What can I do to improve office morale?

[Anonymous]

I recently returned from an extended leave to an office I love, but things have really taken a nose dive in terms of morale while I was gone. I'm a mere underling with no authority and/or discretionary funds, but I want to start a movement to have more fun at the office. What can I do? I'd prefer to keep it low key and subtle, but am open to all suggestions.

[Anonymous]

find a new place to work?

[Anonymous]

OP here: well yeah, that's the long term plan, but for the next six months or so, I'll be here and I want to enjoy coming to work. The people are great and we do great things (with a fair amount of bureaucracy included), but I kind of want to inject a little light-heartedness into the work day.

[Anonymous]

Is the dress already casual? If not, can you make a casual Friday?

Would everyone pitch in like $5 a week to have Wednesday Bagels?

[Anonymous]

Just start taking to everyone and invite people to eat lunch together. No one eats together at my work and I'm pretty lonely at my desk.

[Anonymous]

Bagels and lunch all sound great, but I don't think those kinds of things make a difference when morale is low. And sometimes they make things worse because it feels like, to add insult to injury, everyone has to pretend to be happy.

What is the source of the low morale? Identifying that is the first step. If it is (and you seem to suggest) that it has to do with bad managers or something negative coming down from the top, then Wednesday bagels isn't going to fix it.

Double down on the efforts to find a new job.

[Anonymous]

organize a potluck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:organize a potluck

NO to this and the bagels. obliging people to bring food is obnoxious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently returned from an extended leave to an office I love, but things have really taken a nose dive in terms of morale while I was gone. I'm a mere underling with no authority and/or discretionary funds, but I want to start a movement to have more fun at the office. What can I do? I'd prefer to keep it low key and subtle, but am open to all suggestions.

There isn't really much you can do as an underling. People are probably unhappy for reasons that a small bagel day will never fix. My guess would be they want more flexibility and respect. And raises.


You could bring up your observation to someone in HR. Maybe it's been a slow fade, and they need someone to point out "Hey, people seem a lot less enthusiastic around here than when I left in XX. What changed?"

[Anonymous]

One office I worked in had pretty good morale. One of the things that helped was that there was a lounge area at the end of the building. Every day they hosted "tea" somewhere around 3:30-4:00. Someone would go and put a pot of water on to boil around 3:00 and whenever it was ready, the pot would go out on the table. Anyone who needed to take a break could stop by. A few people showed up every day, but some people just stopped in once a week or so. Great to chill and be able to take a break. There was a cup and you were expected to either bring something to share or drop spare change in the cup. The spare change went to buy tea bags and occasionally buy snacks/cookies that could be brought out if no one brought anything. It went on for years and people came and went. The talk ranged from light work talk to what people were doing for the weekend, to events coming up that people were attending, etc. Getting that break in the middle/end of the afternoon was pretty helpful to a bunch of people.

If you want to start something like this, just find a couple of friends to help kickstart it, bring in some dollar store cookies and some tea bags and verbally invite people to join when they want.

[Anonymous]

NP here. I like that tea time idea!

[Anonymous]

We were actually talking about this in my office the other day (we don't have morale problems, but people were talking about other offices they worked at that had morale problems). Apparently, for many people, it all centers around free food. Free food makes them happy. So the tea time idea is great.

Or, go to Costco once every few weeks and pick up the cheapest desserts they have there. Something like that.

[Anonymous]

Happy hour on Thursdays or fridays.

[Anonymous]

I took charge and brought in cake for people's bdays. It was my own money at first, but after a few months people chipped in. Our office is large enough that there is a birthday about every 3 weeks or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were actually talking about this in my office the other day (we don't have morale problems, but people were talking about other offices they worked at that had morale problems). Apparently, for many people, it all centers around free food. Free food makes them happy. So the tea time idea is great.

Or, go to Costco once every few weeks and pick up the cheapest desserts they have there. Something like that.

Well, people like free stuff, sure. But they don't like being obligated or guilted into bringing in food or contributing money to a fund. If people are burned out or feel unappreciated, the last thing they need I'd another obligation.