Avoiding Burnout: Taking Care of Yourself AND Your Employees This Summer

Burnout. It’s a word we’ve all heard countless times, especially in the workplace. We all have experienced for ourselves or know others who have experienced employee burnout. Unfortunately, it’s more than just a buzzword. Burnout should be a major concern for employers, as it can lower your team’s performance, make it harder to retain workers, and impede your staff’s motivation and job satisfaction.  

CEO and Owner of Who’s Your HR?, Penny Horton, and Maria Gresham, Business Development Representative, recently discussed this concern. After all, during these hot summer months, we want to ensure employees stay cool. Listen to their discussion and read on!  

What Exactly Is Employee Burnout? ​

​In a recent article by the Society of Human Resource Management, employee burnout was described by one of the interviewees, a company president, as a situation that occurs “when your internal fire is out and you have no more fuel left… It can result in a negative attitude, a lack of productivity, high stress, a lack of teamwork and a negative transparency.” ​

Burnout is all too common among American workers. According to a 2021 survey by the American Psychological Association, 79% of employees surveyed said they’d dealt with stress due to their work, and nearly 3 in 5 said that stress had a negative impact on their performance. They were less motivated, more emotionally exhausted, and even physically worn out in the workplace.

But it’s not just tiredness that is at play here. When employees feel burned out, they often feel as though they’re accomplishing less at work, and they may feel less connected to the workplace overall as a result. They may lack passion about being productive or making a difference—leading to situations like “quiet quitting,” in which people show up for their paycheck but do the bare minimum because they’re not engaged.

This trend toward burnout among employees is something that has become even more apparent now that COVID restrictions are long over. Even though employers are ready for business as usual, many employees still are not. As a result, we continue to see a slow return to work, changes in workplace models that require adjustment, and a general lack of engagement.  ​

What Is Causing Burnout Among Employees Today?

With the continuing slow return of employees to the workplace, many businesses remain short-staffed. And those diligent employees who have been committed to working hard may find their tasks becoming unbearable. As author Mel Robbins of Stop Saying You’re Fine states, employees begin to feel stuck. 

That is, they continue to overwork, knowing that a change must happen, while all the time they are making a public service announcement that they are fine. The truth is, they are not fine. But they may be reluctant to discuss their needs because they are worried about how they will be perceived by employers and concerned that any statements of distress or complaint will be held against them.  ​

Moving Beyond Burnout

As managers and organizations, we can help employees shift from feeling stuck to feeling empowered and engaged. This effort starts with examining what changes can be made in the workplace. As Jennifer Moss notes in her Harvard Business Review article, burnout is about the workplace itself, not the individual people you employ. 

Workplaces can shift to limit situations that drain employees, while providing opportunities and support that create engagement and satisfaction on the job. This is where organizations can proactively help employees. According to a 2018 Gallup study, the top five reasons for burnout are:

1. Unfair treatment at work​ — such as inconsistent approaches to approving time off requests, favoritism, biased decision-making, and other inequities.
2. Unmanageable workload​ — asking more of employees than can be done in their allotted work schedule, mandating overtime, etc.
3. Lack of clarity​ — unclear responsibilities, confusing lines of report, etc.
4. Lack of communication and support from management ​— such as failure to inform employees of rules, procedures and changes, or the lack of an effective open-door policy for handling concerns.
5. Unreasonable time pressure ​— such as unreasonable deadlines and last-minute assignments that create undue stress.

Enacting Changes to Prevent a Burnout Culture in the Workplace

Certainly, management is in the forefront of addressing these issues. But how can the Human Resources Department help management support the reduction of burnout in employees? ​

There are many ways that HR can support changes that make a workplace less susceptible to promoting burnout. Our team at Who’s Your HR? supports our clients in these areas to help them attain success: ​

Recruiting and Onboarding

Transparency in the role to which employees are hired and a smooth onboarding checklist, process, and timeline for completion are critical. Employees want to understand what they are getting into, particularly as they return to the workplace. ​

Compliance

Employees should not have to be concerned about their pay, benefits, completion of federal and state forms, or understanding of what is required. HR can support with these processes and communication — with management — of compliance and expectations via the employee handbook. ​

Engagement

We at WYHR? coach managers all the time to ensure they are asking what employees want. However, in many cases we cannot “boil the ocean,” but we can work with employees by asking good questions in order to finding those “low-hanging fruit items” that can help employees know that the workplace has their best interest at heart.

​Reach Out to Set Up a Consultation

The best way to say no to employee burnout is to say yes to making changes that create a more supportive environment that employees can thrive within. At Who’s Your HR?, our specialty is tackling the people-oriented tasks of HR that allow companies to do what they do best — their business — while attracting and retaining great talent. If you’d like a consultation on workplace practices that prevent burnout, or a general assessment of your HR policies and help improving them, we are here for you! Give us a call at 539-215-8868 to get started.