Is your company going through a tough time? Perhaps your startup is struggling for funding or your small business is suffering growing pains. Maybe different teams feel like they’re competing for scarce resources – or you’re struggling against difficult external conditions, like a downturn in the economy.
Here’s what you can do to keep team morale high, even during difficult times.
Uncertainty can be very difficult for your employees: if they know the company is having trouble raising money from a second round of investment, they might be rightly worried about the security of their jobs.
Be honest and open about how things are going for the company. This might mean telling people what your plan is if you don’t get funding, or what issues you’re going to prioritize during a difficult time.
Don’t let rumors fly around unaddressed. Be open and communicative – and make sure you give your employees plenty of opportunities to ask questions and let you know how things are going for them.
When your day seems to consist of putting out fire after fire, admin tasks like running payroll may end up getting bumped down your list. Or if cash flow issues mean the money simply isn’t there, it might be tempting to think you can put off paying your staff.
It’s hugely demoralizing for staff to be paid late. Not only will this have a negative effect on their personal finances, it will also be hugely concerning to them. If you pay them late once, what’s going to stop you from doing it again? They might well end up thinking the company is in a far worse financial situation than it really is, too.
Whether you’re using Gusto or ADP, you need to run payroll on time. If that means diverting money from elsewhere or even taking out a loan, you should.
When the company’s going through a tough time, you might be tempted to praise employees who stay late, work through lunch, or always make a point of being at their desk at 8 am sharp. But none of those practices are necessarily boosting productivity. In fact, your employees are likely less productive than they otherwise would be.
Encourage everyone to take their full lunch break. Emphasize to employees that you want them to take breaks so that they can be focused when they’re at their desks. Offer as much flexibility about working hours as you can, too: some people would love to work 7 - 3 and others would be much happier working 10 - 6.
Research shows that productivity gains drop sharply for each hour worked after 50 hours per week. And if employees are working more than 55 hours, they’re gaining nothing: they could work 70 hours and they’d only produce, on average, as much as those working 55 hours.
Do everything you can to keep people’s working week to a reasonable length: 35 - 40 hours. Triage projects and tasks, and ditch those that aren’t necessary. If some employees are working much longer than they should, sit down and talk to them to find out what’s causing them to overwork. Perhaps there’s a process that desperately needs to be streamlined, for instance.
During tough times, it’s easy to get into a “head down” mode where you’re very focused on the problems ahead of you. But it’s important to also acknowledge all that your team members are achieving. Make a point of celebrating small wins – and regularly praise and thank employees for what they’re doing.
This doesn’t necessarily need to involve anything big or expensive. A simple “thank you” goes a long way – and you could make even more of an impact by praising someone in front of their peers, or by writing a handwritten note to acknowledge their great work on a particular project or task.
As a leader, it might be second nature to worry about everyone else before yourself. But if you want your team morale to be high, you need to be in a good mental place.
A couple of ways to take care of your own mental health are to:
Don’t let your team struggle during hard times. Do what you can to keep team morale high, so that your company can come through this stronger than ever.
