I have no idea what leadership does to boost morale. Either I haven't noticed, or they don't do anything and let it pass. "Fun" stuff is already scheduled for different days throughout the month anyway, so I'm assuming they just rely on that schedule for their morale boosts. Once, everyone got to go home early on a really slow night. Everyone got to leave 15 after closing, instead of the usual 45.
If you're looking for suggestions, I can list a few. Obviously no major changes are really possible, but, being well staffed when it's busy would be great. Having a clean breakroom helps.
Food. Food is great! Requisition some ice cream maybe? Bowl of candy or energy bars? Something besides the picked over PB&J would be nice. If morale is really low, why not catering? Is that seriously not in the budget? I don't expect that to be all the time of course, but I've never seen free lunch for TMs for the sake of nothing. It's always for holidays. Which, don't get me wrong, is great and I appreciate it. But I think doing it at least once, on more spontaneous and thoughtful terms would be a great morale boost. Maybe plan it for a day that it notoriously busy, and a lot of people are scheduled, so a lot of TMs get to enjoy the treats. That would be perfect in my store right now. It's hot, we're understaffed, and guests are needy and cranky. TMs look so defeated in the breakroom this past week.
You know, just something fun that everyone can enjoy. I'd suggest games, but, then you have the obligation of participation.
Why not give everyone 5 extra minutes on their break for a day?
We have cable in our breakroom. Pretty cool, but there was a time where they used to have movies for us. I don't know why they stopped, I'm assuming the DVD player finally crapped out from being on all day. But, it was cool getting to see relatively new releases. I don't think it's practical to requisition a movie every time we get new releases. I think what the case was in my store, our old ETL-HR would just buy movies for herself, and then play them in the breakroom for everyone. I just think that's cool. She shared her movies with everyone, and she just trusted that no one would steal the DVDs either.
Seeing leadership actively helping out with guests is pretty good. I work up front, so when an LOD helps me at GS, or hops on a lane, or helps a guest to their car, or watches the lanes for the GSTL, those are pretty impressive moves I think. I think it shows that they've got our back.
Really, I think the biggest thing that effects moral at a store level is just everyone's attitudes. A lot of really positive, energetic, people left our store all at once. Current leadership is great too, but, it feels like this newest crew are just a bunch of zombies. I hate placing expectations on others for thinking they should feel and behave a certain way, but, if you're the LOD, your attitude can set the tone for the whole store.
