Great Ways to Boost Team Morale and Improve Company Culture in the Office
When spirits are low in the office, boosting team morale can help to brighten the mood, enhance productivity and create an enjoyable work environment for everyone. Team morale is easy and fun, and doesn’t have to break the bank either! When coming up with team morale ideas that match your office, it is helpful to think about four categories: personalization, decorations, group activities, and food-based Morale boosts. There is nothing worse than coming to work and the office in general has a low morale. Worse still when employee engagement is low, absenteeism increases. So, if you work to boost employee morale, you’ll find your employee attendance improves and in turn overall productivity.
Personalization
Incorporating your employee’s personal interests and hobbies into the workday allows the employee to associate the pleasure they get from their hobbies, with their workspace, and further boost their morale. Invite one of your employees who practices yoga to lead a vinyasa in the morning for the entire office, encourage the chef’s of the office to share recipes and lead a cooking class, or invite your employees who play a musical instrument to bring in their guitar or saxophone to play for the office. Encouraging your team members to share their hobbies and interests with their coworkers helps to bring employees together through a shared sense of group morale. Little changes like this can change an employees outlook and boost morale.
Food
Let’s be honest, if there is one thing that automatically boots the mood and morale of an entire office, it’s food. There is nothing like arriving to work to find free coffee and donuts in the breakroom or making it to lunch and being rewarded with a delicious catered meal from your favorite restaurant. Treating your employees to food-related gifts is a sure way to see a smile on everyone’s faces. Creating a theme-day that employees can look forward to is a fun way to keep team morale on everyone’s schedule; for example, waffle Wednesday, or taco Tuesday. Make sure to always offer healthy-alternatives and healthy options when providing food-related gifts, to encourage healthy eating and to keep everyone in the office’s preferences accounted for.
Decorations
Oftentimes, all it takes to boost group morale is a comfortable and welcoming space. Displaying plants, posters, and artwork on the walls of the office are a great way to create an aesthetically pleasing office space that feels like a home. Other fun and simple office decorations the whole office can enjoy are nice lamps, pretty string lights, and fun desk paperweights. An idea that combines decorations with group collaboration is to distribute whiteboards to each employee and have them write inspirational messages and quotes and then pass the board along to another employee. This way, employees establish a sense of shared responsibility for maintaining team morale and look forward to receiving and giving inspirational messages.
Group Activities & Team Building
Spending time outside of the office together as a group is a fun way to establish group morale along with a sense of community between employees. Activities outside of the normal work week, such as getting a group of coworkers to run or walk a 5k together encourages healthy living, as well as team spirit. On a similar note, providing group tickets for the office to go to a sports game or concert coming up, encourages employees to extend their work relationships beyond office walls. Similarly, establishing a “family day” at the office for employees to bring their spouse, kids, or friends to work one day can help the office feel like home. The final group activity suggestion is to give back to the community. Volunteering together encourages the office to work with each other for a greater cause, and further gives employees a sense of purpose beyond the work they do in the office. This can be a great morale booster and can improve both the individuals and communities well being.
