Office morale boosters - morale builders are an important and powerful tool in the workplace to inspire workers and can have a dramatic effect on the office setting and mood.
Boosting employee morale in the workplace is important to ensure that everyone is aware of the crucial role office morale boosters play in working towards a common goal within the organization.
Workplace culture can be made enjoyable by means of a positive environment when employee attitudes and motivational levels are changed.
Employees thrive when their emotional and intellectual needs are met. This includes
- feeling challenged
- being able to put skills to good use
- being recognized and appreciated, and
- being trusted with responsibilities.
Office morale is important. It helps to raise productivity and makes your employees happier to come to work. It's not going to make everything in your office perfect, but it can go a long way to making it better, and making your employees ready to work.
Morale builders have the benefit of letting your employees blow off a little steam, show their creativity and have some fun. There are some traditional morale boosting exercises that have been done for years, and people get tired of those. If you want to really build up some good morale, you need to come up with different ideas.
An example of a morale booster that one company used to create awareness of times saving and increasing productivity for meetings is the following was using the game called Flat Stan. They ran a competition asking staff and management to take pictures with Flat Stan in a variety of places and doing different things that either saved time or wasted time. They had to be creative in how they got the time saving message across. Some staff took a boss's or coworker's tool, like a stapler, tape dispenser or something similar, and sent it around the company or office inviting people to take pictures with it doing all kinds of things. Eventually the object gets back to whoever, with all the pictures. The pictures can be posted online or on a bulletin board so everyone can see what adventures it had. This can also be incorporated into a campaign with an important message such as safety, environmental awareness or cost saving.
"Invite suggestions from your employees for office morale booster ideas. If you cannot think of any good ideas, or you want to try something completely new and different, open up a suggestion box from your employees. Invite them to offer ideas of how to make the office better. Also, ask them to make suggestions about morale building. The best thing that you can do to make your employees feel better about themselves and feel invested in the company is to listen to them and make them feel valued."
Happy employees are employees that are more productive, loyal, and usually much easier to work with.
Your company should have an employee motivation program that includes office morale boosters to provide innovative, interesting learning experiences that help your employees think in new ways about business processes and procedures.
"Types of motivation programs are time management, effective communications, effective meetings, presentation skills, dealing with difficult people and creative problem solving."
Office morale boosters such as laughter and a fun approach are simple ways to get results that will enhance your entire work environment.
Create ways to keep your employees happy such a designated cartoon bulletin board, a silly hat day with a joke prize for the winner, or schedule staff meetings at an off-site casual social event.
The benefits of such office morale boosters include greater productivity, cost-saving ideas, greater morale, satisfied, happy employees and improved customer service.
Also see employee engagement for ways to boost morale and increase teamwork. Also see types of incentive plans.
Funny motivational posters are used online and offline in offices, canteens, bathrooms and even bedrooms. They are also handy for expressing yourself on social networking sites such as myspace and others. Read more
Employee motivation techniques for any organization For a manager sometimes the toughest job is to keep employees motivated and happy on the job. Read more
An example of a campaign:
Objective
• Re-energize
• Remind everyone they are part of a success story - both Momentum and the Risk business unit - growing and reinventing itself when the competition is downsizing
Encapsulate the success, energy and momentum in Risk in one word that will also contain a challenging message.
Message
We challenge you to be the best you can be, which requires a competitive, positive spirit, having the edge, being part of the winning first team, giving it your all, but at the same time having a great deal of fun.
Campaign name
Operation: Activate
Operation: Activation
Operation: Excellence
Launch
The purpose of the campaign and how it will be run should be presented in a flash animation format.
Theme
A strong element of the campaign will be the use of real life characters in cartoon form, with a humorous element that will run throughout all communication.
The campaign can be tied to the need to risk to win in sport and in business and reinforcing the myriad of possibilities the company's products offer clients, because you are prepared to risk being at the cutting edge and different from the competition. It includes office morale boosters.
Desk drop
After the feedback session a desk drop will be distributed as one of the office morale boosters. This will consist of a t-shirt with the campaign name in a sealed tin with an attractively designed label.
A new desk drop should be distributed after each quarterly feedback session. This will be done in a tin format to maintain continuity.
Internal newsletter
To drive regular communication monthly. Encourage two-way communication through the newsletter by using a team briefing medium and including discussion topics requiring feedback.
Newsletter content:
• Office morale boosters
• Division's marvelous moment and cartoon characters
• Make a cartoon for the newsletter, create your own anime character, make your own cartoon character to depict achievers.
• Who's who?
• Awesome activities
• Life and strife
• Daft deeds
• Claim victories
• Graphic graphs
• Did you know?
• Happy highlights
• Hit list
• Cutting edge tips ... quotes and comments from real live risk crazy characters who can be seen among you
• Profile of a risk player ... larger developed brain for fast thinking character diagram with lines describing how person has evolved to do the job well.
• Beating the competition
Each newsletter will have a 3-D element attached to it.
Month 1: Eyedrops to focus on success
Month 2: An sachet of Game for high energy action
Month 3: Competition entry form for best
suggestion - win a hot air balloon ride or a plane ride and be a head above the rest.
Email address
Create email address with campaign name campaign name@company.name.co.za
Posters
Headline posters with relevant issues and office morale boosters will be put up in the building as well as on lampposts leading up to the building. We'll also use toilet posters and posters in lifts.
3-D elements will be attached to the poster to carry message through from the newsletter.
Poster imagery will be adapted and sent electronically.
Vote line
A telephonic vote line will be set up. It will ask for yes or no votes on suggestions/opinions on relevant issues.
Questions will be promoted in the newsletter, staff will be encouraged to put their ideas forward.
SMS
Results will be announced by sms.
An sms will be sent out after each feedback session with slogan related to the current theme.
Around this we can structure a campaign full of energy and challenges that reinforce the external launch of company's new corporate identity and the external brand building campaign.
"Ongoing reinforcement communication around what it's going to take to repeat and improve on this success - positivity, energy, and belief."
"Ongoing communications celebrations, office morale boosters, success stories to reinforce positivity, success (take out), beating the competition, week-by-week, month-by-month, quarterly and again at the end of the year. If you have a sound system that can be used throughout the business these could be announced with a fanfare."
"Use quarterly feedback sessions for quarterly reinforcement communication around success, what still needs to be achieved, to challenge and to reward success."