timely information they need to perform well in their roles. It can also lead to feelings of isolation and detachment.
- Lack of trust: Lack of employee trust in the workplace has significant effects on both employees and management, leading to increased stress, micromanagement, lack of support, and lower engagement.
- Low motivation: When employees feel demotivated, they also feel disconnected from their role and the company, leading to lower productivity and a lack of purpose.
- Toxic culture: Company culture filled with negativity, unethical behavior, discrimination, and excessive demands can erode at employee wellbeing — leading to stress and burnout.
- Unrealistic workload: When employees face high pressure at work and excessive demands with unreasonable deadlines, this can lead to emotional and physical exhaustion.
- Lack of appreciation: When employees aren’t recognized for their work, it can lead to disengagement and burnout. Organizations can counter this by showing their appreciation for the work that employees do.
Why is employee morale important?
While there are a myriad of contributing factors, good employee morale is linked to employees feeling supported, appreciated, trusted, and connected within their roles and the organization.
Employee morale is important because it helps create positive organizational cultures where people feel energized and enthusiastic about their role and look forward to coming to work.
It can bring a wealth of benefits to the organization, including employee retention and wellbeing, teamwork and collaboration, as well as customer satisfaction. After all, happy employees tend to be more loyal, want to connect more with their teammates and become enthusiastic advocates for the company.
Top 15 ways to boost employee morale
Boosting employee morale is key to maintaining a positive and productive work environment. Here are the 15 top strategies and best practices to enhance employee engagement and satisfaction.
1. Prioritize employee recognition
Employees who feel appreciated feel happy. While a simple “thank you” goes a long way, making recognition a morale booster requires much more. It starts with encouraging timely and frequent recognition, with leaders playing a key role in this effort.
It boils down to building a culture of recognition where everyone feels connected as part of a community. To accomplish this, you need comprehensive recognition software. Look for a recognition platform that lets team members show appreciation anywhere, anytime, and that also makes publicizing recognition easy through a company-wide newsfeed and the ability to like, comment on, or boost specific recognitions.
2. Collect Voice of Employee feedback
Few things are more demoralizing than feeling like your opinion doesn’t matter. Employees want to have a voice, and they need employers to listen when they speak.
Talking to employees in person and asking for their input is great, but it’s not likely to reveal their true feelings. If you want the insights from your surveys to be relevant and actionable, you need to deliver them frequently, not just once a year. Surveys are the answer, together with an always-on feedback channel that lets team members provide feedback whenever they have something to say.
3. Support health and wellness
According to research from Wellhub, 83% of employees say they’d think about leaving their jobs if there weren’t any well-being initiatives in place. Giving employees adequate resources, providing the flexibility and time off needed for a healthy work-life balance, and encouraging physical activity are all fantastic ways to support employee wellbeing.
To improve your employees’ mental health, help them practice mindfulness and self-awareness. These skills enable team members to stay in tune with their emotions and better address them. You can also train team members on emotional intelligence to build an empathetic, tight-knit workforce.
4. Live your culture and values
Employees who buy into your culture and believe in your values are happy to be a part of your company. Look out for ways to keep your culture aligned with your employees’ expectations and needs. Leaders — especially managers — play a critical role here. To keep managers accountable for building the culture you want to see, ensure that they live your values daily and actively engage with employees on key aspects of your culture.
You should make a safe, welcoming environment a core part of your culture as well. In an organization that prioritizes psychological safety, employees are comfortable being themselves and expressing their opinions. Removing this huge source of potential stress does wonders for morale.
5. Emphasize communication and connection
In this era of remote work, building a sense of community throughout your organization is more important than ever to combat isolation and disconnection – which can negatively impact morale.
Encouraging transparent communication is a great way to counteract this. When employees can quickly access important information and see that leadership works to stay authentic no matter what they’re discussing, they’ll view the company, and their role within it, more positively.
6. Live your culture and values
Trust is the foundation of any successful workplace. Unfortunately, only 21% of HR professionals and leaders believe that employees really trust their organization’s leadership. It’s hard to keep your spirits up when you don’t believe in those who are setting the agenda and steering the ship.
Supporting professional development is also an integral part of empowering your employees and building trust. Offering employees advancement along clear career paths, providing continuous learning and knowledge-sharing opportunities, and even supporting lateral moves are just some of the ways to keep morale high.
7. Promote transparency and trust
Being transparent can boost employee morale by building trust and fostering a culture of openness. When leaders share strategic decisions and performance metrics, it demystifies organizational changes and helps employees feel valued and involved.
Transparency and trust have a significant impact on employee retention and engagement. In fact, according to a 2024 study from the American Psychological Association, 25% of employees who reported trusting their employers were motivated to work 57% harder. The same respondents were also 41% more likely to stay in their roles instead of looking elsewhere.
