Page 10 - On The Move - Volume 17, Issue 4

Employee Morale and Performance:

By Julian Armijo
M5 Management Services, Inc.
aving visited many different dealerships from very small to very large in the past few years, and
Hhaving come from a relatively large dealership myself, the subject of employee morale comes
up more often than not. In some instances, management brings it up, while in others, management
is unaware, blinded, or in denial that there is even an issue. One thing is for sure, low employee
morale is common in our industry and is one of the main drivers to low employee performance.

So, the question becomes two-fold. First, is there an issue with employee morale? And second, if there is, what
do we do about it? Looking up how to improve employee morale on the internet will result in finding hundreds
of thousands of articles written on ways to improve morale.

Articles can range from traditional 4. Discounted company services And this is where the “why” came
and conservative, such as: 5. Commuter perks into play. Our employees’ behavior
6. Team spirit day and standards and how they portray
6 Simple Ways to 7. On-the-job volunteer opportunities themselves to our clients are critical. If
Improve Employee Morale 8. Co-worker clubs and affinity groups ensuring that our staff has high “standards
1. Communicate Often 9. Old-school gratitude of behavior or beliefs concerning what
2. Solicit Employee Feedback is and is not acceptable for them to do”
3. Make Firm Business Decisions And while many of these suggestions is the ultimate goal, that leads me to the
4. Create an Effective Incentive Program would help improve the morale of the conclusion that performance and morale
5. Use Social Media to Praise Employees staff, I believe the question is much are two critical results of the morals that
6. Have Fun deeper than how. It’s more of a why. we instill in our staff by the actions that
we perform ourselves.
To a little more creative: As I was writing this article, I noticed
that many times when I typed the word With trust being the ultimate goal for
Proven Methods for “morale” I mistyped it without the “e”. both our employees and our customers,
Boosting Employee Morale Autocorrect did not catch this because employee morale is very related to the
• Promote work-life balance among “moral” is a correct word. I found myself morals of the business and our staff.
employees looking through the article ensuring that And though there is no one perfect way
• Invest in trust building I did not mistype the word. But as I to improve morale, the one comment
• Go beyond “My door is always open” found some of the statements, I realized I get most often during employee
• Give teammates a chance to interact that “moral” seemed much more related interviews, especially at stores that have
outside the office to this situation than “morale”. shockingly apparent morale issues, is
• Support employee-led initiatives that communication and transparency
• Don’t ignore the power of small need to be improved.
gestures

To the more extreme methods: A definition of the words found online is:

Nine Unusual Incentives That Morale: the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a
Will Lift Employee Morale person or group at a particular time.
1. Cubicle coffee shop
2. Concierge services Moral: adj: Holding or manifesting high principles for proper
3. Office petting zoo conduct.
Noun: A person’s standards of behavior or beliefs concerning
8 www.maada.com what is and is not acceptable for them to do.
a.
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