It doesn’t really matter where you are these days, the downturn in the economy is dominating conversations all over the place. And instead of everyone assessing the somber economic situation calmly, the talk among people often feeds upon itself, leading to even more panic.

While everyone understands that businesses need to remain viable in order to retain their employees, and that there are very capable people in all industry sectors who will lose their jobs, focusing too heavily on those facts can cripple existing staff to the point where their work productivity is negatively impacted.

Protecting and perhaps even boosting employee morale should therefore be one of a company’s main priorities, and must be initiated by strong and courageous leadership. After all, it is known that even is these challenging economic times, “individuals do not leave companies - they leave poor managers. Organizational mis-management contributes to negative morale.”

A myriad of suggestions about maintaining employee morale exist. Thoughts on Training Time suggests several tips, among them focusing on the positive since, “if all you’re talking about is how bad things are, that’s all your employees will be thinking about.”

Another interesting suggestion for protecting morale is prohibiting office gossip about salaries and terminations. Employees should have sufficient knowledge to be dealing with the facts themselves. And Entrepreneur.com cites an Employee Hold’em study that states that the vast majority of employees would happily remain at their current positions, even if it were for less income, if they felt they were receiving appropriate recognition and could achieve work-life balance.

Quite apropos given the current economic climate, meanwhile, is the article on “How To Boost Employee Morale On A Budget,” which lists such empowering suggestions as giving individuals the opportunity to determine how to best fulfill their work responsibilities. Offering a valuable prize, perhaps in the form of a sizable one-time bonus, to the best performer for achievement of a particular goal, is yet another effective way of both motivating and recognizing employees.

Tags: Economy, employees, morale