Every company strives for high levels of productivity since all workplaces have goals they need to meet. However, becoming obsessed with productivity to the extent of neglecting the employees doing the work can be a costly mistake. The human cost to this pursuit of productivity is employee burnout.
We have outlined how to help employees with burnout because, at the end of the day, it can impact their mental and physical health, which affects the company’s bottom line. Burnout occurs at the culmination of emotional and physical strength exhaustion. It is often further impacted when there is a lack of resources and support to go through the burnout phase in a healthy manner.
How to Tell If Employees Are Burned Out?
Offices that suffer from employees burning out will have workers who do the following:
- Withdraw or disengage
- Appear to be worried, stressed, or demoralized
- Perpetuate negative workplace cultures
- Get sick often
- Take regular absences
- Leave the company for other workplaces
How to Help Employees with Burnout?
There are some steps that companies can take to help employees with burnout. Here are some tips that you can follow for your firm:
- It is important to take two consecutive weeks off a year to reduce the chance of getting burned out completely. Fourteen days off a year can positively impact your productivity in a major way.
- Talk to your employees about productivity and performance regularly and not just during formal reviews. Open, ongoing dialogue can completely change the dynamic of the workforce.
- You need to make sure your employees know that you listen to them. You need to take the time to acknowledge their feedback. Even if you don’t plan on acting upon their ideas, at least take the time to inform them why you cannot.
- Try and keep an eye out for the needs of your employees. This means noticing any visible signs of distress or tension. The management should make sure to regularly approach the employees and ask them about how they are doing.
- Creating a wellness program or assistance program can also help ease the employees.
- Encouraging a work-life balance in the business is very important. If your business can allow it, try and keep flexible schedules for them.
- Take the employees out from the office from time to time for off-site meetings and lunches. This can help them disconnect from the office too.
- Define and outline proper channels through which employees can raise concerns or submit feedback.
- Technological upgrades and automation can help make tasks and processes even more efficient. This can reduce the burden on your employees since there is only so much they can do during the day.
Enacting solid policies and encouraging an open culture in the workplace can significantly impact how often employees get burned out. We hope that you have learned how to help employees with burnout.
