- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Eastern Eye Staff
Working as a mechanic is hard work, whichever way you cut it. The days can be long, the work can be messy, and the equipment can be heavy. There are a lot of ways you can stress yourself out with this kind of skilled physical labour – but there are also ways to ensure that stress never comes about. If you run a garage and have a staff cohort, these simple steps could help you boost their morale, and ensure an effective team.
Regular Breaks
One of the most important ways to preserve good morale in your workshop is to ensure that your employees are getting not only the breaks they are legally entitled to, but the breaks they may need to maintain their energy throughout the day. Mechanic work is hard work, very physically demanding and exhausting; by having your mechanics work up until lunch and then after without any time to stretch, enjoy a brew and get some air, you could be affecting their physical and mental health. Break times can also be a social time, encouraging better cohesion with your workforce and ultimately causing them to work better together on-shift. Speaking of shifts, your break philosophy should extend to the way in which you write your rotas. If you don’t operate as a 9-5, and require shift-work from your staff, make sure you are fair with the shifts you give out, that your employees’ needs are being met and that they are not burning out from their shift patterns.
Team Activities
While break times are great for the social aspect of your workforce, there are more involved ways you can encourage team-building in your employees. By organising team activities – whether something as simple as a trip the pub on a Friday each month, or something as involved as a weekend away to a relevant event or location – you can bring your staff together, and by rewarding their hard work also ensure continued high morale and a high quality of work from each one.
Music in the Workplace
Atmosphere can make all the difference when it comes to a workspace. Without music, things can easily feel cold, dull, and even hostile – especially when your surroundings are concrete, metal and power tools. Rugged, workshop-friendly speakers and radios are available from tool brands like Milwaukee, allowing you to fill your garage with radio or playlists without the risk of your sound-system getting damaged by a flying wrench.
A Well-Maintained Workspace
Keeping your workplace neat, tidy, well-stocked and up to code is subtler, more passive way of preserving your employees’ morale. If they are spending their days battling with old, near-broken tools or struggling to find basic spare parts, they will consider their work more stressful than if there are no major impediments to the task as hand. Likewise, dirty spaces can make jobs harder by creating hurdles to achieving something – either by physically blocking access, or by increasing risk of injury. Keep your workshop tidy, and keep an eye on your inventory; if something needs replacing, replace it!
Make Time for Employee Training
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, a well-trained team is a happy team. Taking your team aside for employee training might seem like a chore, to both you and your staff, but in the long run it can make all the difference for the smooth running of your workshop – which in turn can make all the difference to staff morale. Basic training on first aid and fire hazards, as well as training for new and greener members of staff, will ensure everyone feels safer, and happier.