8. Run team-building activities
Team building activities can be an excellent employee morale booster, as they cultivate a sense of community in the workplace while providing opportunities for teammates to build personal connections. This reduces feelings of isolation, improves communication channels, and lays a solid foundation for collaboration.
When organized in a thoughtful, inclusive way, team building can build trust, and camaraderie, and in turn – boost morale and engagement amongst employees.
9. Celebrate employee milestones
Celebrating employee milestones such as a work anniversary, promotion, or completion of a project helps make employees feel appreciated and valued, and creates a sense of belonging within your organization. It doesn’t just boost morale, but it also fosters a positive work environment where employee achievements are acknowledged and rewarded.
Milestones can be celebrated in various ways, from formal awards ceremonies to simple gestures like handwritten notes, rewards such as extra time off, team outings, or even personalized career development opportunities. Each serves to make employees feel seen and appreciated.
10. Celebrate achievements publicly
When an employee’s achievements are publicly acknowledged in front of managers and peers, it validates their contributions to the company. Public recognition isn’t just a highlight of individual employee success, but it also reinforces the type of behaviors and values that are rewarded within the organization.
Celebrating achievements publicly also grants the opportunity for colleagues to celebrate each other’s milestones – creating a supportive work environment.
11. Prioritize management training
Managers play a crucial role in boosting team engagement and morale, yet despite their influence, only 30% of managers report feeling engaged, enthusiastic, and involved in their jobs globally. This proves there’s a need for better support and empowerment to ensure they can effectively lead their teams.
Effective management training can boost employee morale significantly by equipping managers with leadership skills and a deeper understanding of team dynamics. When managers can provide support, clear guidance, as well as frequent and timely feedback – it creates highly motivated and cohesive teams.
12. Give recognition where it’s due
Recognition creates a positive feedback loop for great work, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. When employees get recognized for their efforts, they’re more likely to repeat those actions. Recognition helps reinforce positive behaviors and keeps them motivated to keep going.
Beyond recognition, employees also want to have access to a wide range of reward options and get a morale boost if they do. According to our 2024 State of Employee Recognition report, employees who have access to an expansive rewards marketplace are 61% more likely to feel a strong sense of belonging, and 60% more likely to say they feel meaningfully recognized at work.
13. Encourage autonomy and ownership
Empowering employees with autonomy over their work can have a tangible impact on engagement and morale. When team members are trusted to make decisions, contribute ideas, and take ownership of their projects, it creates a sense of pride and accountability.
This autonomy not only enhances job satisfaction but also motivates employees to perform at their highest potential, knowing their contributions directly impact the success of the team and the company as a whole.
14. Create a diverse and inclusive workplace
A diverse and inclusive work environment is one where employees feel respected, valued, and seen for who they are. By building a culture that embraces different perspectives, backgrounds, and ideas, you not only improve morale but also encourage collaboration and innovation.
When employees feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work, they are more likely to contribute creatively, feel motivated, and remain loyal to the company.
15. Provide meaningful work
Employees are far more engaged when they believe their work has a purpose beyond the daily tasks. By aligning individual roles with the company’s broader mission, you provide employees with a deeper sense of meaning and fulfillment in their jobs.
When employees understand how their work directly impacts the organization’s success and values, they feel more connected, leading to higher job satisfaction, improved performance, and overall morale.
How Wesley uses Achievers to boost employee morale
Wesley, a purpose-driven non-profit, uses Achievers to boost employee morale by building a comprehensive recognition and rewards program aligned with their company values and goals.
Their Achievers platform, called “Inspire,” was launched with the goal of solving staffing challenges nationwide by improving their employee’s job satisfaction and work experiences. The social recognition and reward platform allowed Wesley employees to recognize each other for great work, nominate coworkers for monthly awards, and earn points that can be redeemed for rewards that are meaningful to them.
The success of “Inspire” in boosting morale and engagement was evident in Wesley’s engagement survey. After implementing Achievers, their Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) jumped 18 points year-on-year, and the overall engagement index rose 19 points across the board.
Start boosting employee morale today
When employees feel recognized and appreciated, it sparks a boost in engagement, productivity, and overall job satisfaction. Achievers helps make this a reality. By seamlessly integrating recognition into the tools your team already uses — including Workday, Microsoft Teams, and Slack — our employee recognition platform ensures that celebrating great work is part of your everyday workflow.
With personalized rewards, real-time insights into employee engagement, and 24/7 support, you can create a culture that not only values employees but drives lasting business success. With Achievers, you’re not just recognizing employees. You’re building a stronger, more motivated workforce that’s ready to shape your workforce and bring it into the future.
