Employee burnout is a very serious issue. After all, your company could be exhausting its employees without even realizing it! Whether it is virtual meeting marathons, multitasking, or sending emails after work, burnout can take many forms, but the end result is the same: demotivated employees, reduced productivity, and unsatisfactory corporate performance.
Employee Burnout, according to Gallup's recent report, Causes and Cures found that 76 percent of employees experience burnout on the job occasionally, and 28 percent report being burned out "very frequently" or "always".
Overwork is commonly assumed to be the sole cause of occupational burnout. And the most common ways to recover from burnout are to work fewer hours, take a vacation, take a day off, or do anything that does not constitute work. Employee burnout is caused by factors other than the number of hours people work each week.
Burnout risk increases significantly when employees work more than 50 hours per week and rises even further after 60 hours. However, how people perceive their workload has a greater impact on burnout than the number of hours worked. In this article, we will look at the symptoms, causes, and strategies for preventing employee burnout in your organization.
What Does Employee Burnout Mean?
Employee burnout is a type of workplace stress recognized even by the World Health Organization (WHO), in which employees experience general dissatisfaction with their work as well as multiple levels of exhaustion, including mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. As a result, the employee doesn't feel up to the task of their daily work and therefore is typically disinterested and disengaged in their work or area of expertise, resulting in mental distance and overall decreased productivity.
Organizationally, this often results in higher staff turnover and defections, reduced employee engagement, and has a detrimental effect on workplace culture, which can have a negative impact on overall business performance. Employees' desire to learn and grow is reduced by work burnout. When employees display these signs of burnout, the majority of their energy and focus is on getting through the day rather than developing for the future.
Identifying Whether Your Employees Are Experiencing a Burnout
Employee burnout isn't a sudden occurrence and tends to happen over a period of time. If you want to know whether your employees are facing burnout, these performance metrics are great indicators:
Sickness - Increased employee absenteeism due to illness can indicate that your employees are facing burnout and may cost your company working days. According to research, employees who frequently experience work burnout are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 23% more likely to visit the emergency room.
Errors at Work - Employees experiencing burnout may make more mistakes on a daily basis because they are less careful about what they are doing. This could be due to a lack of interest and passion for the job at hand.
Motivation - A lack of motivation leads to a lack of innovation and productivity. If you believe there has been a brain drain at your company but no one has left, you may be suffering from burnout.
Turnover - Higher staff turnover and attrition rates, as well as employees leaving the company more quickly, can result not only in fewer employees but also in higher overall recruiting costs.
Leading Causes for Employee Burnout
The increasingly fast-paced, complex, and demanding nature of modern workplaces can lead to burnout in even the best employees. Many employees are overwhelmed at work by competing priorities and contrasting expectations most jobs have from them. And advanced technology has made it easier to access people at any time, blurring the line between the work and home lives of most people. Some of the leading causes of employees burnout are:
Workplace discrimination - When your employees are forced to work in conditions where they aren’t respected or their work isn’t respected, they are putting in a lot more effort on a regular basis to stay motivated and perform better. The need to constantly put in more effort than their colleagues might drive them to burnout.
More work than they can handle - Overwork or having too much to do can manifest itself in various ways. Some people are affected by the long hours they work, whereas others are affected more by the number of tasks they must complete or the complexity of their work. Employees who wholeheartedly agree that they always have too much to do are twice as likely to report experiencing burnout at work very frequently or always.
Managers' lack of support - Manager support is critical to avoiding burnout. Manager support acts as a psychological buffer, letting employees understand that their leader has their back even when problems arise. Employees who strongly agree that their manager supports them are approximately 70% less likely to experience burnout on a regular basis.
Workplace Culture and Management Style - Both workplace culture and management style can have a significant impact on burnout. Employees who do not enjoy coming into the office or even opening their laptops every morning to begin work may experience burnout quickly. The same holds true if their managers put them under pressure or micromanage them.
