Employee Burnout: Company Culture Shifts for a Burnt Out Staff

Workplace wellness isn't a once yearly Lunch and Learn about self care.

We can understand this, right??How a quick little “take care of yourself!” pat on the back at work isn’t really cutting it for the massive demands we’ve placed on employees and businesses post pandemic, yes?

Burnout among employees is its own epidemic now. ?It’s widespread among age groups and industries.

As I’ve been speaking with organizations across the USA, I’ve been hearing some concerns among employees:

• I can’t set boundaries with my time because my boss doesn’t respect the few boundaries I have already.
• Management is pressuring me to meet my quota- I don’t have a choice if I want to hit my goals within the company.
• I have too many demands on me from work... period.
• I can’t let them know I’m struggling.
• My job is on the line.

While we each have control over our lives and our choices, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring company culture into the fold when it comes to truly going up to bat against burnout in the workplace.

36% of employees said their organization isn’t doing anything to help with employee burnout.?- Eagle Hill Consulting

The issues affecting businesses are numerous, but here are a few shifts companies can make to support their employees’ mental wellness at work:

Clarity + Demonstration of Values

Leadership needs to take ownership of identifying the company’s core values, and then act in alignment to demonstrate these values to the rest of the team.?This means the group leading the company toward its vision needs to not only identify what takes priority for their employees, but also to demonstrate them in real time when choices arise.?It’s not enough for a company to say they value mental health- how can they show it? ?What would it look like for an employee to put their mental health first in ____ situation? How can management lead the way to show their staff they are acting in alignment towards that end?

Open Communication and Planning

Employee turnover plagues businesses with major negative implications.?Employees will eventually leave a company if changes cannot be made to the amount of demands currently overwhelming them.?In today’s world, many of these demands are placed on employees because companies are understaffed or must operate with a lean staff before additional team members can come onboard.?

When speaking with high performers, I found they were very committed to their jobs and company (even if they didn’t jive well with their boss).?Almost all of them wanted to perform well and meet their own internal expectations as well as hit the outside metrics and quotas.?They don’t want to leave.?But, many of them will.

I invite business leaders to openly communicate about their teams WITH their teams, the level of staffing they currently have, and what they hope the future looks like for everyone and their roles.?This is an ongoing and evolving conversation, and employees bearing the brunt of the work need to be a part of it.?

Burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 2.6 times as likely to be actively seeking a different job. - Gallup

What is the team working towards, and how will they know when they’ve gotten there? This shows employees the light at the end of the tunnel- and tracking toward the milestones along the way makes a big difference in our ability to continue along the path when we are being tested and depleted.

When leadership is able to identify *when* they can reduce a workload, expand the team, or set the appropriate boundaries, employees are much more likely to get behind the vision instead of being aimlessly overworked for months or years on end.?Communicate about the long term plan and loop employees in to identify the gaps.

Right Fit Roles

Placing employees in roles that fulfill them is a crucial component in the overall plan for success.?40% of the people I surveyed told me that they do not feel fulfilled in their work and that it’s a main frustration in their career.?

In fact, my own story gives an example that speaks to this point quite nicely.

Picture this: When I was working as an engineer, I was interviewed for a position over several weeks, and was asked to take more than one personality assessment and skills test.?I tested in the 94th percentile for skills and was determined to be an excellent fit for the position.?My work style was a perfect match for the level of autonomy and internal motivation the job required.?Management was thrilled and I gladly accepted the position that seemed like the perfect fit.

Within the first month of employment, it became clear to me that the company was happy to have the perfect fit… and that they were going to do everything within their power to mold me into something else.

• The autonomy that was a clear driver for my ability to work well went out the door.
• Micromanagement ran rampant among staff.
• The black and white results from the evaluations the company paid for me to take were suddenly…meaningless.

The entire experience was jolting, and I lasted a mere 6 weeks at the company before turning in my resignation.?

Don’t try to fit the square peg of an employee into a round hole.?When you ask your employees what they want and how they prefer to work, listen with the intention of adapting their role over time if it’s not the right fit, or placing them where they can thrive when that role becomes open.?When an employee speaks about what is important to them… honor it. A fulfilled employee is powerful within your organization.

Make time off… OFF

Vacation doesn’t feel rewarding when we dread coming back to work with a pile of emails and requests to sort through.?There are many creative ways to help employees in this regard which can be molded to fit for the needs of each business. This could look like a mandatory company wide holiday so everyone is off at the same time, such as company wide summer hours where work wraps up by X time on every Friday in the summer, or a yearly shut down that everyone can count on, like a company wide pause button.?

Or, it could be the expectation that we don’t send emails to the person on vacation so they don’t come back to a pile of work from their team.?When I worked in a client facing role, I was relieved to see my team would check my email to handle all incoming requests so there was no need for our clientele to wait on my return, and my inbox was fully managed leaving me to truly enjoy my time away without the dread of what was waiting for me upon my return.

Encourage your staff to take vacations.?Do not be afraid to open up a conversation when you notice they aren’t using their time off.?Propose an early afternoon off to the employee who has been working hard, so they can “refill their cup”.

Sixty-one percent of remote workers and 53% of on-site workers now find it?more?difficult to “unplug” from work during off-hours. -Indeed.com

Coaching for the Team

Company culture takes effort to cultivate, and candid conversations with a qualified outside party can be a crucial step in the right direction.?Hiring a coach can get to the root of the issue in a non-biased way.?This means that the solutions to fill the gaps can be fast tracked by someone who isn’t afraid their job is on the line, or that they will be judged based on their personal situation or even their health related symptoms.?An expert coach can come in and discover the gaps within the organization at ALL levels, so the team can work more harmoniously and productively together by implementing the right systems in place before employees suffer long term consequences or move on from the company resulting in a financial blow and downtime.

56% of respondents went so far as to say that their HR departments did not encourage conversations about burnout. - Flex Jobs

This conversation deserves to be continued so mental health in the workplace can become less stigmatized.?Organizations have a responsibility to determine steps within their control to improve the experience for the employees making their dreams a reality.?

I believe it is time for them to take responsibility for what is within their control, which will pay dividends in multiple ways over time.

Leaders within every business should reflect on what they can do to improve the culture that impacts the lives of each of their employees.

If you are experiencing burnout, I invite you to take my 4 minute anonymous survey!?Comment below or shoot me a DM and I will send you the link.?Your responses influence my content and allow me to serve you better!

If you enjoyed this article, you may like my previous issue- How Our Core Beliefs Keep Us Stuck + Burnt Out.?

Subscribe for more biweekly content on overcoming burnout!

-Michelle Holmes

Transformational Coach for High Performers?