7 ways to boost visitor attraction staff morale during times of uncertainty
2020 has brought unprecedented shifts in the way we work, and the tourism industry is bearing the brunt of changes sweeping the globe. From new health and safety measures to furlough, sudden closures and enforced working from home, people who work in visitor attractions have never faced such uncertainty.
A negative impact on staff morale and organisation culture is inevitable and entirely understandable. When people become stressed or anxious, they disengage and productivity takes a nose dive. Now more than ever, looking after your people behind the scenes is vital to ensuring a positive visitor experience.
Here are 7 actions you can take to boost morale among staff and volunteers at your visitor attraction:
1. Make sure the basics are in place
It doesn’t matter how many Zoom quizzes you set up, if the basics don’t work morale will quickly take a dip.
If you haven’t already done so, make sure equipment for any employees now working from home is fit for purpose, from internet connectivity to workspaces that won’t leave people with chronic back pain.
Unavoidable strains such as caring for vulnerable friends and family, and heightened anxieties about health and finances are bound to take their toll. It’s important to let team members know that your expectations of them are realistic.
You could consider appointing a culture champion, responsible for keeping everyone in touch and cultivating a positive outlook among staff and volunteers. Open communication and making sure that every staff member and volunteer feels valued is key.
2. Ask staff for their input
People who feel listened to are more likely to remain engaged with their work. Ask for individual and collective input into how your attraction can best function during these challenging times.
During one-to-one or team meetings or via anonymous surveys, ask questions such as:
- What do you miss most about working on-site?
- What don’t you miss?
- What are you most concerned about?
You could also ask staff and volunteers for their ideas to help address these concerns. When we start to return to pre-pandemic working patterns and places, ask which changes they’d like to keep and which they’d prefer to drop.
Be wary of asking for input and failing to act on it; this will have the opposite of the intended effect.
3. Establish regular organisation-wide communications
Use video conferencing or internal newsletters to help keep all volunteers and staff – whether they’re furloughed or working on-site or off-site – regularly updated with the latest news from your visitor attraction. This includes strategies for returning to work, new health and safety measures and any other issues that affect employees in a professional capacity, as well as more upbeat news and views.
Keeping everyone up to speed with your visitor attraction’s evolving ‘bigger picture’ and how their role and team fit into it will also have a positive effect. Knowing exactly how you contribute is a big boost to morale and engagement.
4. Don’t let regular meetings slide
It’s easy to let department, team and one-to-one meetings slip when faced with irregular working-from-home routines and awkward social distancing rules, but maintaining (or establishing) routine meetings is critical to sustaining morale and team bonding, even if that means moving meetings online.
As well as covering the usual items, virtual meetings are chances to check in on a regular basis, making them the next best thing for bringing everyone together – and video meetings are even more effective. Apparently, 55% of message transmission depends on non-verbal behaviours such as facial expressions and body language.
Having said that, please don’t insist that everyone turns on their camera. Some staff may find this particularly stressful, which will have the opposite effect.
5. Keep up the social side
Not every video call needs to be functional. Kettle-hovering gossip is part of the glue that holds a team together and it’s one of the hardest things to reproduce when people can’t meet face-to-face.
As well as allowing time for chit-chat during virtual meetings – whether that’s free-flowing or more structured such as sharing home office inspiration or introducing pets – you can encourage team bonding and boost overall morale by establishing regular online get-togethers to replace Friday lunches and Monday morning catch-ups. You could also introduce optional WhatsApp chat groups.
Virtual competitions, quizzes, fancy dress Fridays and happy hours are all effective alternative ways to stay connected. Ideally, these would take place during work hours so that team members with personal commitments can join.
6. Celebrate effort, achievements and milestones
Make sure that personal and professional milestones continue to be celebrated collectively. Highlight when members of staff go above and beyond, send birthday gifts, mark anniversaries and so on. Sharing these moments is still an important part of being a team.
As well as giving shout-outs at virtual meetings and in newsletters, you could send small gifts. Thoughtful presents are particularly effective as they show your appreciation on an individual level. Pack literature lovers’ Kindles with books, subscribe foodies to a monthly spice box, or gift courses that support hobbies. Little pick-me-ups offered to all staff, such as online lunchtime yoga sessions, will be much appreciated too.
7. Make work more flexible
Allowing staff to work more flexibly whenever possible enables staff to achieve a better work-life balance by planning their work around other priorities, whether that’s childcare or exercising before the sun sets.
Demonstrating your trust by giving staff more autonomy is a huge factor in job satisfaction. Trusted staff feel more valued, which helps them be happier and more engaged. The bottom line is greater productivity and a lower staff turnover.
Planning ahead
While visitor attractions will always need teams on-site, it’s likely – and even desirable – that some of the societal, workplace and tourism industry shifts we’ve encountered in 2020, such as greater flexibility, improved hygiene and more opportunities to work from home, are here to stay. Now’s your chance to test systems that will support these changes in the long term
