Since the pandemic, employers have realized that they need to make more effort to retain their employees. The work landscape has changed quite a lot, and many workers realize that they would much rather be peaceful than have a job that pays a little more. If you’re a company owner and you feel your employees are not performing as well as they can, then Matt Teeple suggests looking into the company for practices that may be killing employee morale.
What is Employee Morale? By Matthew Teeple
Employee morale is employees’ attitude and overall outlook on the job. If they seem satisfied and happy to come to work for the most part, then their morale is quite high. However, if they seem to be quietly quitting, then there may be some practices you have to change. Higher employee morale results in better productivity and higher profits.
Practices that Kill Employee Morale
1. Overworking Employees
If you’re asking your employees to do more work than they can, you’re setting them up for burnout. Good people get the most work because they’re the best at their jobs. However, if you’re a manager, you have to understand that even the best workers have their limitations. If the work week exceeds 50 hours, research proves that worker productivity will die significantly. People are also less likely to work to the best of their ability if you keep giving them more work every time they do better.
2. Different Treatment
It’s okay and normal for people to get promotions according to their performance. However, the treatment of employees should not be based on their performance. If there are senior employees, their workload should be at least that of junior employees. The standard for employees across the board should be equal, even if it’s not identical. Different treatment can sometimes be viewed as preferential, leading to employee dissatisfaction.
3. Holding Employees Back
Some employees are so great that many managers don’t want to lose them. However, if you do this to an employee you know could benefit from a promotion, their morale will dip over time. It’s a manager’s job to push the employee to be the best they can be, even if it’s not beneficial for the managers. It’s also necessary that promotions aren’t just in the hands of the manager but rather a decision that many managers come to together. It makes the promotion process less biased.
4. Unrealistic Expectations
There are times when mistakes can occur. However, this doesn’t mean you blame your employees for the times they couldn’t deliver. Accountability is necessary for a functional workplace, but if you have unrealistic expectations of an employee, chances are they will fail in your eyes all the time. If employees feel that the pressure on a project is too much, they may make even more mistakes that can cause a greater degree of harm to the company. Then, being blamed for something that wasn’t a realistic deliverable can cause their morale to decrease exponentially, says Matthew Teeple.
Final Thoughts by Matt Teeple
Matthew Teeple states that there are some practices that you must avoid as a company owner as they can immediately kill the morale of an employee. Instead, it would be best if you found ways to encourage employees as it increases productivity.