5 Tips for Preventing Employee Burnout

5 Tips for Preventing Employee Burnout

Burnout is a state of exhaustion that is experienced on the physical, mental, and even emotional level. It’s commonly described as much more intense and complex than simple everyday stress, as burnout also tends to involve a diminished sense of accomplishment, reduced motivation, and loss of personal identity. While burnout isn’t a medical condition in and of itself, it can have severe negative impacts on the physical and mental health of affected individuals.

Unfortunately, cases of severe burnout seem to be on the rise among professionals today. A Gallup research survey conducted in 2020 showed that 76% of surveyed workers reported occasional feelings of burnout, while 28% asserted that they felt burnt out frequently or even constantly. Possible causes of burnout are numerous and can vary from workplace to workplace, but unfair workloads, inadequate compensation, poor leadership, and dysfunctional workplace culture are common culprits.

Jobseekers focused on finding jobs in Manila are always on the lookout for work environments that will nurture their overall health and well-being. Protect your employees from burnout by taking active steps to keep them well-supported, energized, and motivated. The following tips can help you create a burnout-free workplace:

Make Mental Health a Priority

A supportive and affirming approach to addressing mental health issues in the workplace is crucial for preventing burnout. As psychological illness and mental health are still highly stigmatized topics in many cultures, it’s especially important for your employees to know that you care about their mental well-being and take their concerns about it seriously. Offering mental health services such as counseling and employee assistance programs is a good start. You should also encourage managers to welcome and even initiate candid conversations with their team members regarding work-life balance.

Many employees develop burnout by pushing themselves too hard when their reserves of energy are low, often out of fear of reprisal. Emphasize to your employees that psychological wellness is just as important as physical health by encouraging them to take mental health days. This will help ease any fears or anxieties your employees might have about asking for time off when they need it. If your employees know that they have adequate opportunities to rest and recharge, they’ll be happier and more productive when they do return to work.

Enable Good Work-Life Balance

Making the demands of your work clear to your employees as early as during the hiring process is a crucial first step for enabling better work-life balance at your company. Try to illustrate the amount of time and energy your employees’ work will require in as concrete terms as possible. From there, they’ll be able to decide whether or not they can commit to the job and what they’ll need to do to keep themselves healthy alongside.

Do note that simply telling your employees to practice good work-life balance isn’t enough to prevent burnout if you don’t actually make it possible for them to step away from their work when they need to. If your company implements set work shifts, ensure that managers and employees abide by these strictly. It’s likewise helpful to avoid sending work-related communications at off-hours, such as late at night or over the weekends, particularly if they demand immediate responses.

Ensure that Workloads Are Fair

Job tasks and responsibilities should be fairly and equitably distributed to ensure that the bulk of work doesn’t fall on a particular individual or team. It helps, for instance, to delineate and communicate performance goals for employees at the start of each year, and be prepared to adjust these as necessary as your company’s needs change. This will give your employees a clear idea of what’s expected of them for the year and what they can do to meet these expectations without overexerting themselves.

Your HR department must also help ensure that your organization is adequately staffed at all times. If employees leave the company for any reason, it’s in everyone’s best interest to focus on hiring new personnel to refill the vacated positions instead of distributing the work to incumbent employees.

Involve Employees in Key Decisions

Unilaterally making important choices related to employee workloads without consulting the people in question is a surefire way to hurt their commitment to the work. Feeling like they have no control over their time, tasks, and commitments will also propel your employees into a state of burnout. Strive to involve your employees in any and all decision-making endeavors that concern them directly, such as determining feasible schedules and deadlines for projects.

Provide Adequate Training for Supervisors

Managers bear the greatest responsibility for keeping your rank-and-file employees sufficiently motivated and engaged, as they’re responsible for controlling employee workloads. They also play a fundamental role in shaping the culture and atmosphere within their particular divisions or departments. Educate your supervisors on how they can best support, encourage, and retain quality team members. Emphasize the necessity of open communication and treating subordinates with consideration and respect.

Preventing burnout is a responsibility that business leaders must be prepared to share with their employees if they truly wish to promote healthier work-life balance at their organization. By encouraging candid conversations about personal well-being and taking proactive action to promote it in the workplace, you can mitigate and even help eliminate burnout for your employees.