How team recognition and appreciation can boost morale, retention and productivity.

Written by Katy Mason, on behalf of Virtually Smart Ltd

“Every Monday I join a Teams meeting for one of the Virtually Smart clients.

Every Monday the CEO’s first comments are not about deadlines, expectations or how the project is advancing; instead, they are a thank you for the hard work the team are putting in and a check in on the team’s wellbeing.

When the client’s team join the meeting, it must give them a boost to hear their CEO recognising their efforts and commending the extraordinary way in which the team pulls together.

This example of Compassionate Management goes a long way to boosting employee morale.

Jeff Weiner, the former CEO and now Executive Chairman of LinkedIn has championed Compassionate Management since he was inspired by the teachings of the Dalai Lama. The ethos of Weiner’s management style recognises the difference between empathy and compassion citing “Compassion is maintaining enough distance where you can actually do something about the way the other person feels,” (1)

Weiner recognises other people’s unique strengths and has sometimes even changed their role so that it’s better aligned to those strengths. “When you do that, you unlock value that’s not possible when you’re only looking at the world through your own lens.” (1)

I was recently speaking with a Corporate manager who spoke about the soulless offices his company works from. They sounded like the kind of vast beige spaces built in the 1980’s when huge teams of employees were penned into large open plan spaces, whether at row upon row of desks or squeezed into booths, cutting them off from eye contact with other employees. His concerns were that having installed bean bags, quiet spaces, a table tennis table and free coffee machine for employees, that no one was actually doing any work. However, in a modern context the opposite is now being found to be true.

Traditional offices can be sterile & hostile environments, and this can impact on employee’s morale and wellbeing. However, many modern & forward-thinking companies have done away with this stark throwback to the past & actively encourage their employees to use their workspace/desk space as a reflection of their character & personality. Google is a prime example of this idealism.

Google has over 70 offices in more than 40 countries around the world. ‘Lazslo Block, Google’s HR boss explains in his book, “Work Rules!” ” that the key to a successful workplace is constantly innovating, experimenting, and keeping things fun.

With this in mind, Google employees are actively encouraged to create their own individual workspaces & whether this means having their office chairs in a ball pit, or their desks piled high with luminous Troll dolls, they find a way to be productive through their own individual marking of their territory.

In addition and in an unrelated effort to increase employee productivity, Google have recently found an incredibly simple strategy to increase employee satisfaction and fulfilment by giving employees more work.(2)

While employee burnout is on the rise — and rightfully so for those in understaffed fields, such as restaurant and retail — many others feel burnout not as an effect of being overworked, but rather as the result of being underworked. The reason is that a little-known cause of burnout is actually boredom, according to Psychology Today, which calls it “bored-out.” (2)

It may seem counterintuitive, but statistics show that it’s better to lean towards staff feeling overworked than underworked. For example, a recent study of 2,000 full-time workers found that those who were given more responsibility at work felt more fulfilled than those who had less to do. (2)

The study, conducted by LinkedIn, found that 71 percent of employees who felt like they had “too much work” were happy in their jobs, while only 62 percent of those who felt like they had “too little work” were happy. Interestingly, the study also found that employees who felt like they had “too much work” were also more productive. (2)

Companies like Google are leading the way with new and innovative ways to keep employee morale up, whilst also increasing productivity and in doing so, finding that employee retention is improved.”

Written by Katy Mason, on behalf of Virtually Smart Ltd