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7 Tips To Restore Employee Morale After a Reputational Crisis

By | Scott Mathews

In his words, Warren Buffett said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it”.

In this article, we are going to share with you seven tips to restore employee morale after a reputational crisis.

Keep reading.

When employees’ morale is low, their performance will suffer, they will not engage, and this will make your turnover to go down. As a manager or company owner, it is your job to create an environment where employees can feel confident in how they perform their work.

And this is especially important when the company has gone through a reputational crisis.

Typically, employee morale is the overall attitude, satisfaction and confidence demonstrated by employees in the workplace.

When employees feel confident and satisfied with their workplaces, their morale is positive or high.

Of course, employees can continue working diligently even if morale is low they will lack excitement and enthusiasm. There will also be frequent conflict and productivity will suffer.

So, without much ado, let’s get started.

1.   Communicate

Lack of communication after a reputational crisis can diminish employee morale. It is important for senior management to make sure every employee receives accurate, timely information, probably through email or regular company meetings.

It’s also important for senior management to make communication a two-way flow of information. For instance, employees need to be encouraged to speak out their concerns and the senior management should be willing and open to listen and address the concerns.

2.   Set SMART Goals

Reputation recovery after a crisis is no easy task. One of the most effective tips to restore employee morale after a reputational crisis is to set SMART goals.

Morale and motivation can diminish if employees are unclear about their roles and what they are expected to accomplish within a specified period.

A company without goals is like a car being driven without clear direction and this can be disheartening.

It’s important for company owners and senior managers to communicate the company’s mission, vision, short-term and long-term goals clearly to each team and individual members. Every employee should be informed about how their effort contributes towards achieving the company’s goals.

Setting clear goals will motivate employees to work on hitting individual goals and those of the company as a whole.

3.   Admit The Fault

Taking responsibility in time can help to restore employee morale after a reputational crisis.

It’s important to admit a fault and then take fast action. It will be damaging for a company to keep a catastrophe in waiting as this could make it difficult to deal with any new ones. For instance, in 2015, when Volkswagen was hit by an emission scandal, the company did not act assertively; this made the company face rounds of litigation by the people affected.

4.   Make Sure Managers Build a Positive Relationship With Employees

Usually, employees will feel confident and motivated if they are close to their managers. So, encourage managers to work closely with employees to make them build a positive rapport between members.

It’s would be also easier for managers to understand employees’ concerns and fears. In fact, if employees feel that they aren’t being appreciated, their morale will go low.

Managers should give employees feedback regularly and do everything possible to acknowledge your employee’s accomplishments. After all, it doesn’t cost anything to say “thank you for the hard work”.

5.   Offer Training to Employees

Another way to raise employee morale is to offer them training opportunities. This way, employees will feel valued and their morale will go up hence making them feel more committed to their work.

Providing employees with training opportunities will also boost their productivity.

6.   Give Employees Freedom

Employees who have the freedom to handle tasks according to their wishes as long as they accomplish the company goals will have high morale than those who don’t have the freedom. Also, when employees achieve success, managers should celebrate it.

7.   Develop Talent Management Strategies

During tough times, it can be difficult to hire new talents and retain them.

Therefore, it’s important to introduce talent management strategies aimed at keeping employees from quitting as they will have confidence in career progression.

Also, be sure to observe signs of poor employee morale as it may not be easy to detect it especially if you are working hard to restore a company reputation after a crisis.

Warning Signs of Low Employee Morale

While you will strive to give your employees an equitable and good workplace to drive productivity, it’s possible to struggle with low employee morale. And this is especially true when you are recovering from a reputational crisis.

Here are seven warning signs of low employee morale.

Increased employee turnover

Employees with low morale are more likely to quit and find employment opportunities elsewhere. Check turnover and conduct exit interviews to establish the reason why employees are quitting. You can then use the information to come up with strategies to improve their workplaces and keep employees from quitting.

Employees not willing to take part in exit interviews

Not all employees will be willing to share the exact reasons for quitting because some fear they might not get re-hired in the future, or they will not get better recommendations to a prospective employer.

To make sure employees share the true reasons for their departure, it’s important that managers reassure them that their feedback will help to make workplace improvements and that the information they shared will remain confidential to the employer.

Lack of employee referrals

Employees who aren’t happy working for your company will less likely to recommend you or refer people they know.

To understand your position, prepare questionnaires with questions that will demonstrate how likely your employees are to recommend your company as a good place to work.  Make sure to include questions that aim at finding out the reasons why employees are (or aren’t) likely to recommend you to people they know.

Poor performance

Usually, people associate poor performance with a lack of skill or other factors forgetting that low morale can also affect employee performance.

Are your employees not seeing the point of their current job? Are they regretting working for your company?

Don’t take action so fast- chances are that there are possible reasons why they aren’t seeing the point of their job.

The more they start to ask themselves these questions and others the more they will take the wrong steps which ultimately will produce poor results.

Set key performance indicators and allow your employees to assess their progress. This will help them take the right steps toward achieving success.

Increased absenteeism and low productivity

When you notice that employees are starting to skip work more than usual then know that their morale is low. Absenteeism and poor productivity go hand-in-hand. So if you notice that their productivity is also low, have a private talk with the team or individual employees, and talk about your concerns and expectations and listen to their side before you decide to take disciplinary action.

Unhappy customers

Low employee morale can also lead to unhappy or unsatisfied customers. If you are always handling customer complaints then know that your employees’ morale is low. After all, don’t expect an unhappy employee to treat your customers the way you want. First, make sure your employees are happy and your customers will be happy too.

Final Word

To restore employee morale after a reputational crisis, give them sufficient opportunities and freedom to provide feedback about your company, work environment, and senior management.  This way, it would be easier to find out how to improve or help employees.


Author Bio:

Scott Mathews is a professional business consultant and freelance writer who offers top essay writing services at essayuniverse.net .He is also the author of best paper writing services review and Dissertation Today. During his college years, Mathew used to offer cheap paper writing service to his colleagues and other needy students. Besides, he is also interested in other topics such as technology, internet marketing, and business

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