Undoubtedly, employee burnout is reaching concerning levels. Data collected by Glassdoor indicates a 44% increase in mentions of the word “burnout” in employee reviews since 2019.
Global analytics and advisory firm Gallup reports that 76% of employees experience burnout at least some of the time and that burnout can cost organizations 15 to 20% of total employee compensation in turnover costs.
This is before you count the costs associated with low productivity, high absenteeism, higher medical bills, and a cynical culture. Clearly, employee burnout deserves attention.
Discover three ways you can help employees avoid burnout and passionately re-engage with the work they love.
1. Survey and Engage With Employees
Before you can help employees avoid or bounce back from burnout, you’ll need to understand just how burned out they are and why. Employee surveys are a good place to start.
Quantitative survey methods like the Employee Net Promoter Scores (which tell how likely employees are to recommend their workplace to others) can help you quantify feelings of burnout and observe trends over time.
However, try to avoid reducing employee burnout to just another metric your organization tracks. To fully understand what’s driving burnout in your organization, you need to get to the core of what employees are feeling.
Encourage your managers to have regular, in-depth conversations with employees to uncover the nature of their stress and forge a path toward re-engagement together.
2. Prioritize Employee Self-Care
Employee burnout is a “syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” according to the World Health Organization. Exhaustion is one of the main signs of this syndrome.
If you want to combat burnout in the workplace, it’s important to find ways to help employees manage chronic stress and reverse exhaustion. Often, this starts with encouraging self-care. However, this isn’t about just telling employees to make sure they get enough sleep or find time to relax on the weekends. As an employer, you need to actively participate in their self-care.
This is where unique employee benefits can help. Consider adding fitness memberships, subscriptions to mental well-being apps like Headspace, and other wellness benefits to your employee value proposition. This not only shows employees that you care but also gives them practical tools to take care of themselves at no extra cost.
3. Leveraging Positive Mindset Tools
The WHO has also identified cynicism and negativity as prominent symptoms of employee burnout. While these may not be cured by better employee benefits, helping employees develop some perspective can help.
One tool you likely already have at your fingertips is your managers. Though managers usually have conversations about employee compensation and advancement, it may be a good idea to turn their focus to mindset coaching. This can help employees figure out ways to take control of their work and create change.
Additionally, you might consider mentorship programs. These will allow newer employees to shadow more advanced members of the team who can share what has helped them thrive over the long term.
Addressing Burnout by Creating a Culture of Support
The last symptom of burnout identified by the WHO is a lack of efficacy or an inability to produce a desired result.
If an employee is struggling to meet goals or perform to the level of your expectations, it may be because they feel they don’t have the support they need to do well. Here are some practical ways you can provide it:
- Build trust with employees by keeping an open-door policy and encouraging two-way communication and feedback
- Stay transparent about things like employee compensation and benefits, job security, and layoffs or promotions, especially when times are uncertain
- Offer in-house opportunities to build the skills they need to thrive
- Offer employee resource groups or team-building workshops to help foster deep interpersonal relationships and a sense of belonging
You want your employees to feel like you’re in their corner and not working against them when they’re trying to dig themselves out of deep burnout.
Getting Employees Re-Engaged Starts With Giving Them the Right Tools
Above all, employees need to know that you care about what they’re facing. Although saying you care is a start, it’s important to show it on a practical level as well. Improving workplace culture and adjusting your employee benefits to help employees take care of themselves is the way forward.
If you’d like help with this, contact Benefits Advisory Group for a consultation. We can help you build a benefits package to increase employee well-being and ensure your employees have the tools to thrive.