Cultivating Happiness: How Boosting Morale Boosts your Business
By Craig Handley, CEO and Founder of Listen Up Español
When employees are satisfied with the treatment they receive from superiors, their work improves, and their confidence in their service increases. They feel motivated, they want to come into work, and they perform to the best of their abilities. When a level of respect is given, effort quickly rises. Nonetheless, many companies fail to take the time to get connected with employees because they simply do not understand the severity of keeping an employee content. Companies often believe that keeping employees satisfied is too expensive to implement, but improving the morale of employees can be both inexpensive and financially beneficial long-term
A Paramount Priority
Boosting morale can arguably be the single most important item on the agenda for upper management to employ. Simply put: employers will save money on both recruitment and training.
There are many simple ways to boost company morale without digging deep into the company’s assets. The execution of making employees work happily and effectively begins with making them comfortable. From the moment an employee steps through the door, until the minute they leave, every employee should feel like they are in a safe environment. People are unpredictable, and moods change more than volatile stock market swings, so maintaining a consistent positive work environment will help to balance the wayward moods people get into. Employees will also feel motivated to learn about a product or service to better upsell, cross-sell, and seal the deal.
The Importance of Being Positive
Positivity is achieved through the mood that upper management employs onto the rest of the company. Oftentimes people “fear” management because of the intimidation factor that accompanies authority. While authority is a very important factor in running a business, it is vital to realize that authority can be maintained without inflicting fear into employees. The key to this technique is to develop a positive business relationship with employees in order to build trust and loyalty. Once this is established, they will want to work harder because they simply care about the business and want it to prosper. Even more so, employees begin to feel good and aren’t scared of personal growth. In fact, they strive for it and make each call worth their time.
Developing a positive working relationship begins with developing connections between you and the people that work at your company. Birthdays are the perfect starting platform and throwing a small celebration for each person’s special day will build respect. Additionally, it is beneficial to reward accomplishments through celebrations that show how the company appreciates work well-done. If a certain employee reaches a landmark in their career, or makes a big sale, acknowledge it and let it be known that diligent work is rewarded.
Our company Listen Up Español, a Spanish language call center that specializes in providing inbound and outbound call services to the U.S. Hispanic market, grasps the importance of positivity. We honor birthdays with a small bonus and celebrate holidays and special events to increase team cohesion. We have a “Delivering Awesomeness” approach to business and believe that when the work environment is positive, then the output is “awesome” and exceeds expectation. Through our “Code of Awesomeness,” a modern employee handbook, we highlight the expectations of each employee. While most companies expect productivity and punctuality, Listen Up Español emphasizes “living life as an extreme sport” and “growing brain cells” as goals and objectives for each employee. We passionately believe that the best productivity is achieved through a positive state of mind and we aim to bring that energy to each day of work.
Listen Up: reap the benefits
Even after a positive work environment is established, it is equally vital to maintain it. Accomplish this by making employees feel important by listening to them and encouraging suggestions. At Listen Up Español for instance, we have allotted an hour long time slot every Monday morning for our Portland, Maine branch employees to bring any piece of information to management. It allows any employee to express their concerns, ideas, or accomplishments to management. Having an open-door policy with your employees will allow them to feel more comfortable around the office and at ease with approaching superiors.
At our Mexico call center, there are far more employees. Population, in addition to geographical distance, hinders the ability for us to speak with the call center employees directly. However, all Mexico employees have access to a submission page called “Ask the Owners” where they can anonymously submit questions or concerns that are answered in a timely fashion to the owners. It is unrealistic for larger company owners to speak with each employee, but utilizing the Internet for suggestions can greatly improve workplace cohesion and confidence.
A study by SHRM, an online HR resource revealed that 57 percent of U.S. employees make regular suggestions to the company they work for. Not listening to this invaluable information is comparable to ignoring over half of your company. Diverse ideas allow employers to see things from a different angle and can be extremely beneficial to any company. Not only will employees feel like their voice matters, but the business can improve from gaining fresh ideas about company policies.
Break time
People are at their desks for about eight hours a day, depending on the duration of their lunch. Therefore, employers should encourage the occasional break that allows employees to take a walk, grab a snack, or simply clear their head. A study from the University of Copenhagen revealed that short day breaks improved productivity because it allots time for employees to have a few moments of personal time, therefore boosting morale and productivity.
A collectivistic approach
Listen Up Español works with the Hispanic market, which is a highly collectivistic community according to workplace culture analyst Geert Hofstede and his cultural dimensions. Collectivist value family and relationships over the needs of the individual and Listen Up Español proudly mirrors this. Our self-proclaimed “family,” not business, lets each employee know that their ideas are always welcome and that communication is critical in the development of our family.
There are countless ways to boost morale within your company and keep employees not only content, but satisfied. You will find that when you consciously make an effort to do so, your business will greatly benefit. Your employees are the ones who produce the work that grows your business, what is more important than keeping them happy so they perform to a higher standard? Boosting morale does not have to drain your budget either; it is derived from making the individual feel important and confident. Taking these steps to do so will greatly improve the state of your company as well as the output of each employee.
Craig Handley is the CEO and founder of Listen Up Español which operates in Portland, Maine with a call center in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Listen Up Español specializes in Direct Response, Corporate and Customer service, and Non-Profit Charitable fundraising. Handley can be reached via email at Craig@listenupespanol.com or via phone at (207) 774-1425. For more information, visit www.ListenUpEspanol.com