Q: Three weeks ago we added a new employee to our ranks that transferred in from another office.

A few days after arriving, the new employee made a comment to the effect “I didn’t realize there was such low morale in this office”. As the manager, I was offended when I heard about it. We work well as a team and I think our morale is pretty healthy. Should I try to find out what led to the comment or let it be? After all, shouldn’t employees be responsible for their own morale?

A: The short answer is no, an employee is not (entirely) responsible for their own morale. Sure, there are employee’s who are predisposed to being curmudgeons.   But most of the responsibility for creating a healthy workplace environment for morale rests on management.

Morale is not tangible thing. Morale is a complicated psychological process, and it relies on the internal narrative of the individual, and how they process what goes on around them.

• Do they feel part of a common purpose?
• Do they feel appreciated, included, counted?
• Do they think business is conducted honestly and fairly?

I think it’s the manager’s responsibility to have their employees answer mostly “yes” to those questions.

Does that mean that high morale is dependent on “fun and positivity”?

Not necessarily . I’ve seen great morale in departments having to tackle hard work and difficult problems. It was almost as if hardship brought the team closer, made them trust each other and feel valuable.

So, perhaps it’s possible that in your office you have created a highly cohesive group that might not look warm and fuzzy to a new transfer at first glance.   If that’s the case, it sounds like you need to better integrate the new transfer into the team:

• Bring them into the fold, share some history.
• Maybe assign a buddy.
• Offer a meaningful welcome.

On the other hand, it’s possible that the new transfer is right. That even though you think your office’s morale is fine, maybe in fact, it is not.

Either way, whether the office has good morale, or low morale, it sounds like you need to find out (via survey or chats or both) so you know how to proceed.   The good news is, both are fixable if you care to work on it . And it sounds like you do.

©Copyright Eva Del Rio

Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com