Solve Burnout with Talent Management, not Yoga Memberships

Burnout in the workplace is a hot topic these days. It’s employee frustration and exhaustion combining to reduce productivity and increase absenteeism and turnover. It takes a physical toll on employees and a financial one on businesses.

On the bright side, more companies are actively recognizing and addressing burnout. They’re allowing more time off, encouraging physical and mental wellness activities, even sponsoring yoga memberships.

This is great, especially if you already like yoga. But doesn’t it seem a little circular that an employer would help employees cope with a systemic work issue, instead of just solving the systemic work issue? ?

Don’t get me wrong, I applaud a leadership team that’s trying to help employees cope with burnout. They’re thinking the right way, and it does make a huge difference. These days employees are saddled with tons of stressors that aren’t even work related, and a company that takes the time to recognize their employees, bolster their EAP programs, focus a little more on wellness and wellbeing – they’re doing great.

Also, let’s not forget, there are still those “tough guy” companies out there who either don’t recognize burnout, or still take an old-fashioned stance to approaching the needs of their most valuable asset. They’re the “rub some dirt on it, be happy you have a job” companies. They’ll suffer, unfortunately. As go the employees, so goes the business.

But you’re a business leader who understands the need to ameliorate workplace burnout for both the sake of your people and your business. What steps should you take to eliminate the problem at the source? The solution falls broadly under the category of talent management, which generally refers to the processes that encourage and enhance the peak performance of your team.

Staffing

Take thorough action to improve staffing levels. If you’re chronically understaffed, your team is doing multiple jobs to keep your business running. This extra work will eventually result in burnout as their stress levels increase. Even the most loyal employee, as we know, will eventually get worn down and frustrated with superhuman workload.

What does “thorough” mean in this circumstance? Well, it means planning your workforce, to make sure you have the right number of people on staff. It also means optimizing your external hiring processes, so you can fill an open job quickly and with someone who is a good fit.

Talent Planning

An internal promotion is even better than an external hire because that person doesn’t need to assimilate into the company culture; they’re already part of it. They’re already great at their job, which is why they’re being considered for a new one. Talent planning is a great way to identify team members with potential, and then they can be provided with developmental opportunities to grow them into their next position.

Also, the ancillary benefit of actively discussing career development is that it cuts down on turnover, so there are less jobs to be left open, and thus less stress to existing team members.

Performance Management

If you’re tolerating substandard performance from some members of your team, keep in mind that their lack of accountability is affecting your top performers. Not only are your top employees picking up the slack, they’re also quietly resenting the heck out of those lower performers. Maybe they’re even starting to feel like the grass is greener across the street.

Structurally, job responsibilities should be clearly identified. Employees should know how to do their jobs, and what’s expected of them. A good job description goes a long way to ensure good performance, and makes clear to everyone involved what the expectations are. Also, employees should receive frequent, constructive feedback. It doesn’t have to be anything other than a weekly check-in, and should allow them the opportunity to ask questions, get help, and receive clear guidance.

Top performers should be recognized frequently, in a variety of different ways. It reinforces the behavior, and makes the rest of the team want to do well, also.

Lastly, at times leaders need to have a negative performance conversation. Leaders should be calm, go into the conversation well prepared, be open to the employee’s perspective, and bring solutions. Documenting these conversations is a good idea because it shows the progress (or lack thereof) the employee is making. Also, conducting these conversations this way will facilitate the transition if the time comes to part ways.

Communication is key, and it’s a two-way street

Let’s say you’ve implemented changes for each of the above recommendations. Structurally, the company has now taken steps to reduce the major stressors that can cause burnout among their employees. One thing companies frequently forget to do is to announce that they’ve taken these actions, so a good comprehensive communication strategy is critical. It should address each step the company has taken and the expected timeline to show improvement, as well as the expected results.

Secondly, employees should be provided the opportunity to provide ongoing feedback and solutions. There are many effective ways to collect this feedback, and organizations should use the method that fits their culture best.

The reason why this is a two-way street is because it works best when it's collaborative. The organization is working with the team to find ways to improve the work environment. There’s no blame or finger pointing, it’s just a group of committed coworkers working together to achieve a common goal in these trying times.

When there’s a breakthrough or success, advertise it. Celebrate it, take some of the credit, pay some of the credit forward. This is also a great start to improved organizational culture. Embrace it.

OK, now do the yoga membership

Companies that offer symbolic gestures to their employees show that they care about them. Like I mentioned earlier, making sure their EAP is rock solid, giving people extra time off for rest and relaxation, allowing for a more hybrid work environment, double down on wellness and wellbeing programs – these are all great things. These gestures many times go farther than people think. A little bit of appreciation can make all the difference. And if a discount on a yoga membership takes the edge off for your people? By all means, go for it. But since there’s also a robust structural effort in place to help eliminate the systemic work issue, helping employees cope with all of their varied pressures is now a complementary effort. And it’s going to be good for both the team and the company. ??