When an office is plagued by low morale, there isn’t much hope on the horizon. 

Sure, you can turn things around and in most cases, you can improve the situation if you work hard enough at it, but there are many businesses who simply don’t give this type of situation the time of day. 

Morale is vital. When morale is low there isn’t much to look forward to and the business is slowly going to slip into decline. The effects of low morale are well document and they’re something that we walk about a lot - low productivity, a lack of staff retention, increased sickness absence, less collaborative results, and an increase in office conflict, it’s all pretty negative stuff. 

However, from a negative situation like this, there is one particular group of people who are rubbing their hands in glee - your competitors. 

Why?

Because everything is starting to go bad for you, so that means it’s likely to start going well for them.

Low Morale Hits Your Customers Hard 

If you think that morale in your office doesn’t affect your customers, you’re sadly mistaken. 

When morale is low there are more mistakes being made and interactions between employees and customers are likely to be just as negative as the feel in the contemporary office. Whilst sitting at the reception desk, the receptionist might smile and say all the right things, but the atmosphere in the office will make its way into the space and speak volumes.

Then, when customers are talking to employees at their office desks, either face to face or over the phone, they’re going to quickly notice the lack of engagement, the general feeling of defeat in the air.

All of this means that customers are going to wonder why they bother doing business with you when they could perhaps get a better quality of service from someone else. 

Who is that “someone else”? Your competitors, of course. 

Another plus point for your rivals is the fact that an unhappy office means employees are likely to start leaving in their droves. In this case, they will seek employment perhaps in a similar type of environment, one which fits their experience and skills. Yes, your current employees could hold their hands up in defeat and defect to your rivals. 

You can’t blame them really, because if someone else is going to treat them better and give them a better working experience, they’re well within their rights to move on.

You might wonder how your competitors will get to find out about the general state of morale in your office, but it’s not hard to figure it out. When mistakes are made, customers leave, when productivity is low, profits start to fall and businesses struggle - that information isn’t hard to find out. Also, you have to remember that word of mouth information is extremely powerful, even in the technological age we live in; it only takes one person to mention on social media how their hours at their office chair is causing them to feel down and everyone will know about it. 

So, the only people who benefit from this type of situation are the ones who you really don’t want to be benefiting from it. 

How can you stop it?

Look at the atmosphere in your office and do something about it! Office morale can have serious consequences when it’s low but it’s also very actionable in terms of turning it around. In this case, assess the problem and put a plan of action into place. Ask your employees what they want, what could make their working day more enjoyable and more productive; these are the people who have all the answers and all you have to do is ask. 

By doing this, your employees will instantly feel that they’re being listened to and that will give them a sense of being valued. When that happens, morale starts to rise and your competitors will be groaning in disappointment!