Morale Boosting Ideas????

CIRQL8 · Mar 21, 2007

A thank you board - or a recognition board. It;s like a graffitti board. Take a part of the wall in the lounge, or the dry-erase board, and cover it with paper. Provide markers of variuos colors to write on the paper with. Place a note on the graffitti board that people should write thank you's or 'warm fuzzies' about their co-workers on the board.

Have a monthly or bi-monthly pot-luck or even just a snack pot-luck.

Little things like that liven a place up.

miko014 · Mar 21, 2007

We have a thank you board...nobody ever uses it. We have a yearly staff retreat where we have to do teambuilding stuff...it all works out well for about a week or 2, then we get back to the way things were before. Now they are trying to do a monthly "fun" thing...bring in a baby picture and everyone has to guess who is who (I won that one - the prize was $1 to the coffee place at the hospital...that's not enough to get anything there, and I don't drink coffee anyway! I'd have much rather had a lottery ticket, lol!). This month it's a "lucky leprechaun wish board" where you write your wish on a piece of paper from the "pot of gold" and pin it up on the board. Woot, very morale-building, haha. Okay so maybe it's not working, but at least they're trying...I guess. It doesn't matter to me how colorful the breakroom is, as long as we are being overworked out on the floor, we're not going to be any happier!

BULLYDAWGRN, RN · Mar 21, 2007

I've heard it stated before and at times I tend to agree with the saying, "Show me the Money"...We had a problem with people calling in a few months ago, so some unit managers offered up monthly bonus for not missing so many hrs of work per month. Well it worked, the morale elevated and no more 3-4 people calling in per shift. But we are waiting for admin. to drop it now cause there is a reduction in call ins, but as soon as they do absentism will go sky hi again, and we'll be back at square one.

santhony44, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 21, 2007

What are the things that frustrate the nurses on the unit? The manager needs to find out what those are, then fix them whenever possible. If they can't be "fixed" then sometimes just an acknowledgment of the problem helps people feel better.

The manager needs to talk with people individually, but an anonymous survey can be useful too.

A thank you board can be nice, but the manager needs to take the lead in using it! An occasional snack or meal, with *fresh* food for *each* shift.

A gift certificate prize for some sort of competition is fine, but $1 is definitely not enough!

Discovering the things that bug the nurses the most, and getting them fixed, would probably do more than anything else to help morale.

Colorado1 · Mar 21, 2007

I like the message board idea. It can never hurt to acknowledge your co-workers' strengths. Doesn't that just make everyone feel better? After all, we are here for a common goal of caretaking and we really can't do that unless we are at our personal best. We really don't have a bad floor. We're just feeling kind of flat right now and are trying to perk things up before things go downhill. It's more proactive than fixing something in the toilet. Thanks for the ideas!

mccmaeve · Mar 22, 2007

does anyone have ideas for boosting morale on acute care floors? my workplace is kind of in a slump and our manager has asked us to come up with ideas to help get us all working together better. just wondering what works out there.

i don't know if this works, because i never have seen it tried.

every hospital has press-gainey (or other type) of patient satisfaction surveys.

why not have the department who has the highest ratings for a quarter, reward each staff person-and i mean each staff person: rn, lpn, secretary, nurses aide, unit director, the designated dietician, and food service (delivery-person), the designated housekeeper, and every other staff person who is identified with the department on a regular basis. for example-every one of these who worked on the floor 120 hours in each month in the quarter receives a cash bonus.

work is work. at best, people come to work in a hospital in whatever capacity because they care about caring for others. everyone is different, and every job and department brings its own problems. one thing everyone who works can agree on is that $$$$ is great!!! thinking twice before opening the mouth and behaving in an unprofessional manner may be easier when a possible $200-$300 bonus is attached....

wouldn't people work together better if we understood that each person's contribution to the whole may cause all of us to get more of what we work so hard for---cash???

then as all of the staff buy into the concept of customer service and we reap the financial rewards, the positive talk, behavior and atitude would become habit. the employees as a cohesive group would see and reap the benefits (tangible and intangible) of having a united, positive, and professional group.

if anyone tries this-please let me know what happens-mcc

clee1 · Mar 22, 2007

How about hiring enough staff so that I don't have to give up every day off to work extra shifts?

CRNI-ICU20 · Mar 22, 2007

When nurses are asked what they would want to make their days more cheerful and cohesive, they will always tell you: 1) provide more staff to decrease the mandatory OT, or the call in on days off; 2)provide more bonus pay opportunity and compensation for nurses who work day in and day out at the bedside.....or 3) offer comp days....so many hours workd in a pay period render an earned day off...

When you ask hospital administration what they would give nurses to brighten their days:

1) a cheesey calendar with the hospital logo

2) a stack of pens

3) a complimentary coffee cup or pen light

......

We are not speaking the same language....

I don't know if when someone goes into management, that their hearing aids get turned off, or just that they seem to filter out every thing a bedside nurse says....but for some reason, we say more staff, they hear "Oh...a calendar!!"

miko014 · Mar 22, 2007

I've heard it stated before and at times I tend to agree with the saying, "Show me the Money"...We had a problem with people calling in a few months ago, so some unit managers offered up monthly bonus for not missing so many hrs of work per month. Well it worked, the morale elevated and no more 3-4 people calling in per shift. But we are waiting for admin. to drop it now cause there is a reduction in call ins, but as soon as they do absentism will go sky hi again, and we'll be back at square one.

If we manage to go 6 months without calling in, we get a bonus that is equa to, after taxes, $80. Whoopie! Personally, if I'm sick, a bonus that comes uot to be less than $13.50 per month is not going to get me there. Sorry.

We are not speaking the same language....
I don't know if when someone goes into management, that their hearing aids get turned off, or just that they seem to filter out every thing a bedside nurse says....but for some reason, we say more staff, they hear "Oh...a calendar!!"

I know exactly what you're talking about! My manager is great (for the most part), but she hears what she wants to hear. Her solutions to the problems we have on the unit are all sideways/backwards. We're always scratching our heads at the things she comes up with!

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Mar 22, 2007

:idea:

1. Hire more people.

2. Pay more money.

Yeah, I know, I know. Ain't happenin'. :lol2:

OK, to get serious. We have a monthly birthday party for staff birthdays and we have our potluck combined with that.

If someone works overtime, they get a $10 gift card.

People thank each other for helping and encourage collaboration and teamwork. Some staffers give formal written thanks to the manager which is supposed to impact our yearly evals.