Maintaining staff morale

Mon, 10 Jan 2011

Maintaining staff morale

Friday 2 July 2010
Maintaining staff morale during tough economic times is a challenge, according to entrepreneur and Dragons Den regular James Caan. However, he suggests that investing in training is a great way to cheer up your workforce.

Writing for the Telegraph, Caan explains that spending cuts, and particularly redundancies, can have a negative effect on staff morale. If staff do not feel they are valued or that their jobs are vulnerable, they may not perform to the best of their ability.

Caan suggests making commitments to staff by giving them opportunities to work at home, learn at home and learn online can help to increase a company’s chances of a quick recovery from the recession. These relatively low-cost moves will also help to ensure productivity and general staff morale stays at a high level.

Caan explains that in setting up his successful recruitment firm, he knew he had to retain his “brightest stars” by creating a culture where people enjoyed coming to work. He says that to do this, it might be worth spending time with each employee to find out what could be changed to make their day-to-day job more interesting.

Providing staff training and encouraging people to excel will give staff recognition, rather than just reward, which is the key to making sure your workforce is performing well for you. Just as important is that they will feel they are getting the most from their jobs.

See how NVQs, through learndirect, combine work-based and online learning, to provide your staff with tailored qualifications based on their job.