Employee Morale Issues

Morale is affected by several factors and costs companies millions each year.

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Good workplace morale is the state of mind of employees displayed through hard work, cordiality, confidence and discipline, according to a 2007 organizational leadership article by Roberts Wesleyan College graduate student Nicole Fink. Employees with low morale cost the American workforce about $350 billion each year through health-related issues, missing work and general unhappiness at work, according to Fink's article. Several consistent issues cause low employee morale.

According to Entrepreneur and a 2006 study from Rasmussen Reports--a company that collects and distributes public polling information--92 percent of managers claim to be doing an "excellent" job supervising employees, but only 67 percent of employees agree. Not only are managers one of the main causes of low morale, they don't know that they are. Poor leadership often comes in the form of lack of communication, micromanagement and discrimination. According to eWeek, positive leadership and poor leadership are what determine the tone of an office, directly improving or deteriorating employee morale.

Employees with limited chance of advancement are more likely to have low morale than those who can grow with the company, according to Fink's morale article. Lack of advancement makes employees feel like they are in a dead-end job, promoting lack of motivation and, in turn, low morale.

One or two employees can negatively affect and entire staff of employees, according to IT Managers Inbox. Problems that arise in the workplace--whether workplace bullying, disrespect, discrimination or general disagreements--negatively affect morale and decrease productivity. To a certain extent managers must keep an eye out for workplace dissent, but much of the responsibility lies with employees, who should stick up for unfairly treated coworkers and keep an eye out for morale issues. In addition, according to a human resources statistics page from Entrepreneur, about 63 percent of employees who feel mistreated at work leave within two years, putting employers right back where they started, training a new set of employees.

Many employees bring personal issues to work--often concerns regarding family and finances--and this often negatively affects performance and morale. According to "Entrepreneur", about 40 percent of employees in the U.S. let personal finances and other issues affect their performance in the workplace. Employees dealing with personal issues usually seem distant, out of touch with coworkers and don't contribute to communication in the office--email threads, comments in business meetings and phone calls.

Mitchell Holt has a bachelor's degree in print journalism from Abilene Christian University and has been freelancing since 2009 with work published in various newspapers and magazines like "BostonNOW" and "The Abilene Reporter-News." Holt also writes sales copy for small businesses. His clients include The Kyle David Group, ITNewton, 18 Vodka, RoboQuote and more.