Employee engagement
Have you ever just felt completely exhausted at work?
You’re burnt out.
Like a sizzling matchstick underwater or a candle at the end of its wick.
Losing concentration, missing deadlines, having frequent self-critical thoughts, and feeling exhausted are all common warnings signs of burnout.
The term “burnout” is defined as a state of mental and physical exhaustion that can completely rid any joy or passion from your life, whether this is your career, friendships, love life, or family relationships.
A recent report from Indeed shows employee burnout has majorly increased over the last year, with 52% of respondents feeling burnt out, and 67% saying the feeling of burnout has worsened through the pandemic.
53% of remote employees claim they are now working more hours than when in the office. With no physical workplace to leave, many employees find it challenging to establish strict working hours and are unable to “unplug” from work.
There are plenty of ways to help avoid burnout, but we’ve picked our top three tips below:
Employees know when certain topics are “box-ticking” exercises. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: popping up mental health posters around the office is not nearly enough to support employees needs.
Let teams know that no matter how they’re feeling, they should be honest and reach out for support should they want to.
If there is insufficient support within your organisation (we highly recommend training people up to become Mental Health First Aiders or a dedicated Wellbeing Team!), make sure you have a good pack of information to direct those struggling in the right direction.
From local GPs to specific helplines and charities, there will always be support out there. But first, employees need to know they can communicate without fear of judgement.
If employees struggle with a return to the traditional 9-5 working hours or with overworking at home, a good idea would be to introduce flexi-time.
Flexi-time can:
The employee experience is critical to organisational growth – get your company culture right, and you’ll keep your teams happy.
If your employees are happy, then they avoid burnout.
Simple, right?
The employee experience is literally everything an employee experiences at work: learning and development, interactions with managers and teams, you name it.
Why is the employee experience important?
Happy employees are up to 13% more productive at work, and businesses with engaged workforces can outperform their peers by up to 147%.
Unhappy employees, on the other hand, cost the UK an estimated £340billion per year.
Ready to avoid employee burnout in your office?
Speak to our experts – they’ll help you figure out exactly how to introduce mindfulness within your teams and manage long-term wellbeing in the workplace.
Mara has a passion for promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion across global workplaces and hopes to inspire learners to focus on their own careers with self-directed learning content.
