Tough times makes bolstering employee spirits critical

By George C. Ford

Research shows that employee morale is directly linked to productivity.

The more happy and satisfied employees are, the more productivity will increase. During this extremely tough economy, keeping employee morale up is more important than ever.

Communication, education and appreciation are the top three things cited by Eastern Iowa companies when asked what they do to bolster employee morale.

“We do ‘all hands’ company meetings every month,” said Eric Engelmann, president and chief executive of Geonetric in northeast Cedar Rapids. “We review in detail what is going on, why it is happening and how it relates to achieving our goals. It’s a big deal for us to be that transparent because it gets people invested in what we’re aiming for.”

Geonetric, which provides online solutions for the health care industry, was recognized last month by Modern Healthcare magazine as the 23rd best place to work in the health care industry.

Investing in continuing education is another area that Corridor employers feel is essential to maintaining good employee morale.

“We have made a conscious decision to maintain the investment in our employees’ training and development,” said Soni Harney, senior vice president and director of human resources for MidwestOne Bank in Iowa City. “Continual learning is one of the operating principles in our company, so we talk about it a lot. We provide tools and resources for our people internally, but they have to go after them.”

Engelmann said Geonetric last year began offering an employee stipend for continuing education.

“It’s designed for conferences or training seminars, either online or in person,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of success getting people outside their normal comfort zone and encouraging them to take on training either in what they’re doing or a new aspect that they’ve never thought of before.”

At GreatAmerica Leasing in downtown Cedar Rapids, employees also receive a briefing each quarter on the financial status of the company and the financial services industry. They also find time to have some fun with themed events, like October’s annual Halloween decorating contest.

“Employees were invited to bring their children into the office to ‘trick-or-treat’ from desk to desk,” said Matt Doty, GreatAmerica director of corporate communications.

“We really get into our fundraisers for the community, whether it’s ‘Bowling for Kids Sake’ or United Way. There’s always some friendly competition that goes on.”

Harney said MidwestOne believes employee recognition is essential to maintaining positive employee morale.

“When we have a good customer impact story, we like to share it with everybody,” she said. “It gives the employees who had something to do with that situation some recognition for taking it on. Probably 75 percent of our monthly staff meetings, which involves each location calling in, are devoted to employee recognition.”

Harney said MidwestOne also has some friendly employee competition each year during its United Way campaign. This year, employees competed in a Nintendo Wii bowling tournament, with the popular game console as the top prize.

Creating an inviting work environment can be a key ingredient in bolstering employee morale, according to Geonetric’s Engelmann.

“We spend a lot of time and money making our work environment the best that we can make it,” he said. “We bring in a massage therapist every other month and we hold events like Halloween gatherings for our employee’s children and families.”

Geonetric also provides free cereal, a coffee bean grinder and espresso machine, soda and tea for its employees along with casual dress and flexible scheduling.

With tough economic times, many Corridor employers are looking for low-cost ways to boost employee morale.

Customer service associates at Toyota Financial Services in Cedar Rapids played “Battleship” last month. When employees reached a percentage of their call-time statistics each week, they had a chance to sink a battleship on the flip side of the game’s plastic “ocean” grid.

If they landed on a supervisor’s battleship, they “sank” it and won breakfast with the supervisor. If they just hit the ship, they won a candy bar or similar prize.