Ways to prevent employee burnout in workplaces

Are you wondering why there has been an increase in the number of resignations combined with lower productivity in your workplace? Employee burnout can be the major reason behind this. Long working hours, negative feedback and a lack of appreciation for quality work are some of the factors that can cause employee burnout. This not only hampers business performance but also affects the workplace environment.

Reduction in the burnout rate and implementing preventive measures have to be your first priority in such a case. Here we discuss different tips for combating this issue. But before that let’s look at the meaning of employee burnout and some common signs that your employees are feeling exhausted and disinterested.

What is employee burnout?

Employee burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion that occurs when an employee feels overwhelmed, overworked, and unsupported in their job. It is a response to chronic workplace stress that has not been effectively managed or addressed.

The issue can be accompanied by feelings of detachment from work, decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, and even physical symptoms such as headaches and gastrointestinal issues. It can also affect an individual's personal life, leading to strained relationships and a decreased overall sense of well-being. Resultantly, it can lead to reduced job satisfaction, increased turnover, and decreased organizational performance.

Signs of employee burnout at the workplace

Decreased productivity: Stressed employees often find it challenging to stay focused on their work, leading to decreased productivity and output.

Increased irritability: An exhausted worker may become irritable and short-tempered with colleagues, clients, or customers.

Decreased job satisfaction: Struggling team members may express dissatisfaction with their job or the organization they work for.

Difficulty sleeping: Team members may have trouble sleeping, which can further exacerbate their stress levels.

Lack of work-life balance: Burnout can cause employees to struggle with finding a healthy balance between work and their personal life, leading to feelings of overwhelm and exhaustion.

If you notice any of these signs in your team, it's important to take steps to address burnout and support your workforce’s well-being.

Methods of countering burnout and prevention

Prioritizing the team’s well-being

While completing projects on time is of utmost importance to a company, it should not come at the expense of the workforce’s well-being. Keep checking on your workers if they are able to manage their time efficiently, their financial issues and if they need any sort of training to upgrade their skills.

Using performance management software is a great way to keep a track of the team members who are overworked and whose performance has seen a downward graph in recent times. It’s a good opportunity to discuss the issues compassionately with such employees.

Give enough importance to both managers and employees

The role of a manager cannot be understated in any team and keeping them in the loop for any internal or external communication is necessary. But it is equally important to share important information with different team workers. Knowing information relevant to their roles and having a say in decision-making boosts an employee’s confidence and helps improve teamwork.

Creating an open environment can also ensure that employees are able to reach out to senior authorities regarding their issues in the workplace which can, in turn, prevent the situation of burnout.

Focus on providing recovery time

Doing the same work over and over again with strict deadlines can eventually take a toll on an employee’s health. A human mind needs rest and recovery to perform efficiently and keep up productivity. Give your employees enough breaks, adjust their workloads and make their KRAs more practical to ensure they go full throttle when they are actually working.

Having a one-on-one meeting with each team member can be beneficial in such a case as it can help the managers map out ways to adjust their expectations from them, understand their overdue targets and improve their engagement with the work.

Build social connections

Humans love to communicate and interaction is the key to them feeling good about being in any particular place. Employers can encourage strong social connections at their workplaces by planning out activities, outings, team lunches and more. This will provide employees with the opportunity to interact, socialize and grow while working for their organization.

Be a part of your employee’s special occasions, and provide them with some liberty to take a day off in distressing times and see how they look forward to increasing their efficiency for the company. You should also set realistic goals according to each employee’s bandwidth and skills. You can use goal setting software like entomo to help you with planning set expectations for each employee and give them the space to thrive in the workplace.

entomo is a people experience platform built for the digital world of work. Powering 30mn+ users and workplaces world-wide, entomo enables workforce experiences that transform performance, engagement and talent development using hyper personalized insights and nudges. entomo’s clients include Fortune 500 and other large enterprises, as well as forward thinking Governments who have embarked on enterprise, industry or national scale transformation initiatives. entomo is also voted as a leader in G2 software marketplace across multiple categories. To know more, visithttps://entomo.co/request-demo/