If the recession seems to have taken a toll on your workplace morale, you’re hardly alone…

A new CareerBuilder survey, released today, indicates that nearly a quarter of employers (23 percent) rate their organization’s current employee morale as low. According to Jason Ferrara, CareerBuilder’s Vice president of corporate marketing, low morale is an unfortunate side effect of this recession.

Additionally, 40 percent of workers report that they have had difficulty staying motivated at work in the last year, and 24 percent do not feel loyal to their current employer. These findings should alarm employers, who – if they don’t start working to engage and retain their current employees – could see some of their top talent leave for better opportunities as the job market recovers and more positions open up.

In order to proactively reduce feelings of low morale, organizations are stepping up their communication efforts, offering more employee recognition programs and providing more flexible work opportunities. (For more ways to increase morale, check out 8 Little Things that Make a Big Difference to Your Employees.)

In the survey, workers revealed the top factors that were contributing to low morale levels:

• 40 percent attributed their low morale to high stress levels at work is high
• 47 percent blamed an increased workload over the last six months
• 20 percent say that are dissatisfied with their work/life balance.

Another possible reason for the low morale levels? Nearly two-in-five workers (38 percent) felt there was departmental favoritism at work, and nearly 30 percent said they didn’t think their department was important to senior leadership. When asked what type of preferential treatment workers thought the favored department received, they said that they:

• Tend to get higher pay
• Receive more recognition by senior leaders
• Have more flexibility in their work arrangements
• Receive more funding/resources
• Tend to have greater career advancement opportunities
• Tend to have more training and leadership development opportunities
• Are able to follow a more casual dress code
• Are awarded with trips while other departments are not

Do you think there’s favoritism at your company?  What steps are you taking to raise morale levels?