Unique ways to mitigate employee burnout in your workforce
Employee burnout continues to be an ongoing issue across industries, the consequences of which are detrimental to morale, retention, productivity and your bottom line. Despite these negative impacts, 87% of professionals feel their employers aren't doing enough to prevent or alleviate burnout within their organization, a survey from Deloitte found.
Moving forward, implementing improved structures to mitigate these issues will be critical to increase employee satisfaction and drive operational efficiency. While there are a number of ways to approach burnout, here are unique ways to tackle the problem in your organization.
Encourage employees to show recognition to each other
Ensuring you regularly acknowledge the contributions of your employees is an effective way to avoid burnout long-term. However, it's important that this recognition doesn't solely come from managers or business leaders. Encouraging your teams to acknowledge and appreciate their co-workers is beneficial to guarantee your employees understand the value they add to the company. Not only will this aid in fostering a supportive work environment, but it's also been found to increase engagement, productivity and performance by 14%, according to Apollo Technical.
Implement in-office wellness activities
Burnout is extremely harmful to your worker's mental health, but implementing in-office wellness activities can help your company actively promote your employee's well-being. Activities such as daily walking or mindfulness breaks can help your workforce focus on their mental well-being while simultaneously showing them you care.
Educate team members on the warning signs of burnout
Employee burnout can easily sneak up on your employees, but if they're unaware that this is the issue, it can be even more difficult to manage. It's valuable to educate your team members on the most common signs of burnout, such as fatigue, exhaustion, irritability or absenteeism, so they can spot the problem in themselves or others before it becomes overwhelming or unmanageable.
Provide opportunities to learn from other departments
Learning and development opportunities are quickly becoming a necessity to attract and retain talent. However, while most companies assume learning has to be strictly related to individual upskilling or career mobility, this isn't necessarily the case. Learning, in general, has a way of reenergizing people and improving motivation. It's beneficial to consider setting up opportunities to learn from other departments to energize your employees, while simultaneously giving them a chance to fully understand what their co-workers add to the organization. Increasing motivation and improving empathy in your workforce is a highly effective way to avoid burnout long-term.
Offer half-day Fridays
While offering a half-day may seem like a simple gesture, it's a powerful way to motivate employees to get through the workweek. This shows your employees that they're valued and trusted, which is a boon to motivation, productivity and loyalty. The extra time off, in conjunction with improved satisfaction, may significantly decrease the chance of burnout in the long run.
The harmful effects of employee burnout are often clear but without the proper structures set in place to alleviate the issue, it's hard to avoid. Focusing on strategies to decrease feelings of burnout in your workforce will be a key factor in maintaining morale, productivity and retention throughout your organization.