Why Your Contingent Workforce Manager Should Value Morale

Keeping employee morale high is good for your business.  When job satisfaction is better, it encourages employees to work harder, and leads to increased productivity. Keeping morale high for regular employees is usually not difficult, as long as working conditions are good; employee morale tends to take care of itself.  For your contingent workforce, it is more difficult to keep morale at a high level.  Contingent workers may not feel like they are truly a part of your business, the way your regular employees are.  If you want your business to run smoothly and be as productive as possible, direct your management to take steps to improve morale for your contingent workforce and all employees.

The Benefits of Better Morale

There are many benefits to having high employee morale.  Here are four concrete, measurable benefits of improved morale.

1. High Morale Increases Daily Attendance Rates

When morale is high, your employees will be happier, and motivated to perform better.  They will also be less willing to miss work.  Absenteeism costs your business money, both in dollars and lost productivity.  Improving morale is less costly than absenteeism, and offers other advantages.

Read: Workforce Management Solutions: How To Obliterate Production Bottlenecks

2. High Morale Increases Production Levels

When the work environment is enjoyable and pleasant, workers have a better attitude and may even have a good time at work.  Happier workers have better focus on their job.  When workers have better focus, production levels are higher.  When employees mentally “check out” of their job, they tend to perform slowly and make more mistakes.  Keep your workers happy to make your business a better place.

3. High Morale Increases Worker Self-Esteem

Higher production levels tend to give workers better self-esteem; workers who feel good about themselves do better work.  This becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.  Once they have their basic needs for food and shelter met, people often seek fulfillment through other activities, including work.  When your employees reach this stage, they will be ready to better themselves further.

Read: HR's Cheat Sheet To Reducing Employee Turnover

4. High Morale is Conducive to Worker Relations

When your business is a high morale facility, your contingent workers are more willing to go beyond the call of duty for their fellow workers.  This includes working harder to reach the production targets.  Just as with these other benefits of better morale, better worker relations are the result of higher self-esteem, which both results from, and contributes to increased productivity.

Methods for Improving Morale

The benefits of employee morale are indisputable.  Since keeping morale high is clearly important, improving morale is a crucial concern for any manager. Improving morale is an inexact science, but, in essence, most methods involve making communication better.  Establishing two-way communication between managers and staff, and keeping those lines of communication open is the best way to make your employees feel more valued and appreciated.  Direct all your managers to keep communication going, and solicit feedback from your contingent workforce when appropriate.

Your contingent workforce manager must be concerned with morale, perhaps even more so than your other managers.  If you want your business to reach its maximum potential, take the necessary steps to improve morale for all of your employees, including your contingent workforce.  Get started now, and begin to reap the benefits tomorrow.