8 Ways to Kill Employee Morale

There are countless articles and books that promise to tell employers how to boost employee morale. They may or may not be right, but there is something we all can be certain about. There are easy ways to kill employee morale. Thoroughly. Some of them are simple; some take time. But they all work.

So with some levity and a lot of truth, here are 8 great ways to destroy the spirit of even the most dedicated of employees:

8) Start new hires with promises of raises, promotions and other perks, and then “forget.”

One of the best ways to destroy morale from the start is to make promises to your new hires, and then never mention them again. Truly creative morale-smashers may want to extend this technique to existing employees, so even seasoned workers can share in the disappointment.

7) Make rules that defy logic and then enforce them – harshly.

If your employees don’t come within miles of a customer, ban jeans and make them dress up for work. Prohibit personal decorations on desks. Send out a memo limiting the time in the restroom to five minutes. Whatever it is, make sure the consequences of these performance-related violations are severe – letters of reprimand, docked pay – anything to make them fear for their jobs.

6) Play favorites.

Everyone remembers the teacher’s pet – bring that dynamic into the workplace. A great way to destroy employee morale is to make it clear that a few people can get away with anything, while the rest must toe the line. Or consider the reverse scenario… selectively enforce the rules with a few employees while letting the rest off the hook. Morale is certain to take a nose dive.

5) Skimp on necessary tools, equipment or technology.

Invite employee discontent by maintaining a tight hold on the purse strings when it comes to the tools employees need to do their jobs well. Dole out pens, paper and other office supplies like they were the items about to tip the company over the financial edge. Create a make-do attitude, and then hold employees to standards unachievable given the lack of good tools and equipment.

4) Maintain an atmosphere of fear in the workplace.

This technique can take many forms, but one of the most effective is to keep employees wondering whether their jobs will exist tomorrow. Dwell on declining sales, especially if you can do so in several contexts. Ask them casual questions about their spouse’s job security. Drop small but favored perks such as water bottles, good coffee or the annual company picnic. Productivity and employee attitude will fall simultaneously.

3) Show employees you don’t trust them.

Make sure employees know they are not at all trusted. Double and triple check their paperwork, logs and products. Listen in on conversations. Hide behind cubicle walls and eavesdrop on employee discussions. Search them as they leave, even if they have no access to anything of value. The impact on morale and work quality will be noticeable almost instantly.

2) Make it an us and them atmosphere.

Demand that staff- level employees take cuts in pay, hours or benefits. Postpone or cancel promotions. Delay replacement of worn-out but needed equipment and furnishing. Then give the executive staff new 22” flat panel computers. Talk about how hot it was on your trip to Italy. Complain about how your Porsche is always in the shop. After all, they should be happy to have a job, any job. Right?

1) Wherever possible, reinforce the idea that they are replaceable.

This is the number one way to kill employee morale. For every person employed in your company, there are at least a dozen applicants eager to take their position. Let your current employees know that, whether through words, deeds or environment, that they could be replaced tomorrow.

Ref: Training Time

When Employees leave

People are people and so despite every motivator they will leave! They carry an enormous burden of perceptions, assumptions and self-esteem that combine to create a psychological carrying capacity. When the threshold capacity for psychological injuries is crossed, a tectonic shift occurs within the mindscape. The result is very often a precipitate decision: The decision to move on. A minor spark could be the proverbial straw which breaks the camel’s back; lo and beho ld, the resignation is on your desk!

Trust, sensitivity factors

It’s always a wrenching feeling when people leave; the feeling is intensified when top talent or long-time team members resign. If mutual trust exists, the person will share her thought process and keep you informed of the progress of her search for alternative employment. If trust does not exist, you’ll find out only on the eve of the person’s departure. That’s because somehow she wasn’t confident that you wouldn’t interfere with her prospects outside.

So if you didn’t know about your colleague’s impending departure you’d better introspective and ask whether you did in fact damage your relationship in a manner that compromised the other person’s trust in you. As a leader it’s your job to understand and sense changes in the mindscape of people around you. If you are blissfully unaware of the impact you leave on their psyche, you’re like a bull in a china shop! You don’t belong at the top unless you develop a deep sensitivity to people. Without that sensitivity you don’t have a hope of getting the best results from your team and your organisations.

Reasons are many

Sometimes, people leave when they feel suffocated. At other times they’ll leave because they don’t see where their careers are going. They’ll quit if they feel they are being taken for granted or humiliated, or hurt….the reasons are many and often unfathomable. It’s important to understand and respect that people have their own reasons for making major personal decisions.
You cannot demand a ringside seat at the mental drama that culminates in big decisions. And just because they decide without your input you can’t assume that they have made the wrong decision. Worse, you cannot cast aspersions on the new employer! That’s the surest way to reinforce the correctness of your colleague’s decision to quit! As a leader you have to stop expecting everyone to accept you as the fountain of all knowledge. You simply have to respect individual choices and priorities. What you can do is to provide an organisational environment that offers congruence with those choices and priorities.

How do you treat a person who has decided to leave? Assuming that he’s informed you adequately and clearly in advance and has cleaned up properly and that there’s not even a whiff of dishonesty, do you still convey trust and respect?

Or do you simply cut him off from routine information, meetings and activities? Do you disable his email id without notice? Do you ignore him? Do you organise a proper farewell? The answers to these questions can be quite revealing.

Psychological carrying capacity

Remember, the entire organisation is watching, with bated breath, how a person is being treated after he decides to leave. While nobody is willing to discuss it openly with you, be sure that everyone is drawing their own conclusions. They are all learning lessons and altering their own perceptions and assumptions. These are vital ingredients in that go into the making of individual psychological carrying capacities. Organisational motivation and, consequently, the capability to achieve results is critically dependant on the aggregate psychological carrying capacity.

If you’re the CEO or are in some other position of leadership, it’s imperative to get your internal balance right. You have to resist the temptation to control and manipulate everything. And you need to take a somewhat philosophical approach when people choose to leave. What better way than to surrender to Krishna’s cosmic truth when he says in the Gita : “agamapayino anityastham…titikshasva bharata….everything (and everyone) that arrives has to leave since it’s all impermanent anyway, therefore, O Arjuna, tolerate!”