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Morale: Who's job is it anyway?

Writer's picture: Tiffany WynnTiffany Wynn

So I asked AI to help write a title for this blog and all it came up with was what responsibility does leadership and management play in morale and boosting morale. Well, sorry to disappoint the entire point of this blog post is to say the responsibility is not all theirs.

As it turns out all people have the ability to change how they behave, gasp, I know. Leaders, managers, and general staff and contractors all have a responsibility to support, manage and improve morale. You know the organizational cost of someone walking around complaining or gossiping. It causes serious toxicity at all levels. So, who's job is it to change it?


EVERYONES! At every level we have to know what the cost is, what the emotional labor is to correct it, and get to work. We all have a part to play in allowing it which is frankly complicit and negligent.


Kathryn Davy a business coach and author on workplace environments says "Workplace toxicity refers to an environment that is unhealthy, negative, and detrimental to employees' wellbeing. While the emotional and psychological toll on individuals is often discussed, it is crucial to understand the financial impact of such toxicity on businesses." Let's explore the costs associated with toxicity in the workplace, including high employee turnover, decreased productivity, increased absenteeism due to stress and burnout, and provide relevant case studies to exemplify these consequences.


The cost of work environments costs companies everything: employee turnover, decreased productivity, stress, absenteeism, burnout, moral injury, and physical illness, not to mention emotional/ mental illness.




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High Employee Turnover: The Skyrocketing Costs

When employees are subjected to constant negativity, lack of support, and toxic behaviors, they are more likely to leave. According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, the cost of replacing an employee can range from 90% to 200% of their annual salary. This figure includes expenses associated with hiring, onboarding, training, and lost productivity during the transition period. It becomes evident that toxic workplaces can become a revolving door of employees, draining financial resources (Davy, 2024).


Decreased Productivity: A Hidden Cost

Toxic work environments can have a significant impact on productivity. When employees are constantly stressed, anxious, or demotivated, they tend to underperform. Research conducted by Gallup estimates that disengaged employees cost businesses between $450 billion to $550 billion annually in lost productivity. Toxicity breeds disengagement, resulting in decreased efficiency, missed deadlines, and a decline in overall work quality (Davy, 2024).


Increased Absenteeism: Stress and Burnout Take a Toll

Stress and burnout are commonly associated with toxic work cultures. Employees subjected to constant pressure and negativity experience higher levels of stress, leading to increased absenteeism. According to a study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, workplace stress costs businesses $300 billion annually in absenteeism, turnover, and healthcare expenses. Toxic work environments can inadvertently contribute to this financial burden by fostering unhealthy levels of stress and burnout among employees (Davy, 2024).


What can we do to stop burnout, gossip and toxicity? Not to mention moral injury (which we can talk about later). Matthew Ross, the co-founder and COO of mattress review site The Slumber Yard, says that he and his co-founder both come from the investment-banking world, where late nights were commonplace. “However, for our company, we feared the late nights would burn out our employees and eventually make them resent us.” When one employee resigned because of what Ross suspected was burnout, he says, “We knew we had to make a change or else other people would likely start leaving as well.”


What does Matthew say we should do? How do I understand it?

  1. Promote work life balance. Let's encourage our colleges and ourselves to shut it all off. Walk away, and come back when our next shift actually begins. We do not operate at work well if we are freaking about our outside of work life.

  2. Invest in trust building. Having relational moments with one another matters. Giving gratitude and compliments is cheap and has a huge return on investment. Solve problems well and quickly, you staff will believe in you if you are their go to for solutions and you listen to them.

  3. Go beyond my door is always open. I always say my door is always open, but I do better with texts. I also walk down the hall to talk with people, ask people to have coffee, bring in snacks for the team. There are a number of ways to help people experience you (at any level) as not just the principles office or a place to cavetch.

  4. Support employee led initiatives. Cheer for each other, we know what the pain points are we can fix them. WE are the solution.

  5. Do not ignore the power of small gestures. As mentioned kindness is free and has high return. Put the post-it on the desk that lets people know you say them doing something good. Catch people doing good long before you give them feedback about making improvements. Cards and voice mails matter, tell people what you think (when it's nice or kind).


Improving morale is everyone job, it doesn't matter what you job title is, you can make a huge difference. So, stop the gossip, get out of complaining, and tell someone what you like about how they work. You matter, what you see is important, and surprising people with kindness is always a win!


In loving kindness,

Tiffany



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