Staff morale can affect employees’ attitudes towards their job, colleagues, managers and the organisation. The root causes of low employee morale can vary. They can include stress, unchallenged, or a lack of voice in the company. It can also stem from business practices that are viewed by staff as threatening their future financial security, such as excessive outsourcing.

Low staff morale can, however, be turned around – and here are some ways to do it.

1. Create an open dialogue

Communication in most businesses is traditionally top-down, with staff being asked to listen to executives and managers, and not vice-versa. This lack of open dialogue can result in managers ignoring problems that exist among employees until there is a serious incident (or the business is hit with a bad financial report). Therefore, it’s important to have regular conversations and follow-up with staff that disclose their feelings about their job and the company’s managerial style. Demonstrating an open dialogue establishes a level of mutuality and fairness – one of the strongest influencers of happiness. By constantly monitoring staff morale, you’re letting your staff know that their concerns matter, while identifying potential problems earlier.

2. Provide professional support and development

Low staff morale can stem from employees feeling underutilised in their jobs. It can also come from employees feeling over-challenged, or that they lack adequate support. Improved skills screening can help to address this problem, as can asking staff to take personality quizzes that reveal their “soft skills”. It’s also important to provide staff training and mentoring programs that help employees grow, develop and acquire new skills. This will help to create a supportive atmosphere that has a positive impact in the workplace. Empowering staff to determine and drive their own career is ultimately beneficial for the company in encouraging a sense of confidence and ownership by each employee.

3. Offer a better work environment

Often overlooked, the office surroundings can certainly influence employee mood, especially if they are exposed to them for seven or eight hours a day. Adding a few indoor plants, repainting the office in brighter tones, or just moving a noisy printer into another room could help to improve your office “feng shui”, and staff happiness.

4. Promote healthier lifestyles

To a large extent, staff happiness is a by-product of the promotion of mental and physical health. As well as being happier, healthy employees are less likely to get sick, which means more stable productivity in the workspace. Research has discovered that standing up and walking around for just five minutes every hour can lift a person’s mood and combat lethargy. Also, try to avoid excessive work hours. When you let the office turn into a competition over who can spend the most hours at their desk, this will only harm productivity and lead to burnout.

5. Reward staff for doing good things

When your employees go above and beyond their everyday jobs to achieve great things for the company, make sure they know it’s appreciated. This might mean praising them during a staff meeting, or if it was a team effort, organising a staff lunch at a local restaurant.

The key drivers of staff morale will vary from one organisation to the next, but the basic rules are the same. When you listen to your employees’ needs and concerns and take appropriate action, higher morale and engagement will follow.