Richard Branson once said: "If you look after your staff, they'll look after your customers." Wise words indeed.

He also once tweeted the following words of wisdom: "Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don't want to."

Based on these quotes, it's clear that Sir Richard knows just how important morale can be to the success of a company.

While high morale may not turn your business into the next Virgin Group, it will surely help to keep your business firing on all cylinders.

Smells Like Team Spirit

In order to maintain a high level of morale in your workforce, you must understand how to measure staff morale. Follow these simple steps to help keep track of your office morale and raise team spirits accordingly.

Productivity

It's widely agreed that productivity and morale go hand-in-hand with one another. The higher the morale, the better the quality of work.

This theory is difficult to argue with. After all, an unmotivated worker who feels overworked, undervalued and / or disinterested is unlikely to knock it out of the park on a daily basis.

If productivity is down, it may be worth addressing the situation and making a conscious effort to boost morale. It could be rewarded in kind with profitable results.

Staff Reviews

Conducting regular sit-down reviews with staff periodically throughout the year is perhaps the most effective way of gauging the most accurate evaluation of employee morale.

Getting accurate feedback that's specific to your business, straight from the horse's mouth, is about as good as it gets in terms of workplace commentary.

While some staff may be less open to expressing their true feelings due to fear of repercussions, reassurance to the contrary can help build an accurate evaluation of what works and what doesn't.

Employee Turnover

If your company has a revolving door of employees, it's often a glaring neon sign that staff aren't happy.

While there are many reasons for people to move on from a job and seek alternate employment, two of the most common are better pay and better circumstances.

If staff are leaving in their droves, chances are that the wages or the working environment simply aren't worth it.

Address this by offering fairer wages, better incentives and a more enjoyable atmosphere to create a valued workplace where employees will want to remain.

Sick Record

Anyone who's ever worked in a job they hate will be all too familiar with 'Sunday Night Syndrome', the 'Monday Morning Blues' and the wave of melancholy that comes with both.

It's no surprise that Monday morning is a prime offender for sick days, with a whopping 61% of call-ins taking place on a Monday, according to an AXA PPP Healthcare study.

In another telling stat, figures published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also show that work-related stress, anxiety and depression accounts for over half of all sick days.

Employees are far more likely to 'pull a sickie' if they are not enjoying their job or it's causing them undue stress and mental anguish, costing your business money in the process.

If Mondays are a ghost town in your office and employee sick rate is sky high, it could be a sign that morale is suffering severely.

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