3 Tell-Tale Signs Your Employees Are Suffering From Burnout
Let’s get right to it: today, we’re continuing the conversation on burnout, specifically in how it manifests among our teams.
In our recent blog post on the topic, we were able to develop a deeper understanding of why burnout occurs in the first place. But what we’re addressing today is something many managers have a difficult time putting their finger on: why burnout can be so difficult to spot.
According to the World Health Organization, burnout is characterized by three persisting symptoms: exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.
While we may pass these things off as fairly common, Gallup research states that, when left untreated, these symptoms have the potential to make severely burned-out workers 63% more likely to take a sick day, and 23% more likely to visit the emergency room.
The sheer prevalence of burnout in the workplace may actually be contributing to its inconspicuousness and, to some extent, normalization. But the truth of the matter is that burnout is an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition–– meaning, at the end of the day, it can absolutely be prevented with the cultivation of personal work-life balance and the prioritization of wellbeing in company culture.
The 3 signs your employees are reaching burn out
As managers, we’re responsible for maintaining lines of defense against burnout in employees, so developing a keen eye for its main symptoms before they worsen is essential. With that said, let’s break down the top three effects of this phenomenon to better identify them in the workplace:
Feelings of energy depletion, exhaustion, and fatigue
As we all know, experiencing work-related stress is incredibly common, but its frequent doses should not be conflated with burnout. Though they may feel and look similar at times, stress and burnout are not the same–– the fatigue that accompanies burnout can grow so severe that it can’t necessarily be cured by taking extended time off, slowing down, or working fewer hours.
Our instinct may be to “push through” normal levels of stress, but the physical and mental impacts of burnout cannot be endured. Instead, the real solution lies in transforming the company culture to better support the holistic wellbeing of employees, often providing the resources necessary to do so.
Increased mental distance from one’s job
Lack of engagement among teams can be another significant tell that burnout has taken hold of employees. When otherwise high-performing individuals exhibit feelings of negativism or cynicism related to their jobs, it could be an indicator that they are experiencing one of two extremes: overwhelm or underwhelm with their workloads.
Given that this kind of mindset keeps employees from doing their best work, the prevalence of burnout in an organization is usually a sign that it’s time to rebalance workloads and search for sustainable ways to bolster worker engagement.
Reduced professional efficiency
Additional Gallup research shows us that the way people approach their workload has a much greater impact on the risk of burnout than the number of hours or days they work each week. While overwork certainly increases the likelihood of burnout in employees, the much more accurate indicator is a sudden reduction in productivity and efficiency.
When accountability is a major tenant of organizational culture, this symptom of burnout becomes even easier to spot.
How managers can help their employees with burnout
As we touched upon last week, leaders steer the charge against burnout in their own organizations by identifying its signs early on– exhibiting their own sense of sustainable work-life balance– and, in turn, cultivating a company culture that actively prevents it.
Of course, all of this work is dependent on managers tapping into their greatest strengths, all in an effort to catch employee burnout in its early stages and develop workplace environments that support employee wellbeing enough to prevent it altogether. Through our premier leadership program Activate, managers from a wide range of backgrounds are already getting a leg up on burnout by engaging in purposeful conversations and sharing management resources among a supportive network of seasoned leaders.
Schedule a strategy call with us to learn more about how Activate is equipping leaders with the know-how to cultivate workplace cultures that actively prevent burnout.
Carrie & Team Leadology
