Having employees with high morale allow for an abundance of benefits for the company. The effects of employee morale doesn’t stop at happy employees. In fact, having happy employees is the building block of the company’s success because of all the positive impact a happy employee can have in the company’s performance.
Employee morale is developed when a company cares for its employees and tries to best provide for their needs. It’s a give and take cycle that has great benefits for everyone involved.
Why is Employee Morale Important?
Employee morale is people’s overall mental and emotional condition about their job and workplace environment. Essentially, what their attitude and outlook are about their life as an employee.
Your employees’ productivity, confidence, enthusiasm, and loyalty to the company reflect employee morale. Soft metrics like job satisfaction, employee engagement, and employee retention are directly linked to employee morale.
You can see employee morale in action when you observe how employees handle their daily tasks, drive and attitude toward the company’s direction, and perform and align with the company’s mission and values.
Employee morale is indicative of the company’s culture, peer support, the type of people you have in leadership roles, the nature of the work, compensation for their jobs, and their work-life balance. That’s why offering substantial benefits and flexible set-ups can help employers raise employee morale.
How Does Flexibility Boost Employee Morale?
Flexible work is the new norm now. A study by ManpowerGroup Solutions showed that 40% of job seekers worldwide consider workplace flexibility among the top three factors they consider.
Productivity is one of the ways you can gauge your employees’ morale. Here’s how flexible workplace setups and flexible schedules boost productivity and, in turn, lift employee morale:
1. Promotes autonomy and a better work-life balance
Having flexible work arrangements and allowing employees to manage their own work time can improve efficiency, employee engagement, and productivity.
Employees who can create their own work schedule that they can integrate cohesively with their personal life can actually get more work done. This is because they can work during their most productive hours with fewer distractions, and they are able to create a more efficient environment and schedule for themselves.
2. Improves well-being
Because employees are able to take control of their time with a flexible work setup, they have more opportunities to integrate physical and mental health practices into their daily life.
This allows employees to foster good health since they now have time to go to therapy, go to the gym, attend fitness classes, or simply spend more time with family and friends. Companies that offer corporate wellness programs will also find that more employees can participatre in these programs now that they are able to take control of their schedule.
Since they do not have to work around the company’s predetermined schedule, they can include more holistic endeavors into their routines.
3. Provides more opportunities for professional development
Flexible work setups are also great for employees looking for more professional development opportunities. These opportunities can be attending college, pursuing a master’s degree, or attending workshops and conventions.
Reporting to a regular 9 to 5 job may make attending such professional development opportunities difficult. Having the time to access these opportunities can provide a profound effect on the employee’s confidence, performance, and morale which the company can directly benefit from as well.
Why Do Benefits Boost Employee Morale?
Benefits are the best way a company can show that they care about their employees. Treating your employees well by providing great benefits decreases turnover, boosts employee morale, and gives the company a better reputation.
Company benefits that meet the employees’ needs result in happy, engaged, and more productive employees. Employees want to stay healthy and finding a company that gives them a healthcare plan that meets their needs usually result in healthy and satisfied employees who are more likely to remain in the company.
Employees also value benefits that allow them to address their specific needs. Ancillary benefits and voluntary or worksite benefits on top of the essential benefits can have a far-reaching effect in the employee’s personal life that can directly affect their professional life immensely.
So go ahead and ask your employees how you can better be of support to them. By listening to your employees, you may be able to learn more about why they perform the way they do and see how much better they can do once their woes are addressed. For example, your current parental leave policy may not be as comprehensive and it’s lead to one of your best managers not performing as well as they used to.
You can go ahead and tweak and adjust your policies and benefits to best serve your employees and to provide them with valuable benefits they can actually utilize to have a better quality of living.
Looking out for your employees by offering great benefits and flexible work schedules and setups are all great ways to help them lead more fulfilling lives. As a result, they come in to their work with a more positive outlook that can be seen through their work.
Benefits don’t just benefit the employee. It impacts the company as a whole. Being the base unit of the company, each employee’s well-being is a building block of the company’s success.
Disclaimer: This blog post is submitted by a guest contributor. The Decision Makers Hub Blog was not involved in the creation of this content.
Here at Decision Makers Hub, we accepts contribution from guest article writers on topics related to business, productivity, marketing, HR or technology. To learn more read here.
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