Techniques to Boost Employee Morale Without Increasing Salaries

In almost every industry, employers are trying to do more with less. Educational facilities throughout the United States are working hard to deal with budget cuts and growing demands on limited resources. Additionally, trade schools, college campuses and Universities across the nation are witnessing that student enrollments are at an all-time high. Simply put, more is expected to be done with less. Hard working educators are working to meet the expanding demands in their classrooms and laboratories. Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville, Utah is certainly no stranger to the higher demands set forth on the staff and administration due to on-going budget cuts and record high head counts. Like many educational facilities, Davis Applied Technology College employees have not received a wage increase since July 1, 2008. As a result of state of Utah Legislative budget reductions, Davis Applied Technology College employees experienced a wage decrease effective January 1, 2009. At the present time, this wage decrease has not been reinstated. Once the wage decrease was implemented, employee morale plummeted to an all-time low as demonstrated by water cooler gossip, negativity and unwarranted finger pointing. Overall, employees have grown tired and weary. As a general rule, gratitude for employment has become less and less of an incentive to perform. State revenue estimates for fiscal year 2013 were released on, February 21, 2012. The revenue estimates were “flat and disappointing”. According to KSL.com, Senate Majority Leader Scott Jenkins “estimated lawmakers are about $50 million short of having enough to pay for a pay increase for high education employees and several other items they’d hoped to fund.”

Employees he...

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