Solutions To Employee Burnout
Combating employee burnout can help your organization and employees tremendously. Much like a stitch in time saves nine situations, the earlier you can identify whether your employees are facing burnout and acting on it, the easier it will be for you to engage your employees and prevent brain drain at your company. There are a few ways to ensure your employees feel heard and supported at your organization.
1. Eliminate Multitasking: Consider multitasking a piece of history. Studies have found that switching between responsibilities does not increase productivity — it decreases productivity and increases stress! Give your team a clear work plan and communicate which tasks are a priority. Your employees will be able to manage their time more effectively if they create to-do lists for themselves.
Fewer interruptions and switching lead to increased productivity, focus, and happier employees! Overall, this is a critical component of how we view strategic work as a competitive advantage for your company.
2. Establish Work-Life Balance: Work-life balance has become an extremely important topic in the last decade or so. Not only for employees but also for organizations that must assist in achieving this balance. As tempting as it is to delegate work to employees to finish over their weekend, being mindful of their personal time can help in preventing burnout to a very large extent.
Your employees should feel free to focus solely on their lives and there should be weekend email policies enforced. In case a manager has sent out work to an employee over the weekend and they have failed to respond to the intimation, they shouldn't be penalized for it.
3. Make employee well-being a part of your company's culture: If an organization's culture encourages employees to work excessively long hours, work during personal time, and generally prioritize work over family, employees may come to resent their jobs and workplaces.
Making your employee's well-being a priority of its culture and providing resources for employees to live healthier lives, and take better care of themselves, they will be happier at work and more engaged and motivated to perform better. With the knowledge that one's employers care not only about their work but also about them on a human/personal level, they will be able to have a better connection to the organization and are less likely to leave.
4. Keep an open communication channel: This is particularly true for HR and Team leaders; how do you keep your organization's pulse? Preventing burnout begins with recognizing when and how it occurs.
So, in order to get a proper prevention program in place, you must keep your employees informed. Plan review meetings and appraisals, gather feedback, send out pulse surveys, and find out how people are feeling.
If you discover that people are happy, that's fantastic! However, if they are stressed or overworked, you may need to quickly devise initiatives to keep that spark alive before they burn out.
To Conclude
Employee burn has adverse effects on employee engagement and retention. By improving the employee experience, organizations can systematically target burnout. The employee experience encompasses an employee's entire journey with their organization. It encompasses all of an employee's interactions with the organization throughout the employee life cycle. From the culture of the organization to employee engagement programs, most employees at this point are looking for meaning and personal growth from their work.
If you are looking for interesting ways to engage your employees then we suggest you check out employee volunteerism for your employees. Engaging your employees in volunteering programs can help boost their morale, and give them a sense of belonging and purpose.
Chezuba is a platform that offers solutions for your employee engagement programs. With a gamified platform that offers over 1000 interesting volunteering projects for employees to choose from and an all-in-one management software for HRs to oversee your employee volunteerism, Chezuba has it all. Book a free demo to learn more.
Explore how corporate volunteering boosts employee engagement and mental health this World Mental Health Day.
August 5, 2022
Employee Burnout: A Current Overview
In this article, we will discuss what employee burnout is, the effect burnt-out employees have on your company, and how to combat it.
Employee burnout is a very serious issue. After all, your company could be exhausting its employees without even realizing it! Whether it is virtual meeting marathons, multitasking, or sending emails after work, burnout can take many forms, but the end result is the same: demotivated employees, reduced productivity, and unsatisfactory corporate performance.
Employee Burnout, according to Gallup's recent report, Causes and Cures found that 76 percent of employees experience burnout on the job occasionally, and 28 percent report being burned out "very frequently" or "always".
Overwork is commonly assumed to be the sole cause of occupational burnout. And the most common ways to recover from burnout are to work fewer hours, take a vacation, take a day off, or do anything that does not constitute work. Employee burnout is caused by factors other than the number of hours people work each week.
