Ideas to Boost Morale As Employees Return to the Office

Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, an alarming  70 percent of Americans  were not engaged at their traditional work site. COVID-19 created abrupt changes in people's day-to-day work and personal lives, forcing many to navigate unfamiliar territory, such as remote work. Employees returning to the office provide a perfect opportunity to try and find ways to boost their morale. Here are some of the most effective methods to choose from.

Dedicated Mental-Health Time

The traditional eight-hour work day can be quite taxing, especially when there are limited recreational or social activities to do after work to de-stress, like during COVID-19. Increased levels of stress and strain on one’s mental health can cause their engagement at work to deteriorate.

To help prevent this, encourage employees to take a step away from their work and do something to refresh their minds and bodies regularly. This could involve things such as 15 minute mental breaks or weekly debriefs in small groups to unplug and share ideas with colleagues. It’s the little things that can make a big difference, especially in terms of maintaining healthy mental health at work. 

Shout-Out Specific Employees on Social Media

Recognizing employees can be a very effective way of making them feel more valuable and raise their morale. While applauding them amongst the office is one thing, applauding them in public through social media mentions is far more effective. 

This is because the employee gets the satisfaction of knowing that it is not just coworkers who can see this recognition. The employee can also share the post so that their loved ones can see it as well. So if you want a quick way to help boost employee morale, make sure to select a few employees who have performed exceptionally well lately and then make a short post about them on the company’s official social media accounts that calls attention to what they did to earn this social media shoutout.

Provide Flexible Hours

If you typically have employees working a standard 9-5 job, then you might want to consider temporarily changing this in order to help raise employee morale. By offering more flexible hours during this pandemic, employees will not be forced to stay at work even when they don’t feel mentally equipped to handle it. 

Instead of mandating employees to be at the office every day between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., create a schedule that allows employees to choose which days to work in the office and which days to work from home, if they so choose. By simply offering this flexibility, you can increase the morale for a third of all employees. Additionally, it is important to foster an empathetic and understanding relationship with your employees. Employees may not always feel comfortable discussing reasons for needing flexible hours, leading them to disconnect from work and colleagues. Opening up an understanding line of communication to employees will make them feel more comfortable, while also allowing  them to respect you more as an employer and human. Employees tend to see employers as non equal counterparts which in turn can make employees forget they share similar experiences, such as stress and anxiety. Fostering a relationship with empathy as a base will bring your team together and create better internal communication. 

If you’re interested in increasing office morale, then make sure you follow these helpful tips. And take advantage of our professional services at backstitch to optimize other elements of your workplace.

Want more tips on hour to navigate returning to work? Read our Return To Work Playbook!