Implementing a New Process: What Will Happen to Workplace Morale?

Anytime a new process is implemented within an organisation, it could impact workplace morale. New processes can change tasks, alter the organisational structure and sometimes eliminate responsibilities or jobs. Therefore, it's critical to evaluate employee morale before, during and after a new process is implemented to determine its overall effectiveness.

Planning for a New Process

When introducing a new process, the management team should understand how it affects current and future employees and the organisation. A change in process may "shake things up" in the organisation for a brief period or require new skill sets and training, which can be troubling for some employees.

Forbes advises that there are "10 points to leading a change initiative," which can be used to ensure a positive process update:

1. The change must be accepted and aligned with the organisation's core values and objectives.
2. The process change should create some kind of leg up as perceived by employees.
3. The new process should provide concrete benefits to the organisation and a positive ROI.
4. The organisation must research before implementing a new policy or change to support the initiative.
5. The process should be simple and easy to implement.
6. Risk management measures should be put in place.
7. The process change should have quantifiable results that can show how things are changing for the better.
8. The change in process is to be treated as a project in and of itself.
9. All change managers should be accountable for their roles, and employees should use the new process.
10. Any process change is immediately carried out from launch day on.

Plan against potential problems that a new process could create. A small test group of employees is an excellent way to start understanding and measuring this impact. Watching for changes in the mood and performance of this test group will provide a snapshot of what's to come with the entire organisation.

Communicating a New Process to Employees

Preserving positive workplace morale means taking the time to communicate with employees about the change before and after it occurs. Although this new process may seem confusing at first, by explaining it in advance, the management team will accomplish two critical things:

• Demonstrating respect for employees "right to know."
• Providing enough information to soften the change.

To handle the communication, schedule a group meeting with the employees who will be affected by the new process. Use visual aids to illustrate the benefits of the change and reassure employees that they will benefit from it.

Measuring the Effectiveness of a New Process

Once the new process has passed through the test group and been rolled out to the rest of the organisation, the first few weeks will dictate its success or failure. Its effectiveness can live and die with how it affects workplace morale. Some methods to monitor its impact on employees are as follows:

• Meeting regularly with work teams to gather employee feedback and improvement suggestions.
• Observing and measuring employee performance as it relates to the new process.
• Conducting periodic evaluations of the process to eliminate potential barriers to success.
• Using employee engagement surveys to gauge employee satisfaction and workplace morale.

With these methods, it's possible to determine the bearing that a process may have on workplace morale. If the new process is positive, generally, employee morale will also be positive in response. If the process is creating friction and, as a result, negative morale, the executive team will have the available information to evaluate and improve it based on feedback from employees and front-line managers.

This story originally published on SPARK, a blog designed for you and your people by ADP®.