Employee job satisfaction and morale are two of the most significant factors in people staying or leaving their jobs. There are many ways to boost employee job comfort and confidence in the workplace. You start by creating a better atmosphere where people can work together without engaging in morale damaging activities such as backstabbing, gossiping and politics.
Fun activities in office aimed at increasing employee job satisfaction and their wellbeing usually fail to achieve the desired results. For instance, putting music in an office and a workshop can lead to perpetual squabbles of who should control it.
Some employees grind their teeth when music is played with much enthusiasm by colleagues in the office and workshops. And usually, it is made worse when the colleagues choose to sing along every track.
There are constant battles of who is controlling air conditioning in the offices. Some people like the air conditioner to be on continuously, but others do not.
Those against always go bonkers because colleagues keep them shivering or hold them hostages because of air conditioning. It is challenging to provide a pleasant social atmosphere in these environments because someone will always have a problem. 
Other morale-sapping nightmares that destroy employee job satisfaction particularly in the offices are; people constantly chewing, tea slurping, pen tapping, grump tutting, seat shuffling and endless sniffing. Also providing relaxation areas is always a challenge in factories and workshops.
How to Improve Employee Morale?
To deal with morale-sapping issues is the responsibility of the manager. And it depends on how committed you are to solve these sort of workplace challenges. But as a manager, the focus starts with yourself. How you make decisions, engage, listen, and understand your employees without any prejudice is very important for improving employee morale.
Some people like what they do, regardless of the environment. They need your support, and you have to keep your interest in what they do. It is like letting them know you are available and that you will go to bat for them if required.
Also read: How To Say Goodbye To Bad Management
1. Get Out of Your Office
Come out of your office every day, week and meet not merely your direct reports, but frontline people. Walk down to their work stations in the offices, workshops or factory floors and talk to them. Interact with each employee and ask for their names.
2. Encourage the People to Ask Questions
Encourage your staff to ask you questions all the time. It is an opportunity for you to find out what they think, but importantly, what they need from you. Their needs can be to address certain things within the existing work culture, or the wrong way you are leading them. These needs may be quite minor things but can result in higher levels of morale for the employees.
Sometimes, it is things that seem very small that can cause the most significant morale boost. For example, things like water dispensers, places to have meetings, hot drink and snack machines or vending machines, or even stuff like pens to use can boost morale.
3. Give your Staff the Freedom to Succeed
For a person to improve in a workplace does not depend on a manager telling the employee you are great. Your employee morale comes from self-worth.
And self-worth comes from the employee feeling satisfied with the overall work environment: better benefits packages, freedom to make decisions, and so on.
The better your employees feel about what they do, the more morale they gain. Your morale too comes from self-worth. If your confidence and the passion about your work is high – your people will find your enthusiasm infectious, and they also will become happy employees, even during tough times.
How to Improve employee job satisfaction?
How to increase employee job satisfaction is a question that needs asking every day. And there’s no a ready-made trick that can boost job satisfaction of an employee. Remember, each employee has personal desires, strengths, and weaknesses.
I believe employee Job satisfaction is less about people doing great work – it is more about them feeling great about their work. Those who love coming to work every day do so not because they do a great job – it is because they enjoy what they do.
For the employees to have a high degree of job satisfaction, a manager must provide extra support so that they feel satisfied with their work. That will even make them do more great things.
Read also: Managing From Behind The Desk Can Be Very Risky
4. Be Transparent
Always say as it and do not pay lip service about employee needs. Many times, managers say things like; “our employees are our most important asset” which is just pure rhetoric. If you mean it, then pay them what they deserve.
You cannot just say it is okay, and I can pay people less and then assume it is enough to make them happy and satisfied with their job. Do not think you can keep praising people instead of paying them for their excellent work. “Thank you and job well-done” should be added on top of a decent salary.
If you work for a company, however, which is salary stingy, you have a tough job to keep your staff committed. Because no matter how good you are as a manager, you cannot make up for all inadequacies of the company that offers scant reward packages.
More read:11 Quick Actions to Get Employees Connect With You
Do not be surprised when your best performers suddenly their performance begins to drop. There is a reason for the change in performance. Understand that performance change come from a root cause.
The constant pressure of management may push you to the borderline of pretending to be happy, to be passionate, and so on. But do not pretend that everything is fine when you know there are problems. Share the bad news with your employees. They will respect that and stick with you until it is over. It is terrible to pretend that the situation is good when it is not.
You may be doing it to shield them from problems. But before you do that, think carefully. Ask yourself what will be their reaction if the situation worsens and they get to know. It is easier to hide problems, but you are much better off being transparent.
Do you know a better way of improving employee job satisfaction? Please let us know in the comments box below