6 Tips for Keeping Morale High When You’re Short-Staffed

My wife is one of 8 teachers at her school who are pregnant. Everyone thinks it’s amazing- except her principal, who will soon find himself significantly short-staffed. What is he to do? While substitute teachers can be brought in, they are not familiar with the classes, students or the school itself, and will require training and time to get up to speed. With so many teachers out, odds are that the other permanent teachers will need to cover classes as well.

If this sounds familiar, you aren’t alone. Attrition, layoffs and even mass pregnancies like the one described above create real workplace problems for managers, who must suddenly achieve strategic goals with fewer hands. To ensure that you are keeping workplace morale high during times of sparse staffing, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1) Set Realistic Goals – With the firm lean & mean, your people are undoubtedly tired, stressed and overloaded- not to mention anxious about their job security, family time and personal health. Help them out by setting performance and productivity goals which are attainable, and don’t appear unreasonable or daunting.

2) Feed Them – If you’re going to ask people to work longer hours, the very least you can do to keep their energy level up is provide them with good eats. Not only will some free grub help boost their spirits, but it will encourage more productivity by not requiring them leave the office for lunch, snacks or coffee.

3) Arrange Mentorship for Temporary Staff – If a sudden influx of temps, interns or borrowed hands from other departments is being used to help stabilize things, empower your full-time employees by letting them match themselves up with the appropriate new staff to quicken the ramp-up process, and reduce the amount of “drag” often associated with temporary staff who simply don’t have the experience of your permanent workforce.

4) Say “Thank You” a Lot – When I first got into the events business a decade ago, someone once told me while hanging directional signage, “If you think you’ve put up enough signs, you haven’t put up enough signs.” The same applies for thank-you’s in the workplace when you are short-staffed. If you think you’ve communicated your appreciation of employee efforts enough, then you haven’t.

5) Let Staff in on Interviews/Hiring Decisions – Although you are shorthanded, don’t shoot from the hip in your zest to fill open positions quickly. Let your staff sit in on interviews and weigh in on candidates- they will feel more appreciated, and be more devoted to their jobs and the firm as a result.

6) Ask Staff for Help – Just because you’re the captain of a ship with a skeleton crew doesn’t mean you have all the answers. Ask you staff flat out: during this challenging time, what can I be doing which would allow you to do your jobs better, easier and more efficiently? You will likely be surprised by their responses.

The staffing situation you face now will probably not be forever, and your employees are likely aware of this. Let them know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, yet while everyone is pitching in extra hard to make things run smoothly, you are keeping their happiness and well-being in mind.

Can you think of other ways to keep hard-working employees motivated while operating on a skeleton crew?