4 Ignored Issues That Cause Employee Stress

Employee stress caused by a burnout is a psychological state of mind characterized by a lack of enthusiasm, feeling of ineffectiveness and an increased sense of frustration. Its direct effect is the loss of creativity and productivity.

But a bigger problem is that most of the organizations are often unaware of the issues that cause employee burnout. And employees need to handle it on their own.

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A 2015 survey indicated that national health costs in the US could decrease if managers reduce stress at workplace. This means that managers need to stand up and have a role in creating a stress-free workplace. They need to confront these issues and then develop ways to deal with them.

So let us discuss 4 major and often ignored issues that cause employee burnout:

Overburdening Your Most Productive Employees

Remember that story of the hen which laid golden eggs. One day its owner thought of getting all the gold at once by deciding to kill the hen. He eventually killed her and got nothing. The same analogy works with overburdening your most productive employees. The result is a burnout.

Burnout is a very common problem with employees who possess the best knowledge. Their knowledge remains in demand throughout various departments, so collaboration compounds the effects of burnout. Managers need to understand the need to have an efficient system to delegate workload to their employees or know when to hire more workforce.

Providing Unrealistic Deadlines

Sometimes managers expect unrealistic results from their team members. They think of it as a way to increase productivity, what they don't know is that working overtime is pointless. It will only increase stress levels within team members and as a result they will not be able to maintain even the normal levels of productivity.

Some managers increase that stress by cursing their employees for not achieving expected results. Most employees live in the fear of expulsion and a need to always do more than what is expected.

“Meeting unrealistic deadlines is like crossing a thin line, would you try to run or walk as slowly as possible.”

The best thing you can do to avoid such a scenario is to strategically distribute the work for better results. Use project management software tools like ProofHub to measure how each employee spends his time. This way you can redesign the overall schedule of your employees.

Inflexible Work Environments

With so much technology already available, some managers still bank upon the need to have a facetime environment. According to a 2015 report by Bureau of Labor Statistics, 24% of the workforce worked from home and the trend is only increasing.

Think of those employees who have to manage more than just company work like mothers or those single parents who have kids at home. Technology can be a boon for them. The fact that they have to manage so much at the same time only leads to mismanagement and increased stress levels. Managers should be empathetic when it comes to flexibility in work timings with these employees. 

Wasting Too Much Time on Collaboration

Some managers see every opportunity of collaboration as a way to get new ideas. This sometimes leads to too many meetings with too many people to ensure that everyone is satisfied with the plan. What they fail to realize is that it also leads to employees suffering on outputs by not focusing on one single task at one time.

A common sign is fragmented work schedule. You will not know the last time you were in a progressive state of productivity. All the time you will be busy in micromanaging your schedule.

The best way to avoid too much collaboration is to properly schedule the meetings. Appoint one person to determine the necessary meetings, know how much time needs to be allotted to them and how many people should attend.   

Conclusion

Finally, to be a good manager is to understand the troubles of your employees and burnouts are a major one of them. Managers can do a lot to get better results if they adopt the above-mentioned facts.

As you can see, I have jotted down a few simple ways in which you as a manager can help your employees stay safe from burnouts. I am sure there must be plenty of ideas that you are already practicing for the same. If you have any, do share them with me and the users by posting them in the comments. Would love to hear them out.

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About Author:

Sandeep Kashyap is the Founder of ProofHub - a leading project management and collaboration software. A passionate leader, Sandeep is always on the lookout for innovative ideas about filling the communication gap between groups, teams and companies. He is also a featured writer on LinkedIn and contributing author at YourStory. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Also follow our company page @ProofHub to get the recent updates about our tool, published articles, motivational quotes & presentations.

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