Burnout risk increases significantly when employees work more than 50 hours per week and rises even further after 60 hours. However, how people perceive their workload has a greater impact on burnout than the number of hours worked. In this article, we will look at the symptoms, causes, and strategies for preventing employee burnout in your organization.
What Does Employee Burnout Mean?
Employee burnout is a type of workplace stress recognized even by the World Health Organization (WHO), in which employees experience general dissatisfaction with their work as well as multiple levels of exhaustion, including mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. As a result, the employee doesn't feel up to the task of their daily work and therefore is typically disinterested and disengaged in their work or area of expertise, resulting in mental distance and overall decreased productivity.
Organizationally, this often results in higher staff turnover and defections, reduced employee engagement, and has a detrimental effect on workplace culture, which can have a negative impact on overall business performance. Employees' desire to learn and grow is reduced by work burnout. When employees display these signs of burnout, the majority of their energy and focus is on getting through the day rather than developing for the future.
Identifying Whether Your Employees Are Experiencing a Burnout
Employee burnout isn't a sudden occurrence and tends to happen over a period of time. If you want to know whether your employees are facing burnout, these performance metrics are great indicators:
Sickness - Increased employee absenteeism due to illness can indicate that your employees are facing burnout and may cost your company working days. According to research, employees who frequently experience work burnout are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 23% more likely to visit the emergency room.
Errors at Work - Employees experiencing burnout may make more mistakes on a daily basis because they are less careful about what they are doing. This could be due to a lack of interest and passion for the job at hand.
Motivation - A lack of motivation leads to a lack of innovation and productivity. If you believe there has been a brain drain at your company but no one has left, you may be suffering from burnout.
Turnover - Higher staff turnover and attrition rates, as well as employees leaving the company more quickly, can result not only in fewer employees but also in higher overall recruiting costs.
Leading Causes for Employee Burnout
The increasingly fast-paced, complex, and demanding nature of modern workplaces can lead to burnout in even the best employees. Many employees are overwhelmed at work by competing priorities and contrasting expectations most jobs have from them. And advanced technology has made it easier to access people at any time, blurring the line between the work and home lives of most people. Some of the leading causes of employees burnout are:
Workplace discrimination - When your employees are forced to work in conditions where they aren’t respected or their work isn’t respected, they are putting in a lot more effort on a regular basis to stay motivated and perform better. The need to constantly put in more effort than their colleagues might drive them to burnout.
More work than they can handle - Overwork or having too much to do can manifest itself in various ways. Some people are affected by the long hours they work, whereas others are affected more by the number of tasks they must complete or the complexity of their work. Employees who wholeheartedly agree that they always have too much to do are twice as likely to report experiencing burnout at work very frequently or always.
Managers' lack of support - Manager support is critical to avoiding burnout. Manager support acts as a psychological buffer, letting employees understand that their leader has their back even when problems arise. Employees who strongly agree that their manager supports them are approximately 70% less likely to experience burnout on a regular basis.
Workplace Culture and Management Style - Both workplace culture and management style can have a significant impact on burnout. Employees who do not enjoy coming into the office or even opening their laptops every morning to begin work may experience burnout quickly. The same holds true if their managers put them under pressure or micromanage them.
Solutions To Employee Burnout
Combating employee burnout can help your organization and employees tremendously. Much like a stitch in time saves nine situations, the earlier you can identify whether your employees are facing burnout and acting on it, the easier it will be for you to engage your employees and prevent brain drain at your company. There are a few ways to ensure your employees feel heard and supported at your organization.
1. Eliminate Multitasking: Consider multitasking a piece of history. Studies have found that switching between responsibilities does not increase productivity — it decreases productivity and increases stress! Give your team a clear work plan and communicate which tasks are a priority. Your employees will be able to manage their time more effectively if they create to-do lists for themselves.
