The biggest challenge to talent retention in the world of advertising is poor employee morale. According to the first annual Campaign Live survey on morale in the advertising industry, almost a third of the respondents reported low or dangerously low morale.

37% of the 211 respondents rated morale at their company as low or dangerously low, while only 29% said it was good or very good. Thirty-four percent said it was satisfactory. Among the respondents who rated their company’s morale as low or dangerously low, 70% were said to be actively seeking jobs.

Respondents with a salary of $100,000+ were least likely to rate morale at their company as low (32%). Those making between $50,000 and $100,000 were most likely to have low morale (40%). In the middle were people making $50,000 a year or less (35%). There was virtually no correlation between morale and the number of years someone had been working in the industry.

Douglas Quenqua, editor in chief of Campaign US said, “Advertising professionals earning less than six figures rated morale at their companies as lower than those making upward of $100,000.”

When quizzed about the factors that contributed to low employee morale, the respondents cite management, lack of career advancement opportunities, salary and work-life balance.

Quenqua added: “Morale can affect productivity and talent retention. People want to be inspired at work, especially if they work in a creative profession. Employees who feel motivated aren’t daydreaming about their next job.”

Campaign Live (PRNewsFoto/Campaign US)

More reasons for poor morale were: rush projects, poorly planned projects, lack of project direction, politics, sexism and working in print media. The factor most commonly contributing to good morale was work/life balance followed closely by satisfaction with work.

These findings reflect an emerging emphasis on culture and leadership among today’s creative workers. The companies who depict strong leadership and culture, the number of hours worked by employees with home life balance become a matter of complete irrelevance.

See: Top 6 Tips to Attract Talent across all Generations of Workforce

When people feel a part of creating something special, they are happy to commit already. However, leaders have to create that sense of emotional engagement for employees to put their best step forward on job.

Employees are at the heart of an organisation, so when they are unhappy it is inevitable that the organisation growth will suffer. Here are 5 innovative ways to keep your employees happy, contented, energized and satisfied.

• Do not let milestone and accomplishment by employee(s) go unnoticed: When an employee meets goals, celebrate the achievement with special treats or half day at work, trophy, incentives or recognition through social media posts. Most sales departments celebrate their top performer’s accomplishments. Try incorporating this practice organisation-wide.
• Encourage good work-life balance: Since happy employees are most productive, it makes sense for companies to compensate the staff for pay and benefits outside work. Make sure to pay attention to employee’s complaints about leave, work hours and other factors that affect their performance on job.
• Allow employees to pursue their passions: Most employees have big dreams and talents they would like to utilise on job, encourage these talented staffers to maximise on their potentials and realise their dreams on job by offering career advancement opportunities.
• Foster creativity: Creativity allows people to express their pent-up negative emotions and embrace creative outlet of self expression. Create workspace and work attires that allow employees to go creative, which leads to less stress and more productivity.
• Encourage staffers to take ownership of their job role and ideas. Each employee should envision and develop signs of a leader by performing tasks within the set timeline and taking complete ownership for their actions. The organisation culture should drive home the point that each employee is individually responsible for the success and failure of a company. Hence they should participate actively to improve upon processes and systems.

Each company has a unique culture, so morale of your employees is dependent on the interests and personalities of your staffers. Studies reveal happy employees have fewer sick leaves and are more productive, over the unhappy ones. Investment on improving employee morale is worth the time and effort to boost long-term RoI (Returns on Investments).

Also read: 7 Interesting Tips for HR Leaders to Overcome Talent Crisis