There’s nothing more frustrating than the feeling that morale is decreasing at your construction business. You can tell that employees simply don’t want to be at work. They’re in bad moods much of the time, communication is down, and you’re beginning to feel that this isn’t even a great workplace environment for you! Fortunately, with these tips, you can help boost employee morale and make your construction business a better place to work.
Tip #1: Recognize the Good
People naturally crave recognition, especially when they accomplish something impressive. Are you letting your employees know that you notice when they reach important milestones or achieve something big? If your feedback model includes more criticism than praise, it isn’t going to take long for your employee morale to start dropping. On the other hand, if you remember to regularly include praise as part of your employee interactions, you’ll discover that you’re able to build happier employees who enjoy working for your business.
Tip #2: Recognize Their Lives Outside of Work
The workday may take up a large chunk of your employees’ time, but they have lives outside your company, too! Take the time to get to know your employees and send an acknowledgement of the big events in their lives. Send a token for weddings and births; acknowledge birthdays; offer employees recognition when they achieve big education goals. By building up your employees personally, you create a better overall workplace environment and let employees know that you genuinely care about them.
Tip #3: Offer Time Off
Have employees been working for large chunks of time without a break? Do you catch employees on busy job sites grabbing a fast lunch on site, then heading straight back to work? Encourage employees to take time off, whether that means heading out to a fast food joint or going to the park for lunch or taking a few days off for a vacation. While you may not be able to offer long stretches of time off when deadlines are tight, scheduling in some paid downtime when you have a little extra time can significantly impact employee morale.
Tip #4: Feed Your Team
Food has an incredible way of boosting morale and bringing your team together. Take the time to feed the members of your construction company. Send lunch to the job site, have food brought in for meetings, or reward team members who are working overtime to finish up a job with a free meal. Food is a comparatively inexpensive way to show your appreciation, but it will also significantly boost morale.
Tip #5: Communicate
With construction teams heading off to job sites across your city, it’s sometimes difficult to create a solid model for feedback and communication–but those two key things are exactly what you need to boost morale and improve employee engagement. Take the time at the end of each job to talk with at least a few key members of each team–not just superintendents, but the construction workers who are responsible for the grunt work, too! Ask for feedback on how they would improve various job situations and provide real change as a result of the information you get back.
Tip #6: Offer Training
Whether it’s adding a little electrical work to their skill set, delving into plumbing, or providing training that will help them eventually move up to site superintendent, provide your employees with the training they need to become more successful on the job. Sometimes, hands-on training and teaching opportunities are enough. Other times, you may want to provide continuing education help in the forms of seminars, certifications, and classes. Employees who are offered training opportunities are more likely to show high levels of satisfaction at their job since they’re able to improve their qualifications while continuing to offer more to your company.
Employee morale can significantly shape overall performance and transform the way your employees feel about coming to work every day. By using these morale-boosters, you can create a more positive work environment where employees feel valued and appreciated–and as a result, they’ll be more likely to dive in and give you their best. If you want to free up your time so that you can focus on your employees instead of having to worry about tasks like payroll and benefits services, contact us today.