Low Employee Morale In The Workplace

My biggest fear as a future leader is not managing budget or meeting project deadlines, rather it’s how to evaluate, improve, and maintain employee morale. During my Management 150 course there were six words that will forever stay imbedded in my mind, “Managers direct people, Leaders motivate people.” A Gallup study has reported, only thirty percent of U.S. employees are engaged at work, and as low as thirteen percent worldwide. Gallup defines “engaged” employees as those who are involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace. So what is the reason for the low percentage of engagement in employees, Gallup study states managers account for at least 70% of this variation. (Harter, 2015). With this disengagement …show more content…
One of the ultimate solutions many employees seek when morale is low and management is failing to resolve or improve the matter is labor unions. If employees believe they are not getting what they need from their employer, they often turn to labor unions in hopes of reaching some sort of rightful treatment. When things have reached an all-time low with morale employees may feel that labor unions can improve the situation. There are several companies that have prevented becoming unionized, and has a great deal of success with employee relations. Some of the top nonunion companies’ top management are continually committed to their employees and they display it through company practices and …show more content…
The top three ways a leader can improve morale among their team is through leadership, recognition or praise, and a sense of purpose. When it comes to leadership, communication is vital in employee morale. Great leaders are great listeners. Melanie Whelan, CEO SoulCycle, states that as a leader you have to ask your employees a lot of questions and really listen until you get to the bottom and everything is out there, until then you can’t start to build solutions. Acknowledge suggestions and ideas from your team, and even if the conversations don’t lead to the final solution or the idea isn’t implemented it will have a tremendous impact on the team. The team will see that you thought about their input and suggestions. Sam Walton, founder of Wal-mart, mentioned that “the more they know, the more they’ll understand, the more they understand, the more they’ll care. Once they care, there’s no stopping them. If you don’t trust your associates to know what’s going on, they’ll know you really don’t consider them partners.” Connect with your employees, demonstrate that you know who they are, what is going on with their job, and that as a leader you are there to help them when