Fewer interruptions and switching lead to increased productivity, focus, and happier employees! Overall, this is a critical component of how we view strategic work as a competitive advantage for your company.
2. Establish Work-Life Balance: Work-life balance has become an extremely important topic in the last decade or so. Not only for employees but also for organizations that must assist in achieving this balance. As tempting as it is to delegate work to employees to finish over their weekend, being mindful of their personal time can help in preventing burnout to a very large extent.
Your employees should feel free to focus solely on their lives and there should be weekend email policies enforced. In case a manager has sent out work to an employee over the weekend and they have failed to respond to the intimation, they shouldn't be penalized for it.
3. Make employee well-being a part of your company's culture: If an organization's culture encourages employees to work excessively long hours, work during personal time, and generally prioritize work over family, employees may come to resent their jobs and workplaces.
Making your employee's well-being a priority of its culture and providing resources for employees to live healthier lives, and take better care of themselves, they will be happier at work and more engaged and motivated to perform better. With the knowledge that one's employers care not only about their work but also about them on a human/personal level, they will be able to have a better connection to the organization and are less likely to leave.
4. Keep an open communication channel: This is particularly true for HR and Team leaders; how do you keep your organization's pulse? Preventing burnout begins with recognizing when and how it occurs.
So, in order to get a proper prevention program in place, you must keep your employees informed. Plan review meetings and appraisals, gather feedback, send out pulse surveys, and find out how people are feeling.
If you discover that people are happy, that's fantastic! However, if they are stressed or overworked, you may need to quickly devise initiatives to keep that spark alive before they burn out.
To Conclude
Employee burn has adverse effects on employee engagement and retention. By improving the employee experience, organizations can systematically target burnout. The employee experience encompasses an employee's entire journey with their organization. It encompasses all of an employee's interactions with the organization throughout the employee life cycle. From the culture of the organization to employee engagement programs, most employees at this point are looking for meaning and personal growth from their work.
If you are looking for interesting ways to engage your employees then we suggest you check out employee volunteerism for your employees. Engaging your employees in volunteering programs can help boost their morale, and give them a sense of belonging and purpose.
Chezuba is a platform that offers solutions for your employee engagement programs. With a gamified platform that offers over 1000 interesting volunteering projects for employees to choose from and an all-in-one management software for HRs to oversee your employee volunteerism, Chezuba has it all. Book a free demo to learn more.
Together, we can create a world where no one is denied the chance to gain literacy skills. Let’s stand united in promoting education for all and commit to actions that drive lasting change.
Good corporate citizenship is a must, not a nice one to have. It's a "must-have" if you want your business to stay accountable, successful, and competitive. Employee engagement is boosted by strong corporate citizenship, and when we're all engaged, good things happen.
Employee engagement is a critical factor that directly impacts a company's productivity, retention, and overall success. The statistics we've highlighted not only shed light on the current state of employee engagement but also underscore the pressing need for organizations to prioritize it.
Chezuba can play a crucial role in this journey by providing personalized volunteering opportunities that align with employees' skills and passions, further enhancing their engagement and connection to the company's mission.
Celebrating the 4th of July at work is an excellent way to build team spirit, promote a sense of community, and acknowledge the significance of independence.
Every action, no matter how small, contributes to the larger goal of nature conservation. This World Nature Conservation Day, take a step towards making a difference. Whether through volunteering, adopting sustainable habits, or supporting conservation efforts, your commitment can help protect and preserve our planet for future generations. Together, we can create a more sustainable and thriving world.
Celebrating Nelson Mandela International Day through corporate volunteering is a powerful way to honour Mandela’s legacy and contribute to social change. By engaging in diverse and impactful activities, companies can create meaningful experiences for their employees, strengthen community ties, and make a lasting difference.
Together, we can create a world where no child is robbed of their childhood. Let’s stand united against child labor and commit to actions that drive lasting change.
