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29 Sep 2022

Five tips to help employees work at their best without burning-out

Burnout is bad both for the individual and the organisation they work for. Here’s what you can do to help avoid it

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The World Health Organization classified burnout as an occupational disease in 2019. Symptoms include lack of energy or exhaustion, a raised level of cynicism and reduced professional efficacy.

If is not detected early, burnout can lead to months of downtime for an employee and can even result in death in extreme cases. Financial adviser Deloitte's external marketplace survey (US based) found that 77% of respondents said that they had experienced burnout at their current job, with 91% saying that having an unmanageable amount of stress or frustration negatively impacts their quality of work.

Here are five tips for employers to get optimum performance out of employees without pushing them over the edge.

1. Don’t overload employees

Some employees will voice their concerns about a workload they cannot cope with. Others, however, will feel that it is unprofessional to say to their managers that they can’t get something done. These scenarios need to be handled in two different ways. Managers have to listen to staff who say that they aren’t able to cope with their work, and shift some projects either to other employees or, perhaps, agency staff. In the other scenario, managers have to be vigilant and notice that an employee is showing symptoms of burnout, and take the same action. This isn’t as easy to notice with hybrid/remote workers, so managers have to ask employees how they are really feeling.

2. Create an inclusive culture

Not everyone likes the same things. For a workforce made up of mostly younger employees, an employer might organise afterwork events geared towards that age group. Those who find themselves outside this group may find themselves either forcing themselves to take part in events because they feel they have to, or not take part and risk becoming outcasts. If this happens, employees can start to feel negatively towards their employer, and want to jump ship. Therefore, employers have to ensure that events, and the communications around them, are inclusive.

3. Help with financial wellness

In these times of high living costs, many employees are finding it hard to make ends meet and reports say some even have more than one full-time job. Many countries/employers have a maximum 48 hour week for employees to adhere to. Any more than this, and employees risk burning-out trying to juggle everything. Employers should offer financial wellness advice as a benefit and this in turn will reduce employees’ fears over money problems and avoid them hitting a wall.

4. Support physical wellbeing

Exercise is well known to help relieve stress. As with financial wellness, employers should make sure their benefits offer things like a gym membership or, for example, team/company events.

5. Prepare for unpredictable personal events

Not everyone likes to talk about their personal problems. Many bottle up their emotions, worried that it would be unprofessional to admit to personal problems. Of course, nobody should have to talk about difficult things with work colleagues if they don’t want to and that is why employers should have mental wellbeing benefits in place. This could be booking time with online psychologists or physical meetings with counsellors.

There are many other ways in which employees can work optimally without suffering burnout. The main key to an employer’s success is through communication and one of the best ways to do this is through digital tools, especially those that work on mobile devices.

This way employees can fill in surveys and report to their manager, as well as book some, if not all, benefits mentioned in these tips. Communication combined with vigilance is the key to driving employees’ optimum performance and avoiding burnout.

Original article: How can employees work at an optimum level without burning-out?

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