Ways to Reduce the Risk of Employee Burnout

No matter how great an employee is at their job, there is always the risk of burnout. In our culture of working hard and always striving to be busy and productive, burnout is a serious concern to many of us. There’s rarely one cause and it’s often a mix of work and personal responsibilities that have built up over time to become overwhelming. From changes in personality and productivity to increased lateness or absenteeism, there are many ways that an employer may spot employee burnout. Luckily, there are ways to combat the problem – here are some tips to reduce burnout in your staff.

Monitor Workload

It’s easy to fall into the trap of piling work onto your best employees, particularly during busy periods, but this can quickly mount up and become a lasting habit that is unsustainable for the individual. Make sure you’re monitoring how much work is being given to each member of the team to ensure that it is shared out equally.

Make Sure Holidays are Taken

Everyone needs time off from work to destress and unwind. In addition to keeping a check on your team’s holiday allowance to make sure that they’re using up their annual leave, it’s also a good idea to discourage check-ins by email or phone and not to contact anyone unless it’s an absolute emergency. A cloud HR system is an incredibly effective way of ensuring this.

Carry Out Regular Reviews

Often, we struggle on without saying anything to our colleagues because we don’t want to make a fuss or seem like we’re complaining. But unless you raise the issue, it won’t go away. Having performance reviews and regular catch-ups scheduled in with each team member will provide a platform to discuss issues like stress, burnout and workload, so that they can be dealt with. It’s also a great way for team leaders and managers to provide appreciation and recognition of the work each employee is doing for the company.

Compensate Fairly

Working hard is one thing, but it can be very frustrating to consistently give your all in a role and not feel as though you’re being compensated properly for your time and effort. Make sure that salaries are reviewed regularly and that the pay structure is competitive with the industry, as this can fluctuate. While adequate compensation doesn’t alleviate burnout, it can be the difference between feeling an imbalance between the rewards of a role and the stresses it brings.

Encourage Work-Life Balance

You can help employees find a better balance between work and their personal life by increasing flexibility. This may mean allowing them to work from home on certain days or having flexi-time in terms of the hours they work, so they can accommodate personal obligations.

Streamline Processes

Often, the reason for stress in the workplace is due to poor processes and time-consuming tasks that aren’t necessary. From those meetings that could be reduced in time to revising complicated projects to be simpler and reducing the many layers of approval, making small tweaks to how you work as a team can help to reduce burnout and stress.