Boosting Morale on a Budget

Boosting Employee Morale is an important ingredient for success. I have always remembered a statement that my mentor once said. The difference between a great company and good company is that a great company has people motivated to do a little extra (whether productivity, an extra phone call, an extra thank you . . . ). One way to do that is create a positive environment. In a startup or small organization, there are ways to boost morale that are not very expensive. Here is an article on boosting employee morale on a budget.


How To Boost Employee Morale On A Budget
www.forbes.com
Jane Applegate

http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/2008/08/28/small-business-morale-ent-hr-cx_ja_0828boostmorale.html?feed=rss_entrepreneurs

"Money can’t buy happiness" is not a cliche when it comes to boosting morale around the office. In these uneasy times, when many entrepreneurs are pinching every penny, knowing how to reward employees without spending a lot is crucial.

"You can do things for employees that don’t cost anything, but are worth a million dollars,” says Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, now in its fifty-second printing. Better yet, "small businesses can do [these things] because they aren't constrained by a 500-page policy manual."

Stop fretting about not being able to shower your employees with cash, says Nelson, who runs a consulting company based in San Diego. For his doctoral dissertation, Nelson conducted a landmark survey of 2,400 employees in 34 companies.

Greenbacks are nice, of course, but barring those, Nelson discovered that most employees crave communication, involvement and autonomy. While a hearty pat on the back always feels good, extra attention and sense of ownership feel even better.

"Every employee should be given the chance to determine how best to do their jobs, as well as increased authority and leeway in the handling of company resources," says Nelson.

Arbill, a Philadelphia-based workplace-safety consultancy, takes that observation to heart. The company boosts morale by giving the troops more responsibility. "We created employee committees to do things like set up a health fair, a food co-op and other [projects]," says chief executive Julie Copeland.

But the extra work doesn't just make people feel good. "Watching how employees manage these committees helps us create a great bench of leaders for the company," says Copeland.

Taking an interest in your employees also means investing in their future. That's why training and development opportunities are energizing perks. Check out the local community colleges and university-extension departments for affordable classes, and foot part or all of the tuition for eager employees.

Company picnics? Chuck them. Employees don't care--in fact, they find them a burden. Better to grant the flexibility for personal time to handle family obligations. Four-day work weeks are becoming popular (though they come with their own complications). If possible, consider letting people work from home one day a week--with gas at $4 a gallon, that savings will feel a like a holiday bonus.

In a very small company, rewarding just one employee can make a huge difference. Take it from Sari Gabay-Rafiy and Anne Marie Bowler, two lawyers who left a large firm to start their own Manhattan practice two years ago.

When Myrna Greenfield, their 60-something, part-time legal assistant, was feeling a bit blue, the partners decided a makeover was in order. So, they booked an appointment at the Sparkle Beauty Studio, a trendy salon on Charles Street in Manhattan’s West Village.

Myrna left with a chic razor haircut and a smile on her face. After the salon visit, they continued their “girls’ day out” with cocktails and dinner. "We can’t give our staff thousands of dollars in bonus checks, but we can do little things for them," said Gabay-Rafiy.

Kathy Taggares, chief executive of K.T.’s Kitchens, a Carson, Calif.-based maker of frozen pizza and salad dressing, needed a cost-effective way to thank her overworked staff for winning a multi million-dollar grocery account. The previous year's glitzy, five-figure Los Angeles harbor cruise with open bar was too expensive to repeat, so she booked a nearby go-kart track for a Friday afternoon.

"We mixed up people from production, quality control and maintenance," she says. The drivers ranged from 20-something women to a 74 year-old manager; non-drivers got into the act as cheering "pit-crews." The afternoon ended with a feast of Mexican food and gooey cake served in the party room at the track. Price tag for the 35-person celebration: about $2,000.

"It was a great team-builder, because people from different departments are often at odds with each other," says Taggares, who handed out trophies to winning drivers. "You would have thought people were winning Oscars. Everybody was just thrilled."