World Environment Day offers a unique opportunity to make a tangible difference in the fight against environmental degradation. By volunteering, you not only support critical conservation efforts but also gain personal benefits such as new skills, improved well-being, and strengthened community ties.
By building strong internal support, companies can harness the full potential of their CSR programs, creating a better future for their employees, communities, and the planet.
Read the article to learn how empowering employees in corporate volunteering programs fosters a sense of purpose among employees and significantly improves retention rates.
Implementing these strategies can help companies not only achieve their corporate citizenship goals but also create positive social and environmental impacts while driving long-term business success. By embracing responsibility, fostering inclusivity, and collaborating effectively, businesses can contribute meaningfully to societal well-being while enhancing their reputation and competitiveness in the market.
May Day is a day to reflect on the progress made in labor rights, honor workers' contributions, and celebrate unity within organizations. By incorporating these engaging and meaningful activities into your May Day celebrations, you create a positive and inclusive workplace culture.
Engaging employee giving and employee volunteering activities on World Health Day can foster a culture of well-being and employee satisfaction. Read the article to learn more.
By going along with these trends, companies can help make the future more sustainable and become leaders in their fields. As time goes on, it is important to stay committed to business social responsibility and work toward making the world fair and prosperous for everyone.
The emergence of employee volunteering and engagement as prominent trends in CSR reflects a broader shift towards more holistic and inclusive approaches to corporate social responsibility.
Virtual volunteering offers a number of benefits for both volunteers and nonprofits. Read the article to learn more about the future of Nonprofit support in the USA.
Read our in-depth blog post about the significant advantages of Volunteer Time Off (VTO) as a Corporate Social Responsibility tool and how it helps both workers and employers.
In this evolving world of businesses, employee engagement is more important than ever. Read the blog to learn about the evolving trends and its significance in business growth.
Running a company is hard. But it’s not just the business you have to handle, employee satisfaction also matters a lot. The employee giving program can help you with this aspect.
Studies have shown that businesses with strong corporate CSR programs can build deeper connections with employees, customers, and other key stakeholders.
Corporate social responsibility is a form of self-regulation that reflects a company's accountability and commitment to the well-being of society through environmental and social measures. It plays an important role in brand perception, appealing to employees, customers, and investors alike.
This article is designed to help you understand the modern employee and how to create a workplace that is conducive to their personal and professional growth.
This article is about the importance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the volunteer opportunities that are available to people with disabilities.
We address the increasing importance of employee purpose and have also attempted to explain how your leadership team can make adjustments to integrate meaningful work as part of your company culture.
Concept notes are one of the first steps to take when trying to secure funding for your projects. We have listed out what a concept note is, its importance, and tips to draft a great concept note.
10th of October of every year is as World Mental Health Day by the WHO but your employees' mental health matters all year round. We have listed a few changes you can make to your organization to cater to the mental health needs of your employees.
This report provides an analysis of the current state of the global workplace and the impact of the pandemic on productivity and how the term “productivity paranoia” came about.
Here’s a brief overview of what diversity and inclusion are and why it is a must for your organization. This blog will be most resourceful to aid you in creating and maintaining diversity in your workplace.
Companies can aid society, engage remote employees in developing their skills, and even improve brand reputation by fostering a culture of giving through virtual volunteering.
Employees are typically the backbone of any firm, and a firm's success depends on the well-being of its employees. Discover how you can properly support your employees' mental health.
As we go about your daily operations, we are bound to hit few snags. Finding a quick fix to these issues can help in the short run, but the most viable solution is to focus on finding the root problem and address it. Let's learn how using the 5 Whys Tool.
This article is meant to give you an idea of the benefits of corporate social responsibility. It will give you an idea of how to implement it into your business and how to reap the benefits for years to come.
In this article, we discuss why employees are leaving the workplace increasingly to focus on their mental health and a few changes you can make to your workplace to combat this issue.
This article is an introduction to the concept of corporate citizenship and how it relates to business. It explains what it means to be a good corporate citizen and how it can be applied to your business.
