Fact or Fiction? The Guide to Becoming a True Myth Buster

Recently, I had a friend, let’s name her Anna, that was venting to me about work and how her employees are impossible to work with and have some sort of seniority complex. This, ultimately, was driving her to insanity. Not only was she becoming disgruntled, but those she worked with who had the same work ethic as Anna were starting to feel the same way. The morale on her floor was becoming toxic and the productivity level hampered. 

 

So what exactly does this six-letter word, morale, mean? Why is this important to the success of your business? Well, to state it briefly, morale is the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at a particular time. Just from the definition, imagine if an employee’s confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline were on the brink. How would that impact the overall productivity of everyday tasks?

 

After hearing Anna’s story, and asking myself about the impact, I decided to surf around the web and see what caused low morale in the workplace and how you can essentially fix it. I stumbled across this interesting article from Kennesaw State University, adapted from Employee Retention Strategies, that doesn’t state the reasons for low morale, but gives eight myths that we assume would cause low morale. It was truly an eye-opener.

 

Myth One: People most often leave a company for more pay.

 

Shocking, right? We always think that people leave a company for a better opportunity, but according to exit interviews, people cite “leaving for more money” because it’s the easiest response. Even though it is the first response that comes to mind, people tend to begin to look for jobs elsewhere if they are unsatisfied with their job or the company in which they work. 

 

Myth Two: Incentive programs produce long-term profits and improve productivity and morale.

 

When we hear incentive, we automatically think what’s the prize going to be and how do I receive it? For our surveys we do for clients, we offer incentives to arouse interest in giving productive feedback for our clients so they can reach their objectives for the survey. For this purpose, incentives work extremely well, but for employees, not so much. An incentive-based structure is usually geared towards quantity, instead of quality. Employees start to care less about the work they do and more about what they can receive if they meet it in the allotted time given. According to the article, the real glue that creates employee commitment isn’t incentives, but in fact, it’s the chance to learn and grow, meaningful work, good supervisors, and respect and appreciation for a job well done. 

 

Myth Three: People don’t want more responsibility.

 

Responsibility. The word itself holds the weight of the world on its shoulders, but according to research, this weight is one that is welcomed, not dismissed. In any circumstance, especially in the business world, people are looking to grow and learn and develop new skills to help them advance their skills. It doesn’t have to be a job promotion to allow this, but broadening the scope of one’s job description will help garner more responsibility for that individual.

 

Myth Four: Loyalty is dead.

 

Surprisingly, even in our ever-changing society, this is just a myth. Today, people are gaining a better work-life balance, and employers are making this easier by giving better hours (or flex-time), dress code, responsibility, etc. Not only does this balance affect the employees, it also affects the customers. If an employee is able to make on-the-spot decisions about an issue a customer is having, it will keep the customer coming around for the long-term. 

 

Myth Five: Improving employee satisfaction is expensive.

 

Employee satisfaction is huge and goes hand-in-hand with customers and their loyalty to your company. According to research, satisfiers can’t be bought, so trinkets and prices or recognition programs aren’t always the way to go when trying to gain satisfaction. However, the main adhesive that keeps satisfaction high is communication, support, and good relationships throughout the company, especially with management. The good thing is these adhesives aren’t expensive to your company; they cost nothing!

 

Myth Six: Employee satisfaction is “fluff.”

 

Once again, satisfaction is huge to the success of a company, and if employees aren’t satisfied, then the turnover rate will be high and profitability will decline. Take a look at these five statistics, and see how important employee satisfaction really is:

•  In a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a strong link was found between employee retention and the quality of service as rated by companies’ customers.
• According to the American Society of Training and Development, organizations that invested the most in training had higher gross margins and income per employee.
• Various studies have found that the cost of replacing an employee who leaves has been estimated to be between 70 and 200 percent of that worker’s annual salary.
• The Council on Competiveness found that a 10 percent increase in education has a more positive impact on productivity than a 10 percent increase in work hours.
• The bottom line on the bottom line. Investing in people and learning the most effective management practices increases profits.

Myth Seven: Supervisors are the problem.

 

Today, supervisors are given more responsibility with employees and customers, but the amount of training given to supervisors for this added pressure is very minimal. How can you fix this? Teamwork; it is essential to any thriving business. All of the pieces to the puzzle have to be aligned just right so you can begin to see profit instead of loss.

 

Myth Eight: My company, industry, and people are different!

 

If I had a nickel for every time I heard this, I would be one rich gal. Most people want to believe that they, or their company, don’t apply to the stereotype. But, every research study that crossed various industries, settings, and economic conditions, produced the same results. So don’t ignore the outcomes, but instead embrace them for a better future!

 

Do you want to be the myth buster and uncover the truths behind your company? Look no further than to Tweed-Weber, Inc. We can help you Know More, so you can Do More. Call us toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com and/or visit us on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber).

About the author: Gretchen Koch has been with Tweed-Weber, Inc. since 2012 and serves as Operations Manager. She oversees office processes and provides quality control on all market research reports and strategic planning documents.