We have recently been put into a crisis without much preparation; our goal is to find strategies that aid in mitigating the effects of high stress on worker morale.

In a climate where your coworkers are being laid off left and right, it is hard to maintain morale as an employee. Many firms today are struggling with the economic setback of the Coronavirus, and in turn having to lay off workers, reduce hours, and take other budget-cutting measures. As someone who needs a job to provide a comfortable life, looking around and seeing your work schedule only consisting of 16 hours for the week, is cause for concern. What does management have to benefit from addressing this issue of employee well being and overall team morale? An increase in the motivation of these employees would lead to a positive trend in productivity, something every firm should strive for.

One of the primary issues faced by employees in the current day workplace is a sense of uncertainty. Sommer et al. (2015) define an organizational crisis as “an event or time period involving high levels of uncertainty, important issues, and time urgency” (p. 173). Workers can find themselves asking; ‘Why is John not working here anymore?’, ‘Am I next?’, ‘Will I have work tomorrow?’. This sense of uncertainty does not foster a productive worker, but rather leads to low morale, and high stress. Not having a foundation of trust between employees and employers during a time of uncertainty creates lower job satisfaction, decreased work performance, along with the overall well-being of employees. Creating clear communication throughout a team and keeping employees informed helps to relieve that added stress and uncertainty (Richter & Näswall, 2019).

Not only do you see your fellow coworkers being laid off, but even before that, it’s quite possible your scheduled hours were cut. Even the most stable of positions face a stance of uncertainty now. For example, a hospital worker who works in outpatient care might have no work on the schedule that week, simply because the crisis has forced all of your outpatient work to halt. This is no fault of your boss or even the firm as a whole, but rather is a common problem facing workers across many firms, caused by the pandemic.

In crisis times employees may tend to spend less time working or put less effort into the work they are doing, this phenomenon is described as withdrawal behavior, which is influenced by low morale (Cotton & Hart, 2003). To help mediate the withdrawal behavior it is actually not as effective to try and reduce stressors, especially in a crisis, and more effective to improve the organizational climate (Cotton & Hart, 2003). This means changing the management to be more supportive and encourage employees to manage their time and work efficiently. The question is how is this done.

Improving employee morale can be done in various ways: Being intentional about communications, relaxing policies and adjusting guidelines, and mitigating risk and educating (Kurter, 2020). By being intentional about communications, leaders can make it clear to their teams that they are remaining calm, and this calm and steady headed attitude can resonate.

A prime example of communicating clearly would be making employees aware of changes in company structure and taking steps to prevent the spread of misinformation. Leaving the conversation open allows employees to ask any questions they may have and helps them relieve some uncertainty they might have. By relaxing policies and guidelines, management can make it apparent to the workers that steps are being taken that keep their well being and best interests in mind. Managers need to be understanding of the current situations that their employees are in like finding childcare or being sick. Allowing employees flexible hours and sick leave makes them feel valued and end up being more productive, engaged, and in turn, team morale increases. Lastly, by educating and mitigating risk, especially in this pandemic scenario, the firm shows the employees that it is willing to put in the effort to keep them safe and make them feel supported. By providing accurate information, discouraging rumor spreading, and providing mental/physical health resources, employees are more able to focus on team morale and not the precarious situation.

Resilience is a key skill to possess when faced with a crisis as it will help managers maintain team morale and support employees. Firms need to be able to recover from a crisis in order to remain successful; the key factor in doing this is resilience. Sommer et al. (2015) demonstrate how developing resilience is key to both surviving and thriving in a crisis. Management needs to be able to adapt to a crisis, and resilience is a skill that will allow leaders to cope with hard times and guide their employees through it. Jean-Michel Moutin stresses the importance of strengthening resilience in management in order to support employees effectively (Huang et al., 2020). It is important for leaders of firms to remain positive, strong, and honest when faced with a crisis, supporting team members in this way helps boost morale. Resiliency will improve a firm’s chances of regaining a sense of normalcy and maintaining that morale despite all of the challenges being thrown at them.

All in all, management faces the challenging task of leading their teams through a crisis; finding strategies to mitigate the effects of the high stress put onto workers during these times becomes crucial. Managers must understand and implement the correct provisions to ensure workers are being taken care of so they can reach a high level of morale, no matter the crisis at hand. These provisions include relaxing policies, being intentional about communications, being supportive of your employees, and making sure all workers are safe. Without these strategies being applied, workers become stressed from being uncertain of their positions or even encounter withdrawal behaviors due to these high levels of stress. Therefore, management implementing the correct strategies will ultimately lead to a reduction of these stress levels and in turn lead to a positive response in worker morale.

References 

Cotton, P., & Hart, P. M. (2003). Occupational Wellbeing and Performance: A Review of Organisational Health Research. Australian Psychologist, 38(2), 118–127

Huang, X., Sawaya, A., & Zipser, D. (2020). How China’s consumer companies managed through the COVID-19 crisis: A virtual roundtable. McKinsey Insights, N.PAG. R

Kurter, H. L. (2020, March 10). 3 Ways To Keep Employee Morale Up During The Coronavirus Outbreak.

Richter, A., & Näswall, K. (2019). Job insecurity and trust: Uncovering a mechanism linking job insecurity to well-being. Work & Stress, 33(1), 22-40.

Sommer, S. A., Howell, J. M., & Hadley, C. N. (2015). Keeping positive and building strength: The role of affect and team leadership in developing resilience during an organizational crisis. Group & Organization Management, 41, 172-202.

Authors: Adam Zukowski, Amrit Kular, Kaila Ward, Kate Brockhaus, Olivia White