Burnout isn’t the same thing as being tired. All employees will have the occasional bad day, or the project that requires them to work at a higher level for a determined period. Burnout is a condition of exhaustion that extends beyond any one event or task. For starters, burnout will make your employees less productive. Burnout isn’t your employees just working hard—it’s often the opposite. Nobody does good work when they’re feeling exhausted, conflicted, and overworked.
A survey on workplace burnout said that 70% of employees don’t feel like their workplace is doing enough to combat burnout, and 91% of employees have an unmanageable amount of stress or frustration that negatively impacts the quality of their work. It’s more likely than not that you do have employees working for you that feel burned out.
Burnout isn’t an unfixable problem. It may take creative solutions, like redistributing certain tasks more evenly, or financial ones, like hiring more employees. There isn’t a quick fix—burnout doesn’t pop up overnight, and it isn’t going to be solved overnight either. The goal isn’t simply to get employees to do more around the office; it’s to help them fall in love with their jobs again. Someone who enjoys their work will do a better job, get more done, be more emotionally invested, and stick around.
However, to fix burnout, you first need to know it exists. Sure, there are traditional employee surveys that let you know if employees feel stressed or overwhelmed. Surveys and conversations in 1-on-1 meetings can be clear, easy ways to know how employees are feeling. But there are also some telltale signs you can look for without having to ask employees directly. Furthermore, employees can be reluctant to admit burnout. Sometimes, people want to be seen as able to “do it all” to win promotions, bonuses, and goodwill from executives. They may say they aren’t feeling burned out, but their actions could be sending a different message.
Are you ready to stop burnout in its tracks before a flame of exhaustion becomes a fire of turnover? Here are four signs your employees are burned out.
Employees Being Tardy or Absent from Important Meetings
Do you have an employee that used to be a rockstar, but has started arriving to Zoom calls a solid ten minutes late? It may be because their Apple Watch is broken—or it may be due to burnout. When someone’s feeling overwhelmed with their schedule, an obvious symptom is going to be an inability to manage that schedule. Before chastising an employee for tardiness, consider asking them why it is they’ve been late so often, and if there’s any way you can help them reorganize their schedule or priorities.
Employees Dropping Balls on Clients
Sometimes, the small things are really the big things. If an employee misses one meeting with a client, it can lead that client to leave your business. If an employee forgets to send one thank you note to a client, it can lead that client to view your business as ungrateful. If an employee forgets one product in a package for a client, it can lead that client to feel that you’re disorganized. These “small balls” aren’t small at all; they’re the fabric of the everyday business you’re trying to run. When these things are missed more and more frequently, the employee in charge of them needs to be talked to. Why are they missing these things? Is it because they’ve got too much on their place, which is leading them to cut corners? The last place you want burnout rearing its ugly head is in client care.
Employees Becoming More Combative
If employees that are generally cheerful and easy to work with are starting to seem crabby and combative, it may because they feel burned out. Feeling exhausted and like you’re lacking support would make anyone more argumentative. So, ask that employee who keeps showing up to meetings battle-ready if there’s something deeper going on. If you’re seeing a rise in interpersonal conflicts within your company, burnout may be the culprit. Try to depersonalize conflicts and see if there’s something deeper going on.
Employees Seeming More Detached from the Company
You want your employees to care deeply about your products, services, and customers. So, what if they just…don’t seem to? When employees are acting as if they don’t have any stake in the business or any emotional tie to its wellbeing, it may be because they’re feeling overworked and underappreciated—i.e.., suffering from burnout. Half-hearted work, a lack of interest in long term projects, and more in-office isolation are all small signs that someone’s feeling detached. Social connections can be important for employees. If you have an all-remote workplace, people may be starting to feel like their plates are too full without having anyone to talk to about it. Pay attention to where these are popping up within your business so that you can nip them in the bud and eliminate any growing burnout.
Claire Swinarski is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.
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