Employee burnout is a real problem, which is why we bring you 7 tips to help burned-out employees. According to World Health Organization, recently said that employee burnout consists of three things:
- Feelings of exhaustion or lack of energy.
- Increasing mental distance from an employee's job or negative feelings toward work.
- Reduced efficiency or professional productivity.
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You may think that having exhausted employees is only seen in very large companies that demand too much from their workers and do not let them rest.
However, one poll conducted by Gallup found that 23% of employees were often or always exhausted, while 44% felt tired sometimes, add them up and we have about 70% of their employees struggling with this problem.
Don't forget that if there is no sense of team or single goal, perhaps some employees are working harder than others, or some are being treated unfairly, burnout is imminent.
In other words, it's not just about the amount of work, but about the experience and emotions that surround that work. Emotional and mental exhaustion are a crucial part of the burnout equation and can be triggered by more than just measurable workload.
How to help burnt out employees:
1. Be serious about mental health
Increasingly we see mental health issues cropping up in business, and the sometimes shocking results of people whose mental health has been ignored and degraded. We must take the mental health of our employees seriously.
There are several ways to keep employee mental health a priority without being intrusive:
- Use an emotional rating system, for example a scale from one to ten, this may be easier for some employees than talking about details. You can use a rating system, anonymous or not, to determine the emotional state of your workforce. The results of such a system will help you know where improvement is needed.
- Talk about mental health with the whole team, this can avoid problems and uncomfortable situations.
- Be confidential and private. Some employees may feel open and comfortable talking with you about your mental health. But always always keep what they talk about confidential!
- Teach your employees how to be mentally healthy, make mental health as important as everything else. Teach your employees how to deal with personal, work, stress and other mental health issues. Bring in professionals in the area to teach your team these things and offer consultations with them.
- Learn how to spot mental health problems. While you can't be expected to read minds or act like a mental health professional, you can learn to spot some problems. Managers need to be trained on what to look for in employees who may need help.
Depression, anxiety, fear, anger – these are all devastating to the individual employee and to the workplace. Employee burnout is directly related to mental health.
2. Offer rewards that work against burnout:
Rewards tend to delight everyone, but this may not be motivating for everyone or create continuous pressure to work harder to obtain said reward, generating burnout.
If all perks and rewards are based on performance, it sets employees on a burnout path.
Some rewards should exist simply because people matter, not just because of what they can do.
Whether it's a gift card, extra break time, a few extra paid vacation hours, or as simple as picking up their work at the end of a shift so they can leave early, or amazing snacks in the break room, so that a person knows that he has value.
This is a world that makes your employees question their worth, performance rewards are fine, but go for genuine and sincere rewards to make them feel valued.
3. Moderate your final enthusiasm when scheduling schedules or tasks:
You have a business to run and customers to satisfy, that goes without saying. It's easy to put that first and create conditions that burn employees out.
Take it easy when scheduling shifts or tasks. Communicate this as soon as possible so employees aren't saddled with a lot of stress at the last minute.
4. Consider employee obligations outside of work:
You probably know how to value and respect your employees' personal lives and time. That has been ingrained in you over the years. So consider valuing the other jobs the employee has to do outside, whether it's a second job or household responsibilities.
Be considerate, while the other job should never conflict or interfere with what an employee is paid to do, keep in mind that juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet creates a feeling of depression, hopelessness, and exhaustion .
Talk to your employee, find out how you can work with them in that situation, and clarify what you expect of them, but also let them know what you're not asking of them.
5. Make goals available to everyone:
Some jobs give employees the opportunity to advance to a higher position, but some others are "dead end jobs" with no chance of advancement.
Obviously, it is not possible to create jobs in which everyone has the opportunity to be promoted, but goals can be created to meet those needs to have a reason to work, beyond earning money, for example:
- Monetary goals
- Extra training courses and different from what they do so they can evolve:
- Micro position goals: security officer on duty, for example
6. Control workplace culture
Some of the mental and emotional health issues that are involved in employee burnout have to do with a poor work culture. While some cultural aspects can be established, consider the areas that you can easily change.
- Reduce time pressure and pacing whenever possible.
- Make sure management is among the first to contact employees.
- Check the workload expected of each employee. Maybe you need to hire more staff instead of bragging about the long hours your employees put in.
- Setting expectations and roles You may think a culture free of definition and delineation is great, but many employees prefer to have guidelines to work by. Guidelines eliminate fear and worry about not being sure what to expect. They provide stability and reduce conflict.
If people aren't sure what they should be doing, how much they should be doing, and if they can take a needed break without derailing everyone, your culture isn't working right.
In conclusion…
Employee burnout comes from more than just too much work, it occurs when workers are tired, worried, stressed, depressed, upset, feel trapped, fearful, or lack a sense of community where others are working just as hard alongside them .
In other words, employee burnout has no easy solution, but you have to fix it if you want to reduce employee turnover, absenteeism, or poor customer experience.