Employee burnout. You’ve probably heard about it, but how do you recognize it? What do you do about it? Charity Miles is here to explain the ins and outs of burnout and how to solve it.
What Are the Signs of Employee Burnout?
As this Mayo Clinic article points out, signs of burnout in an individual are varied. They can include:
- Overall job disillusionment
- Having issues getting started on work or staying focused
- Lacking energy and enthusiasm
- Having trouble maintaining a professional attitude with coworkers or clients
- Feeling less satisfied with or about your work
- Having a cynical attitude
- Suffering from a variety of seemingly unexplained physical ailments (headaches, bowel or stomach issues, trouble sleeping)
- Self-medicating with food, alcohol, or drugs
How to Prevent Employee Burnout
Preventing employee burnout entirely may not be realistic. But organizations can work to prevent or reduce burnout by implementing some of these employee burnout solutions:
Mind the Workload
As companies grow and team members come and go, workloads can vary. One of the major ways to prevent or reduce burnout in an organization’s employees is to ensure that the workload is fair and sustainable.
This can mean evaluating key performance indicators (KPIs) against revenue and overall financial performance, hiring additional staff, or reconfiguring job scope and responsibilities.
Also, be mindful that every employee is balancing a host of priorities outside of the office as well — kids, parents, their own health, and more. Not to mention the importance of leaving time for hobbies, socializing, community work, and relaxing.
Cultivate a Culture of Wellness
Company-wide wellness initiatives can go a long way to solving burnout issues. Remember, wellness goes deeper than just providing health insurance.
Lack of sleep, poor eating, lack of exercise and movement, and more, all impact our mental health. Your company can provide free counseling, train leaders on empathic leadership, and offer meditation or yoga classes, among other actions.
A 2021 Forbes article outlines seven pillars of holistic employee well-being:
- Purpose
- Emotional
- Community
- Social
- Career
- Financial
- Physical
However, as mentioned above, employees have a lot on their plate – so it may be difficult for them to prioritize time to take care of their health.
Offer easy opportunities for your team members to take care of their health, without requiring them to sacrifice time from other priorities – or create more work for themselves.
Create a Culture of Purpose
When team members are well-connected with their coworkers and have meaningful relationships, they’re less likely to burn out and potentially leave the organization. Making it easy for people to build relationships with others via a collaborative culture is important.
- Another great way to build relationships and foster understanding between workers is to start employee resource groups (ERGs).
- Offering employees communication channels like Slack or Skype where they can have “water cooler” chats (non-work-related) can be useful.
- Don’t undervalue the importance of team-building events!
Engage Employees
Fostering relationships and engaging employees go hand-in-hand. What’s more, both of these actions taken together can help build the pillars of holistic employee well-being by providing team members with community, purpose, and a social outlet.
Our Employee Empowerment program is a great way to engage your employees because it also adds a physical element into the mix, hitting yet another pillar of employee well-being while also giving employees a way to connect with one another.
In this way, our Employee Empowerment program can engage your team members, creating a culture of well-being and purpose without adding extra work to their plate.
Learn More About Empower by Charity Miles
Curious to learn more about how you can help your employees who are experiencing burnout or prevent burnout altogether by offering a more proactive solution? Charity Miles can help.
Whether your company is remote, in-office, or hybrid, Charity Miles can help unite your employees over a common goal, providing clear motivation, bonding opportunities, and of course, physical movement. All of these things can mitigate burnout, and, more importantly, foster a culture of well-being and purpose for healthier, happier employees!