How employers can prevent employee burnout

Burnout is characterized by a mix of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a decreased sense of accomplishment in one’s work. After the past few years that we have had, we are seeing burnout become a hot topic as we merge from a pandemic that opened our eyes to how life could change in an instant.

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Burnout is on the top of people's minds for a reason, a recent report from Indeed found that employee burnout is on the rise: 52% of all workers are feeling burned out, up 9% from a pre-COVID survey. Employees of all ages and types are experiencing the impact of stress, fatigue, and mental health challenges. So what can employers do to help with these challenges?

Ways to avoid employee burnout

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1. Promoting work/life balance: Work/Life balance starts at the top, leaders of organizations must practice what they preach to their employees. This means org leaders must also ensure they allow time for exercise, family and self-care. Ensuring that your employees know this value before they even start and staying consistent, For example, shut down early before the holidays to enforce a practice of valuing family time. Or, offer flexible scheduling to accommodate individual schedules.

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2. Encourage employees to take time off: In 2017, 52% of American workers failed to use all of their vacation time, according to the U.S. Travel Association’s Project Time Off. The reasons why generally tie to work responsibilities—a too heavy workload, lack of work coverage or the fear they’d be seen as replaceable. Offering unlimited PTO or a healthy PTO package for your employees is proven to avoid burnout down the road. Also, encourage people verbally to take a vacation, and foster a culture that appreciates

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3. Provide work from home options: Since remote work is here to stay, especially here at Clockwork, as a fully remote company we see the benefits of increased productivity from our team. Remote workers can be more productive because they have no commute, less or no forced small talk, fewer distractions, more time for family and exercise, a higher quality of life, and a better overall life balance.

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At the end of the day, leadership makes the difference. The professional employee-manager relationship can be the foundation for a successful organization, driving collaboration, providing career advancement and, hopefully, alleviating workplace stress, rather than being a source of it. Managers should actively seek feedback on ways to improve productivity, balance workloads, work together as a team and improve task completion.

💡 If you’re looking for remote work with great benefits, we’re always looking for the best talent out there. Keep an eye out for open opportunities on our LinkedIn!