Talk is cheap-and more valuable than money

If you're feeling blue at work, don't focus on your pay or benefits. Instead, try having an old-fashioned conversation with your boss. At least, that's what your boss might think you should do.

Almost 50 percent of senior executives recently surveyed by Accountemps, a temporary staffing company, said that communication is the best remedy for low staff morale. Just 13 percent said money was the best way to boost spirits, and only 11 percent thought rewards, such as gift certificates, were the way to go.

Accountemps surveyed 150 senior executives from the 1,000 largest companies in the nation. It also asked what had the most negative impact on employee morale. Talk won again, with 33 percent of respondents saying lack of open, honest communication had the worst effect.