How to Help Employees Who Feel Burnt Out?

Burnout is a real problem. A Gallup survey found that 23% of employees felt burned out often or always, and 44% sometimes. Adding them up, we can get about 70% of the employees who face this problem. Read more: Manifestations of Stress in the Work Environment.

According to the World Health Organization, burnout consists of three things:

• Feelings of energy depletion.
• Alienation from work or negative feelings for work.
• Reduced professional efficiency or productivity. 

Take mental health seriously

You need to take the mental health of your employees seriously. Read more: Stable Mental Health in the Workplace. There are several ways to keep employees’ mental health a priority without requiring excessive action:

• Use an emotional evaluation system. For employees, a rating system (such as a scale of one to ten for assessing their well-being) could be simpler than specific conversations. You could use an anonymous rating system to determine the mental health and emotional state of your workforce. The results of such a system will help you know where improvements or help is needed.
• Talk about mental health in a general group, not with specific people. You can avoid awkward situations by talking about mental health with the whole team, rather than targeting the individual people you worry about.
• Maintain confidentiality and privacy. Some employees may feel open and comfortable talking to you about their mental health. Unless you break any law, that’s great. But even in such cases, it is always important to maintain confidentiality and not to disclose this information to anyone.
• Teach employees how to be mentally healthy, how to deal with personal and work issues, how to deal with stress, etc. Engage mental health professionals to teach your team these things and offer them confidential advice.

Offer a reward that works against burnout

An appraisal system is essential in any workplace. However, the constant pressure to work harder to get paid can also lead to burnout. Some remuneration should exist only to value the employees themselves and not for the work they do. Whether it’s a gift card, extra break time, a few paid vacation hours, a more flexible work schedule, or a surprise snack in the lounge, let the team know they’re the value of the company.

Make goals accessible to everyone

Some jobs provide growth opportunities for employees. However, there are also jobs that are “dead ends” without opportunities to move forward. It is not possible to provide promotion opportunities for every position in the classical sense, but it is possible to set new goals for any position, which are aimed not only at the development of the company but also at the professional development of the employee. You need to create goals for your employees, which can include the following elements:

• Monetary objectives. Everyone wants extra money. Therefore, any employee can be “promoted” by granting a bonus or salary supplement.
• Objectives of experiential training. Reduce your employees’ routines by offering training programs or attending valuable conferences that will not only make your daily work more colorful but will also promote personal growth.
• Micro position targets. If you do not have the ability to change the position of employees in the company hierarchy vertically, you can change it horizontally. This means that you can change the position of an employee by giving some new responsibilities and benefits. This is especially useful if you have employees who are still trying to find your calling.

Take care of the workplace culture

1. Some of the emotional and mental health issues associated with employee burnout also tend to be related to poor workplace culture. While some aspects of a company’s culture may be certain, consider factors that you can easily change.
2. As much as possible, reduce time pressure and speed that will reduce stress.
3. Make sure management is at the highest level of communication with employees.
4. Check the expected workload of each employee. Maybe you need more staff.
5. Define clear requirements and roles. One might think that a culture without definitions and boundaries is great, but in reality, many employees prefer guidelines in which to work.
6. The guidelines provide stability and reduce conflicts with other employees.
7. Managers or customer service professionals should protect your employees from unduly aggressive customers.

Remember that burnout is not just about overwork. It happens when employees are tired, anxious, depressed, confused, feel underestimated, scared, or lack a sense of community. In other words, burning out employees is a complex problem that the employer will not always be able to solve. However, it would certainly be desirable for business leaders to take the necessary initiatives to reduce employee turnover or bad experiences. Read more: Effective Treatments for Burnout Syndrome