Don't Slack | Slack's UK VP on how to boost morale - and productivity

A 2006 study into the correlation between morale and productivity showed a pretty much linear link – but interestingly, found further that it was a company culture of support, hard work, achievement and trust that produced the best results and happiest employees.

From the study abstract by The University of New South Wales: “The [study] results show that morale influences productivity in an approximately linear fashion. The effect of morale on productivity appears to be larger when management regards product quality as important and attempts to develop a corporate ethic and culture. Morale is associated with greater work effort, but the relationship between work effort and productivity becomes stronger at higher levels of morale. Thus, part of the influence of morale on productivity is a matter of increasing the effectiveness of workers’ efforts.”

A 2017 Gallup poll and subsequent study also found that organisations with highly engaged workers have 41% less absenteeism and up to 21% higher profitability than other similar companies.

But, how do you boost morale and make employees feel heard? Deirdre Byrne, Area Vice President, Slack UK, believes that when teams are motivated to do their best work, and inspired to share positive experiences, everyone wins. She also believes that satisfaction, motivation, and purpose are what many employees lack.

“Employees who feel a sense of connection to their work, teammates, partners and organisation don’t just show up for their 9–5,” she told HR Grapevine. “They look forward to the opportunity, are resilient in the face of challenges and exceed goals faster.”

Here are five ways that Byrne feels companies can boost morale and productivity:

1. Invest time in trust

Without trust in leadership, employee morale can only reach a certain level. After all, your team will be less likely to communicate or contribute if they don’t feel safe expressing themselves honestly at work.

Use tools such as channel-based messaging to empower employees to openly discuss their own mistakes and learnings. You could also have dedicated a CEO channel to answer general questions, and post business updates — connecting leadership with teams in an open forum. This helps employees feel valued and trusted, and brings everyone together, regardless of their location.

2. Prioritise employee initiatives and feedback

In many instances, to improve workplace culture, businesses simply need to spend more time speaking to their people. Employees want the ability to have an impact and a voice. Their past learnings and current experiences can help create a better culture.

One useful method to bring on board is called stay interviews, which is a 1-2-1 interview between a manager and employee. Its aim is to bring out an employee's reason for wanting to stay or leave an organisation. By learning from stay interviews, executives can work on retaining and growing their teams and identify areas where they need to do more to boost morale.

3. Support employees outside of work

Once you’ve sourced feedback, it’s important that every company demonstrates that not only do leaders need to ask questions, but they also need to respond and act on feedback.

This is particularly key as the pandemic has had an impact on employee mental health, leading many to feel unmotivated at work. And the same Pulse Report quoted above showed that with 34% of knowledge workers back in the office five days a week, employee experience scores have plummeted, with work-related stress and anxiety hitting the worst level since the survey began in 2020.

It’s essential that companies support healthy initiatives in all their forms. Businesses should be offering programmes that cover mental health and wellbeing not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because healthy teams are also more productive teams.

Think online classes, access to professional resources, and access to external coaching as a start.

4. The power of small gestures

Small gestures show employees they’re appreciated for their hard work. Whether it’s swag, recognition or educational resources, small gestures can improve our moods, and make teams feel more recognised in their roles.

When teams give praise or shoutouts to someone, it shows they have gone out their way to recognise the work people are doing and to build a more positive working environment. It takes just a few minutes to write a kind sentence and share it with the whole team to see. For smaller wins, you could even use fun emoji reactions to show you see and celebrate that success, in Slack. However it’s done, the impact of championing others is invaluable and lasting when it comes to building employee morale.

Overall, boosting morale doesn’t happen overnight. It’s an on-going effort that businesses need to work on constantly. Yet without high spirits in work, employees do not have a sense of belonging, work will suffer, and ultimately the organisation loses out. By following these tips, we can ensure we take care of our people, and in turn, they’ll help take care of the business.

5. Create a culture that provides flexibility and balance

Today, every business, in every industry, must optimise for a digital-first experience for its employees. The flexibility of the digital workplace is key to empowering employees to set their own schedule, and ultimately do their best work.

On the other hand, employees forced back to the office are feeling the strain. Research shows work-life balance, work-related stress and anxiety has worsened considerably with more than a third of knowledge workers working from the office five days a week, according to a Pulse Survey from Future Forum.

One of the key benefits of hybrid working combined with using digital tools to collaborate asynchronously, is the ability to break free from the nine-to-five mindset and have a more flexible schedule. Beyond flexibility over where and when they work, organisations might also want to set best practices around communication, like no messaging between a certain time.

To increase morale, it’s important to ensure people can enjoy their evenings and spend time on themselves or their families. It also means they feel refreshed when they log on the next day, helping to boost productivity.