How to prevent employee burnout

The sudden outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19 in 2020 across the globe has prompted employers to look towards the well-being of their employees. Most of the employees while working remotely from home are experiencing ‘burnout’.  Now this feeling of burnout could allude to physical exhaustion, fatigue and tiredness which when ignored could lead to mental health issues as well.

What leads to employee burnout?

Primarily, as an employer, you need to understand what leads to employee burnout. It has been noted that even employees who are highly productive experience the feeling of burnout. The following are the key factors which lead to employee burnout:

1. Foremost employee burnout happens when his needs are not met either personal or professional.

2. The burnout can also happen when the employee feels disconnected with the company’s goals and objectives to be accomplished.

3. Employee burnout generally happens due to workload or stress at the workplace.

4. It is to be noted that even adverse circumstances at home can also lead to employee burnout.

Having identified some of the major factors responsible for employee burnout, let us identify its symptoms:

• Inability to connect with the co-workers or team members
  
  
• Physical exhaustion
  
  
• Negativity at workplace
  
  
• Reduced efficiency at workplace
  
  

Impact of Employee Burnout

You must have comprehended by now the severe impact of employee burnout on the company’s turnover. It has an adverse impact on the quality of service/goods, profit and performance of the company. Moreover, it leads to employee being absent and availing his health premium more often.

Ways of Preventing Employee Burnout

You must have realized by now that either rotational shift or remote working and other factors can lead to employee burnout. It is one of the major factors responsible for reduced productivity at workplace and low employee morale. Hence, employers need to be considerate and find ways to prevent and tackle employee burnout.

1. Motivate employees to complete their work within the schedule or stipulated period: The fast paced work environment has made it mandatory for the employees to work round the clock to achieve deadlines. Employers felicitate and encourage employees who work hard and achieve goals. However, what employees get to lose here is something to be laid emphasis upon. In the race of achieving deadlines, employees work overtime and become physically and mentally exhausted.

Here, it becomes imperative for the employers to encourage employees not to overwork beyond the working hours. For instance, the employees should not work for more than 50 hours in a week. Employees should try and finish their work within the given working hours instead of staying back late in the office.

Even during the lockdown period, employees should not stretch themselves beyond the working hours otherwise it could lead to work-life disbalance.

2. Set flexible working schedules: One major aspect which helps prevent employee burnout is the setting-up of flexible working schedules by the companies. Especially, during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, most MNCs and start-ups have given the flexibility of working from home to their employees. Moreover, employees while trying to balance chores at home can easily manage work schedules when given flexibility.

Most employees are working parents and have to look after elder parents and school children; this can be easily managed along with work when given the flexibility to work by the employers. All this helps in making the employee happy and preventing burnout.

3. Set absolutely clear guidelines: These days, while working remotely from home employees tend to feel disconnected with the organizational goals and objectives. Here, the manager of the team needs to ensure transparency among the team members to keep them motivated and thus encouraged. The manager needs to hold regular talks using software tools such as Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp and others to keep the feeling of one team intact. This will ensure that the employees feel that the company is still looking after them and thinking about them.

In simple words, the employer should converse with the team members and keep them updated with the goals of the company and the techniques of achieving them within the stipulated period.

Therefore, to conclude, employee burnout is a major issue today faced by several employers due to the remote working environment. However, it can be easily handled when its symptoms are identified and accordingly action taken to rectify it. The employer simply needs to motivate the employees and make him feel an essential part of the company’s growth story to prevent burnout.