Morale is one of those important pieces of a corporate culture that successful companies make sure to manage closely. A high morale means increased energy, productivity, profits, and more. A low morale means low energy, absenteeism, lower productivity, potential sabotage, and more. While every person may not be able to affect the morale of the company as a whole, every person plays a role in maintaining morale for their own teams or departments. The latest research suggests that small steps can go far in increasing morale too. The important thing is that whether the steps taken by the company are large or small, to make a high morale a high priority goal for everyone.

One way to keep employee morale high is to promote from within. When your employees see there is room to advance within an organization where they’ve been working, it does a number of positive things, such as give hope. When a company constantly recruits for higher-level positions from outside the company it incentivizes people, especially the motivated people a company wants to retain, to move either to another company either permanently or as a round-about way of being promoted. Offering training programs and mentorship opportunities to employees helps with promoting from within.

Handling employee frustrations or complaints directly and promptly is another way to keep employee morale high. After all, most people don’t complain just for the sake of complaining, so for a company to know about issues brought forward by employees but not do anything about those issues is a blow to morale and asking for trouble. For a company to even learn about these issues however, a reliable and anonymous process needs to be in place for employees to voice such complaints. Companies would be wise to prioritize recurring/similar complaints.

Make work fun! Or to be more specific, companies should organize events that are designed to facilitate bonding among employees while letting their mind rest from work for a period of time. Such events include big summer parties, winter retreats, live bands, move premier nights, and more. Psychologists and business experts agree that the company that plays together, stays together. These events highlight the individuality of employees and appeal to their humanity, which sometimes gets lost in the day-to-day work and “business seriousness.”

Recognizing the good is something that has always helped improve morale. When an employee is doing something well, other employees at all levels of the organization should feel free to tell them such. Companies can also profile employees and their accomplishments randomly on the internal intranet. A raise or bonus is a classic example of recognizing good work for a reason – it works!