How’s your morale at work?

An annual “Employee Review” survey of more than 3,200 workers suggests it’s down from a year ago. Less than half, 40 percent, called employee morale “good” or “excellent,” down 4 percentage points from 2004, according to the poll by Randstad North America, the Atlanta-based subsidiary of Randstad Holding NV, the Dutch temporary staffing services company.

Even more striking, the number of employers who said morale was good or excellent fell from 70 percent to 55 percent from 2004 to 2005.

Part of the answer to that might be in the issue of loyalty: Nearly 60 percent of employees say they’re loyal to their companies, but only 26 percent felt the company was loyal to them – down from 41 percent in the previous two years.