- Are your workers falling to the wayside? Do they show little to no interest in their work, or are quitting in droves? If so, they may be burned out.
- To that end, keep reading to find out the 6 key areas where work-life balance can cause burnout amongst your workers.
What is burnout and why do so many managers within companies feel it is a made-up?
According to a recent Forbes article, burnout is indeed real. And to that end, it behooves managers and business owners to recognize that the affliction is very real.
Burnout, as the article states, is a workplace issue – a chronic process of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy caused by a disconnect or an imbalance between key job demands, job resources, and your ability to recover both at work and outside of work.
The most important part of this definition is the word “chronic.” Burnout doesn’t just spring up overnight – for many people it simmers over a period of time, over the course of years.
More importantly, burnout is mainly a systemic problem caused by systemic issues within organizations, not just individuals and their ability (or inability) to respond to stress.
In short, burnout in the workplace is caused by a breakdown – or a lack thereof – of a work-life balance, that entails 6 key areas.
So, what are the 6 key job stressors managers and business owners should avoid in order to keep their workers healthy? Keep reading to find out.
- Workload
As a manager or business owner, it is imperative that you remain aware of how much work your employees are producing. They very well may take on too much work for a variety of reasons. However, those reasons are far outweighed by the fact that a burned-out employee becomes a liability that brings nothing to the table.
To that point, monitor how much work your employees take on. If it’s too much and is causing your employee(s) burnout, take it upon yourself to delegate some of that work to another employee.
- Control/Autonomy
Empower your employees to monitor their own workload. Let them oversee themselves to find out exactly how much they can take on, and still be productive.
Remember, every employee you have is, in fact, an individual with their own strengths and weaknesses.
A sense of control and/or autonomy as to their workload will more than likely be used productively to keep themselves healthy on the job, as well as appreciated as you allow them to dictate how much they can and should take on at work.
- Reward
It is important that you recognize when one of your employees accomplishes a good job. Reward in this regard can supplement an employee’s sense of belonging, purpose and longevity as an employee. Most importantly, reward can stave off burnout.
Raises are great, but then so are extended days off. Be creative with how you reward your workers. Your effort alone as you do this will create a work atmosphere both you and your employees can enjoy and thrive within.
- Community
As a manager or business owner, it is imperative that you start and maintain a sense of community with your workers alongside your leadership.
Community is what holds a workforce together as it establishes friendships, trust and teamwork. This sort of togetherness is much more appealing to employees than solidarity, the loneliness of which can ultimately lead to burnout.
- Fairness
Fairness goes hand-in-hand with reward in the sense that fairness offers recognition to your employees’ accomplishments. Fairness, particularly from a manager or business owner, establishes an even playing field, which speaks to autonomy.
In short, fairness gives workers the ability to hold themselves accountable toward their performance, and to know they won’t be excluded or unnecessarily picked on but judged impartially can easily offset burnout.
- Values
Your values are extremely important not just to your business and your clients, but your workforce as well.
Simply put, they have to know who they deal with on a daily basis. To the contrary, not being upfront with your employees as to who you really are will leave them guessing, fearful and finally, burned out enough for them to quit working for you.
With that, it is important that you align your values with your business and your employees so that they have an accurate notion of who you are as an employer and what you expect of them.
If they know who you are and what you expect, their minds won’t wander into an area of fear or confusion, which in itself can lead to burnout.
Conclusion
Burnout of your employees can be easily avoided if you become a more hands-on manager and/or business owner. As you do this, give strong consideration to your employees as individuals, not just workers. Treat them fairly and reward them often with more than just a paycheck.
Doing so will help you avoid having burned out workers and instead promote proud employees who care about their product, loyalty and longevity alongside you as an employer.