By measuring the impact your nonprofit creates, you will be able to provide your donors with transparency and the knowledge of how they are able to help make a difference in the world. Learn how with this article.
This article discusses the need for organizations to bridge the skills gap in today's economy. It discusses the current pandemic and how it has widened the existing skills gap, and how organizations can use the pandemic to their advantage.
This article is meant to give you a better understanding of how volunteering for a nonprofit can be a great way to use your skills to help those in need in your community.
Corporate philanthropy is a great way to get your employees to get more involved in their communities and to help them feel more connected to their work.
This article discusses the benefits of volunteering, and how it can be a transformative experience and a great way to connect with people and interact with new people.
This blog shows you how to keep track of your corporate volunteering program and evaluate its impact. It is essential to keep a record of your program's progress and evaluate it based on the results you get.
In this blog, we will discuss what virtual volunteering is, how it works, the pros of volunteering virtually and how you can become a virtual volunteer.
This article discusses the importance of creating meaningful volunteer opportunities for employees and 6 ways to improve the number of employees who participate in these programs.
This article talks about the importance of a board of directors for nonprofits, the benefits of having a board of directors, and their roles and responsibilities.
This article is about virtual corporate volunteering ideas that can be executed by your organization to engage employees and also support nonprofits and charities.
This article explains how employee purpose is a key factor in a better workforce, and how you can help your employees find it through your CSR strategies.
This article is about the benefits of having a business volunteering program. It is a great way to get your employees involved in the community and to get them to give their hundred percent to their work.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of the best practices that can be implemented to create successful international corporate volunteering programs.
This blog has discussed 6 easy steps to organize a successful company volunteer day. By following these steps, you will be able to ensure that your company's volunteer day will be a huge success.
This blog will give you a basic understanding of corporate philanthropy. It is important to understand what corporate philanthropy is and why your company should choose it as a part of your CSR strategy.
This article will discuss the Logframe technique and its application in project planning. It will also discuss the structure of the Logical Framework and its various components.
This article discusses how you can incorporate virtual volunteering into your corporate social responsibility strategy. It shows you how to create a virtual volunteering program that is aligned with your company's values and aligns with your CSR strategy.
This blog gives you an idea of how volunteering can help you advance your career and help you gain valuable work experience, showcase your skills and knowledge, and help you explore new career opportunities.
This article contains some fun ideas to celebrate Earth Day in your workplace. Earth Day is an annual celebration of the environmental movement's accomplishments and a reminder of the significance of long-term ecological sustainability.
This article discusses how technology is making corporate volunteering easier and more accessible for companies to use and incorporate into their CSR programs.
Here's how Chezuba connects you with incredible online volunteers who can help you engage and persuade your stakeholders to take action by creating compelling content.
window.cookieconsent.initialise({
"palette": {
"popup": {
"background": "#25305e"
},
"button": {
"background": "#14a7d0"
}
},
"theme": "classic",
"content": {
"message": "We use cookies to optimize your experience. Don't worry! We NEVER sell your data",
"dismiss": "Got it!",
"link": "Learn more",
"href": "https://app.chezuba.net/Home/PrivacyPolicy/"
}
});
var modal = document.getElementById("myModal");
// Get the form container within the modal
var formContainer = document.querySelector(
".book-demo-modal .form-container"
);
// Get the button that opens the modal
var btns = document.getElementsByClassName("book-demo-link");
// When the user clicks the button, open the modal
for (var i = 0; i < btns.length; i++) {
btns[i].onclick = function () {
modal.style.display = "block";
document.body.style.overflow = "hidden";
};
}
// When the user clicks anywhere outside of the form-container, close it
modal.onclick = function (event) {
modal.style.display = "none";
document.body.style.overflow = "auto"; // allow background to scroll again
};
// Stop propagation of the click event from the form-container to the modal
formContainer.onclick = function (event) {
event.stopPropagation();
};