Can you spot the 6 classic causes of burnout?
Just because our colleagues have been at home doesn’t mean they haven’t suffered symptoms of burnout. In fact, while remote working is often perceived as a way to work more freely, it has been known to increase the likelihood of burnout. According to a study at TollFreeForwarding.com, 55% of people have considered leaving their job due to lack of support following a burnout. Further, over 36% of participants who took part in this study said that they felt burnt out at least once a week.
The above study was conducted in 2019, and does not consider the extraneous stresses imposed upon colleagues over the past 3 months. For example, not only have your colleagues or employees had potentially no access to childcare, but it’s more than likely that they have been home-schooling, been impacted financially due to partner redundancies, had limited or no access to hobbies or exercise as well as been suffering the mental impacts of the pandemic itself.
As we return to our offices, we must know the typical causes of burnout and how to spot and prevent this in ourselves as well as colleagues and employees:
- Workload – workload exceeds capacity, and there is no opportunity to rest, restore and rebalance. This is particularly likely, as by working from home and being restricted by government imposed Lockdown, it is difficult to keep home and work spaces separate. Are you working from home, or sleeping at work?..
- Perceived lack of control – lack of autonomy, lack of resource, always having to be on call or at the end of the phone even outside of office hours. It is an understandable reaction for Managers to feel the need to check in on their team more regularly, especially if their team is usually tightly-knit and office based. However, constant calls and emails can be perceived as micro-managing and can have a negative effect on employees and team morale.
- Reward – Is the time and effort you are investing worth the payoff? This is not limited to financial reward, but can be as simple as acknowledgement and appreciation for members of the team who may be going above and beyond to support colleagues or improve processes.
- Community – Are your relationships at work built on trust, support and positivity within your team? While it is difficult for Managers and Business Owners to keep morale high at this time, it is important to maintain relationships within the team. Your senior management team should be able to support you in this.
- Fairness – are your efforts recognised or are others credited with your work? This again ties in with Community, Reward and Workload. How would you feel if you had completed an important piece of work and not only gone without recognition but found that a colleague had been credited with your work?
- Value misalignment – Do your personal values align with the business’ brand values? Has there been a shift in values over the past 3 months which is making you less motivated? Businesses have changed a great deal since the start of 2020 and will continue to do so – and that is okay. However, it’s important, not only from a Marketing and Customer Experience perspective but for your colleagues and employees too that your core brand values and beliefs remain true.
Key takeaway: You could hire the best team in the industry, but if they aren’t looked after appropriately, the chances are you could lose them to burnout. For more support on avoiding burnout, and the processes and team management systems you can put in place, check out our website and get in touch.
Let’s make sure we look after ourselves and each other as we continue to venture into the new normal!
Click the link to find out more about our Business Coaching Programmes.
