How do we boost employee morale?

We tried everything,” says R, in his 40s. “Years ago, my friends and I set up this technology company. We are go-getters. We grew fast and we are fine in the pandemic, but today some employees are not as motivated. Human resources (HR) team building does not work. Can you suggest ways to boost morale?”

My reply: I assume that the reason for low morale is not poor salaries or benefits, since you are doing well even today. Team building works in theory but the usual methods often backfire. For example, several business founders are not comfortable with public performances (singing), however much HR cajoles them to do so.

“Just because you like Secret Santa,” I told an HR manager during the holidays, “does not mean that the IT (information technology) division enjoys it. Do an Escape Room instead.” (And I was right!)

Go-getters who join a startup often display independence and creativity, so try job crafting, pioneered by management professors Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane Dutton, of Yale University and the University of Michigan (UMich), respectively.

“Job crafting involves innovating around a job description, creatively adding and customizing tasks and responsibilities to match personal interests and values,” says Wharton professor Adam Grant in his book “Give and Take.”

In 2011, Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar asked employees to each start a low-cost initiative that they and their colleagues liked. Two-thirds of the workforce tried it out, with half of them eventually launching their projects, such as a book club with topics relevant to their personal and work lives.

“People had permission to do all of that stuff before I ever asked that question,” Moldenhauer-Salazar tells Grant. “But somehow, asking that question in my role gives people permission to pursue their interests in a way they didn’t have before. It’s planting seeds, with some percentage of them turning into real initiatives.”

Two years later, Moldenhauer-Salazar became HR senior vice president at Starbucks.

While job crafting is usually done by employees on their own, they need to communicate plans to their bosses or colleagues. If done badly, job crafting can harm the business, such as if resources are used to benefit oneself but not the company.

“My nephew loves photography,” says a patriarch of a family firm that makes house tools. “But we are not branching out to the arts so he needs to adapt his interests in ways that suit us.” After some trial and error, the nephew finally put his artistic skills to good use in the marketing department.

Rather than daydreaming about unrealistic job changes, guide employees in this way: How do you divide your time and energy in your job now? How can you modify these to motivate and energize you?

For example, if you crave novelty, how can you make tasks less routine? If you desire social interaction, how can you engage more with clients? If you seek purpose, how can you perceive your job as impacting people in positive ways?

Grant, Wrzesniewski and their team helped certain Google employees “create a map of how they’d like to modify their tasks, crafting a more ideal but still realistic vision of their jobs that aligned with their interests and values.”

Six weeks later, managers and coworkers felt these employees were happier and more productive. “Many … found ways to spend more time on tasks that they found interesting or meaningful; some delegated unpleasant tasks; and others were able to customize their jobs to incorporate new knowledge and skills that they wanted to develop.”

Job crafting “enabled team members to more clearly define how their values, strengths and passions connect to what they do on a day-to-day basis,” Google’s Brian Welle says in the UMich’s Center for Positive Organizations website. “This insight has really helped people identify who they are and tap into what is most important to them at work, which has made a tremendous difference for us.” INQ

Queena N. Lee-Chua is with the board of directors of Ateneo’s Family Business Center. Get her printed book “All in the Family Business” via Lazada, or the e-book version Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks. Contact the author at [email protected].