How to Protect Your Employees from Burnout?

Burnout is considered a disconnect between what people are and what they should do and is typically experienced as emotional exhaustion or depersonalization.

Employee burnout syndrome is also known as occupational burnout or employee burnout. Employee burnout has been declared an "occupational phenomenon" in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases. Burnout syndrome, which is one of the most important issues to be dealt with in order to maintain work-life balance, can also be defined as chronic stress originating from the work environment. This syndrome, which has a direct impact on employee motivation and engagement, can be avoided by making meaningful company culture decisions and taking appropriate measures.

There are five important factors associated with employee burnout;

• To be treated unfairly
• Excessive workload
• Unclear communication
• Lack of administrative support
• Unreasonable time pressure

So, what can be done to prevent employee burnout syndrome? 

1. When assigning tasks, be realistic.

Delegate some difficult, but not overwhelming, work. The workload will change over the period. When assigning a task, underlining why it is important for the company's goals and the career development of the employee will create a wall against the burnout syndrome despite the intensifying workload and ensuring employee engagement. You can also do this by reducing the number of tasks a person or team is working on. 

2. Emphasize the importance of doing business with passion.

Ascertain that each member of your team is in a position where they will feel the most successful and enthusiastic. Create new positions or be willing to move talented employees to positions where they will be more enthusiastic. Make sure you know your employees well; at this point, you can discover the potentials of your employees and create individual career development strategies by blending the personality inventories and the results of 360-degree performance evaluations repeated every six months.

3. Allow for side projects.

Allow your employees to spend some time working on a work-related side project that they are passionate about. Remember that some of Google's most innovative ideas came from a side project started by an employee. Side projects will be beneficial in order to save your employees from the intense and sometimes monotonous workload and to differentiate their talent development.

4. Establish reasonable working hours.

Employees' ability to work a certain number of hours varies. Some people are willing to work 120 hours per week, while others may want to retire early. Don't put too much pressure on your employees. Make time for sick days, paid time off, and vacation days.

5. Be mindful of breaks.

Allow and encourage your employees to take a one-hour lunch break, as well as 15-minute breaks throughout the day. It will be beneficial for them to use this time to go for a walk, socialize, make personal phone calls, or stretch.

6. Be flexible.

When a deadline or goal is unrealistic, change it to make more sense. Reevaluate the situation if someone assigned to a role isn't the right person for the job.

7. Define specific roles.

Ensure that each employee has a clear job description, understands their responsibilities, and is aware of the contributions expected of them in the workplace.  In the orientation program you present to your new employees, make sure that they and their team understand their job descriptions well. For example, you can include questions in the evaluation surveys you will make at the end of the orientation. At the same time, you can share your organization chart on your mobile intranet page, allowing your employees to access their teammates and job descriptions whenever they want.

8. Provide your team with the necessary tools.

Provide your employees with the tools they require to keep things running smoothly. Include people-oriented internal communication practices that will be adopted by everyone in order to ensure effective internal communication for the entire company, in addition to tools related to business processes.

9. Invest in your team's training.

Ensure that your employees have access to all job-related information so that they can improve themselves. Wherever your teams are, you can offer a sustainable development journey by directing their online training to your employees' mobiles. By providing development opportunities, you will be able to maintain employee engagement.

10. Spend time.

Managers should devote time to listening to and assessing employee concerns. In the 1-1 meetings you will hold with your employees periodically, you can evaluate their career developments together, listen to their needs and give mutual feedback.

11. Establish a positive company culture.

Make being helpful one of your company's values. Encourage and reward supportive behavior at all times. With the digital suggestion system, you can collect regular feedback from the employees and follow up on what kind of problems they encounter.

12. Encourage socialization.

A moderate level of socialization is best for bonding between employees and teams. Allow employees to socialize freely during breaks, lunch, or after work.

With the above actions, you can protect your teams from burnout syndrome. You can balance work and life with fun internal communication, orientation, regular feedback, online training, and competency-oriented performance evaluations that you can carry out through Sorwe.