Employee burnout and ways to avoid it

Why it's important to monitor for burnout?

Employee burnout is a problem during stable times let alone during stressful times. Lower productivity, emotional and physical exhaustion, lack of concentration, less recognition from managers, negativity, and a decline in health are all signs of burnout at work. And employees are at risk now more than ever.

Reducing burnout in the workplace and further knowing how to prevent burnout is crucial for the sake of retention and overall employee well-being.

Here are some useful tips and information on how to prevent employee burnout, how to reduce burnout in the workplace, and management tips for combating burnout in the workplace.

What is employee burnout?

Burnout is defined?as a response to prolonged exposure to emotional, physical, and interpersonal stressors. As stress accumulates, employees begin to feel emotionally and physically exhausted. They also become cynical about their work, leading to high levels of apathy and reduced efficiency. Stress in the workplace comes from many sources, including team conflict, tight deadlines, and heavy workloads.

The 3 phases of employee burnout

Burnout occurs in three phases: low risk, moderate risk, and high risk.

Low-risk, employees are still engaged in their work. There’s a low level of stress, but it’s manageable.

Moderate-risk, are still engaged, but they have high levels of manageable stress. Due to this stress, they may have trouble focusing on work activities.

High-risk, stress becomes unmanageable. As a result, engagement declines.

Common causes of workplace burnout

• Overload:?When your employees have a never-ending stack of tasks and not enough time in the day to complete priorities, they’ll begin to feel stressed and exhausted.
• Pressure:?Many employees feel pressure to perform, especially if they’re involved in high-value projects. This pressure can build up over time, increasing the risk of burnout.
• Role conflict and ambiguity:?Some employees burn out due to high levels of role conflict, which occurs when they’re asked to complete tasks or achieve goals that are incompatible with each other. A high level of ambiguity or uncertainty regarding work-related goals and tasks also contributes to burnout.
• Lack of support from managers:?Employees deserve constructive feedback, fairness, equity, and transparency/involvement in decision-making. When they don’t get the support they need, their stress may become unmanageable.
• Disconnect from personal and company values:?A poor match between an employee’s personal values and the company’s professional values can lead to high levels of?stress and burnout.
• Broken “psychological contract” between employers and employees:?A psychological contract is a set of unwritten expectations. If team members feel that an employer isn’t following through on the contract, they’re less likely to remain committed.
• External stressors:?Employees are humans with families, personal goals, and dreams for the future. Even if things are going well at work,?external stressors?— such as caring for an elderly parent or worrying about medical bills — can lead to burnout.

Any of these factors alone or in combination can lead even your best people to withdraw from their work. In the past, companies have had a more hands-off attitude about staff’s internal feelings and well-being, but now employees expect a better approach from their employers. Companies benefit from managing and knowing how to reduce burnout in the workplace also.

The importance of burnout prevention and reduction

Engaged employees drive real business results — they’re energized, enthusiastic, and focused. Engaged employees enjoy their work, and help boost productivity, performance, morale, and growth.

Ultimately, employee engagement is?good for people?and for business.

Companies with engaged employees are:

·???????78% more profitable

·???????40% more productive

·???????5x less likely to have a safety incident

·???????Likely to have 2x the revenue growth of their peers

However, burnout can happen when highly engaged employees begin to have low well-being due to unmanaged personal and/or workplace stressors. To be burned out at work, an employee has to be highly engaged. The employee has to be all in and care deeply about their work to get to the point of feeling burned out.?This means that top-performing, highly engaged employees can be at the highest risk for burnout.

Without a manager’s support or the ability to resolve stressors for themselves, engaged employees can eventually burn out. And the consequences can be huge. Burnout results in low productivity and high employee turnover — especially turnover of the most talented and productive people that employers can’t afford to lose.

11 ways to prevent and reduce burnout

The good news is that burnout is preventable. With strong management support and an understanding of what causes job burnout, employers can more readily prevent their top talent from burning out.

1. Prioritize employee well-being and stress management
2. Authentically support both managers and employees
3. Provide recovery time and breaks
4. Allow employees to set boundaries
5. Build social connections
6. Help employees find their purpose
7. Encourage flexible work arrangements
8. Take a holistic approach to wellness
9. Set clear expectations
10. Provide feedback and transparency
11. Provide resources for burnt-out employees

Prioritize burnout prevention and reduction.

Employees who are completely burned out have lost sight of meaning in their work. Managers and organizations must recognize burnout and help reestablish meaningfulness in employees’ lives and work. Employee burnout is real, and it’s affecting millions of workers globally. It’s imperative that companies understand the impact burnout has on employee engagement and business results — and know the tools and strategies for how to reduce burnout in the workplace. It’s up to organizations (and managers) to spot signs of burnout and intervene as quickly as possible.

Companies should strive to prevent workplace burnout in the first place by focusing on employee well-being and manager support. When employees are burned out, companies and managers need to take an active role in helping the employee recover. Burnout isn’t a personal issue, it’s an organizational issue. Burnout needs to be addressed at all levels of the company to effectively prevent and combat it.

Key takeaways

• Workplace stress and burnout are common. They occur in all kinds of organizations, not just companies with poor management or dysfunctional cultures. Some of the most common causes of workplace burnout and stress include work overload, role conflict, high levels of ambiguity, pressure from management, and a lack of support and feedback.
• Burnout can happen when highly engaged employees experience low well-being due to unmanaged personal and/or workplace stressors. It’s also “contagious” — it can spread toxicity across a team or spill into people’s home life.
• The good news is burnout is preventable. With strong management support and an understanding of what causes job burnout, employers can more readily know how to prevent burnout in employees.

For the Full Article read HERE by Dr Laura Hamill