Employee Morale

chantalboulet

I recently joined a company that laid off 250+ employees. The morale is extremly low and i've been tasked to improve it. Any ideas?

SMace

Hold a Christmas Party... I mean Holiday Party... no a Snow Party... Oh never mind.

Seriously, I can't give you any specific tips without more info. Is the morale low because they are afraid they are going to lose their job, excess work, distrust, etc? Try to find out why the morale is low and address the situation.

I bet one reason morale is low is because the way the layoff was handled and the poor communication that went along with it. I would include in your tasks a review of how they layoff was handled and suggest ways to improve it if it is likely to happen again.

I think in general ee's want to know the truth about the future of the company and know that exec. mgmt cares about their situation and is working to improve it. Now that I think about it, include your execs in the process. Have them hold a town meeting and stand up in front of everyone and address the real questions. That will get the ball rolling. You'll find out if they are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Beave

Have Jayhawk send them a holiday basket & they'll be more accepting of the situation along with improved moral. Seriously though, I agree with Smace. I have found that the better you explain what is going on, the more accepting employees are and the better moral improves. Good Luck.

ray a

Show compassion. Listen to them before you say a word. Give them every opportunity to say what is on their minds. Show compassion. Don't say a word until they have completed their say. Hold breakfast meetings with selected ee's include the general manager, VP or whoever is your top dog. Make sure they listen. Give's them an opportunity to voice their concerns directly to the top. Show compassion.

Don D

First, I think it is entirely unfair of others to 'expect' or 'task' you to 'improve morale'. This seems like an impossible goal or assignment for the short term. You would have to know the culture, much about the history of the company and it's people and innerworkings. To be able to assess the situation and integrate yourself there will take considerable time.

Second, I applaud your desire to 'fix it'. Be genuine, be available, be open, be honest and be professional. Nobody can fault you for being those five things and they will lead to trust and credibility. You can be effective if you're trusted and have credibility and you must have both in order to affect morale in a positive way. It will take time so I wouldn't project an end date six months out. It could take years. And it will certainly take more than the efforts of one person. Good luck.

marc

Agree with Don. Great intentions are being expressed - go out and dispatch the dragons, but be very realistic about what you can do and the time frame it might take. Make sure management knows you will do your best, but that you will need their undiluted commitment and support.

The town meeting idea suggested by SMace is one good way to kick off the project. It will also tell you how committed management is.

Go get em!!

mbeam

In addition to the town meetings would implement breakfast meetings (as someone else suggested too) and lunches with a much smaller group of people from different areas of the company. Sometimes people are uncomfortable getting up in front of a large group and asking questions.

We've done this over the years and have always found it to be time well spent especially if you can get your exec's to join in. Make it informal, share stories of the company history, ask for suggestions they have, what they like best/least and start implementing them. Also let people know what ideas have come from other such meetings and how much you appreciate them (especially if they're ones they can see you've done something about).

Overcommunicate using all methods (in person, over the phone, email) and ensure that everyone is on the same page - worst thing you can do is hear different versions of the same story from your key managers.

Another idea I recently read about that we'll look to include in our next small group meeting is to ask people for unsung heroes in their area. We'll then follow-up with a thank you note or personal call from our company President (who fortunately for all of us believes firmly in doing things like this).

Whirlwind2

And right after you solve that pesky morale problem, get to work on world peace, okay?

HS

Don't forget the cure to the common cold too! x:P

KathiHR

Part of my career was spent in operations management, & I remember a time when my company went through deep lay-offs with no warning. We were still hiring up until the week of the lay-offs. As a manager, it was a very frustrating time. First of all, we had to wonder "who's running this show, anyway? How could things get this bad so fast?" And morale was very low because it was hard to figure out who got the better deal - the ones who got laid off or the ones who had to stay & deal with the mess that comes from deep layoffs.

You don't say whether you've laid off 250 out of 500, or 250 out of 5,000 - makes a big difference. There are literally unlimited directions you could go, but one recommendation would be to use practices from the past to develop a more pro-active approach for the future. Was it unavoidable, as some lay-offs are, or was it the result of procrastination in solving business problems? Was it foreseeable? Did they freeze hiring & try to drop positions through attrition? You can't fix their past, but you can sure offer some strategic direction for the future. When I joined my present company many years ago, money was flowing & they had developed the bad habit of hiring people "just in case we get busy." I began to change that because overstaffing & high overhead positions are a lay-off waiting to happen. Low morale is a fruit of the problem, not the problem itself. I'd look at the management practices for the root of the problem (recognizing that you may be limited in what you can "fix" for now - it could be years before you have that kind of voice at the table.)

Kathi

SMace

Low
>morale is a fruit of the problem, not the
>problem itself.

Quote of the day, if not the month. xclap
I would love to see your execs faces after you tell them that bit of wisdom.
>

Crout

>Low morale is a fruit of the problem, not the
>problem itself.

Man I'm putting this one up on my board of quotes. Kathi, is this yours? The reason I ask is because I always give credit where credit is due. Thanks.

Crout

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-15-03 AT 12:06PM (CST)[/font][br][br] >Low morale is a fruit of the problem, not the problem itself.

Man, I'm putting that one up on my board of quotes. Kathi is that yours? The reason I ask is because I always give credit where credit is due. Thanks.


Ooops! I had to refresh and thought the post didn't go through.

marc

Is there an echo in here?

I agree, that was a great quote.