Things to actually improve morale?

[Royalbloo]

So, I've just started a new job and am responsible for a significant amount of people. Not showing off - I'm incredibly lucky to have found this role, and take my responsibility to these people very seriously.

Does anyone have any long-lasting ideas to improve morale as they are all a bit fed up? I've held meetings with them all to hear them out as I felt they needed a vent, but there's WAY more to do.

I'm considering things like:

Increasing their lunch break from 30 mins to an hour, so they can actually do something meaningful/have a break and eat lunch in a proper time frame

We have fruit delivered on a Wednesday but it's a bit of a gimmick and we have billions of apples left over ALL the time...

I don't want to put in a pool table or have some forced fun quiz on a Friday, but do any of you lovely women (or people) have any examples of things that weren't massively costly, but made a real different to peoples lives?

Thank you!

Longer lunch break is a great idea.

Grease the palm of a local coffee shop to persuade them to give staff a 10% discount when they show their badge?

We have a GEM system where you can send thank you’s ( no monetary value) or stars where you have a small amount which you can exchange for vouchers/ items at a discount. We have a works perks scheme with discounts off gym membership, bikes etc. most appreciated is flexi working ( either early start finish) or compressed hours. I go-ordinate a team of volunteers and we try to do regular events where we recognise those that go above and beyond, are generally noticed and have a meal on the company.

Also where l am now, my boss is very accommodating for things like sports day and assemblies for my daughter so in turn l am very flexible with her and definitely go above and beyond.

This …saying thank you and being respectful really does go a long way …even if you think they are not brilliant!! I have spent the last year watching a slow car crash with employees because management blamed rather than praise! Horrible to watch and so unnecessary and avoidable!

Ask them. Ask for anonymous answers to a question along the lines of 'suggest one thing we could do to make your work life better?'
Collate the results, pick the most commonly raised ideas. Make the easy wins happen.
Anything that looks reasonable but would take longer, tell them the plans you have to progress to it.
Anything that can't happen, explain why.
Nothing raises morale more than a manager who listens and responds and tries to address the underlying issues. All the gimmicky stuff is just papering over the cracks.

If they have been ignored, then the most powerful thing you can actually do is engage with them.

Put monthly 121s in their diaries, weekly team check ins and a monthly team meeting - which could be a lunch out.

It sounds like many of the core conditions are actually pretty good e.g. flexi working, fruit basket, so I'd be loath to make radical changes when it feels like they just need a bit of care and attention.

@AffIt , it wasn't an American company. It was a young British entrepreneur who employed lots of people with very young children in a world that expected employees routinely to keep their passports packed with an overnight bag to travel on a moment's notice. It was only on offer to people with children in primary. It was not invented for the parents, but for the children.

Not me but my husband's work. So perk heavy that he has admitted he can now never leave as nothing else will compare.

Every year everyone gets a payrise to reflect inflation,
every year a bonus which is a proportion of profits split proportionatly between staff (usually 1500 or so in our case)

An opportunity to buy company shares at a reduced rate, this has the effect of being a guaranteed bonus every 6 months.

2 'mental well being' days a year, effectively the company just closes for the day twice a year.

Lavish summer and christmas parties in interesting venues. war museum, inflatable giant ingloos etc.

Employees can award 'points' to each other for performing well. Accumulate enough points and you can choose a gift, including vouchers to john lewis etc.

What are the toilets like? I find you can usually tell how valued the staff are by the quality and cleanliness of their toilet provision.

I haven't finished reading the thread, but this is important. Also - what is the inside of the microwave like? Is someone responsible for regularly cleaning it?

To have management set up a proper routine for getting the microwave cleaned, says that the management cares and is paying attention - if the kitchen area is cleaned, it is likely that other business routines and systems are also receiving attention.

If the microwave is dirty, it says no-one cares and managers are not taking responsibility.

Missing the point of this thread but my DP's workplace do the 'free fruit' thing and a metric fucktonne of it is chucked away every Friday. DP brings it to me, and I give it to friends/family and make any leftover into fruit puree to freeze (also good in cakes as an egg substitute!) but the waste really annoys me. I've asked DP to ask can it not go to a local charity but nothing has been done about it so far, just all in the bin 😡

Some of the best morale inducing perks I’ve had are:
half day off for Xmas shopping taken any time in December (so always used for kids school panto by me!)
full day off for birthday (or next working day if weekend)
good stationary cupbord
great laptop bag
nice big monitor screens for home! But maybe I’m easily pleased!!

@Greenday49 maybe suggest an actual place they could donate too. Complete with telephone number. I believe most easy stuff just doesn’t get done as a lot of work place people think it’s ‘not their job/beneath them’, with a little bit of too busy I’ll do it later(never) thinking thrown in for good measure. So you may have to do the donkey work for them… I’m sure someplace will snap it up.

Good idea, I will have a look. It's miles from me so I am clueless but I will start searching.

You have pinpointed the lack of morale to systems, red tape etc... But you want to raise morale with a longer lunch break and are asking for tips like coffee machines etc.
Work on reducing bureaucracy, red tape etc.