Preventing burnout is important for both your employees and for yourself. It might feel like the business can’t do without you, but working too hard actually hurts productivity, not to mention having detrimental health effects. We become less resilient and short-tempered when burned out, which can hurt team performance or irritate customers. The main three business principles to prevent burnout are sufficient vacation time, optimal workloads, and regular positive feedback.
Vacation Time
Encourage employees to take time off – both the occasional day off and also longer vacations. Make sure to have a positive reaction when they ask for time off, rather than thinking of the logistical headaches it might create. Make sure that the company culture actually values (not just pays lip service) work-life balance, and model good self-care as the owner of the company. Sometimes, employees need to be reminded so that they don’t push themselves too hard. Sometimes you have to remind yourself, too.
According to SHRM, the most successful employees are those who use their vacation time. They return to work replenished. If employees don’t take a vacation during the year, they fall into a slump and are at risk of burnout. Not being able to take a vacation can also indicate an inefficient company, where all hands are always needed to solve the crisis of the day, or one person is holding on to too much thinking they are the “only one” who can get it done. If that is the boss, the entire organization suffers.
Ideally, employees would take three or four weeks of vacation every year. Not many US companies can offer sufficient paid vacation time, so you may want to set productivity goals that come with paid days off, or at least allow for as much telecommuting as is reasonable for your industry.
Balanced Workloads
Creative Safety Supply says that refraining from overburdening employees promotes good workflow and helps prevent fatigue. You should maintain optimal staffing to avoid overburdening employees. Making sure more than one person knows how to do any one task is a good system. Keeping each employee working on what they are best at can help reduce stress without reducing the amount of work to be done. There are many ways to approach job satisfaction. Find out what is important to your workers.
Some companies plan mindfulness activities or setting up a mindfulness space where employees can and relax for a few minutes. Some health insurance plans reward participants for healthy habits.
Remember to lead by example. You don’t want to overwork yourself either. Keep your own workload reasonable, delegate, and make time to play.
Providing Positive Feedback
Employees feel happy when they are given praise even if it’s something minor. You should give positive feedback frequently to help prevent employee burnout. Try to catch your employees in the act of doing something good and recognize them publicly. Don’t wait until the annual review!
15Five recommends that whenever you need to provide constructive criticism or point out a mistake, be careful with your words to avoid hurting their morale. Start off discussing what went well, then go into what needs improvement, then finish with something encouraging. This is sometimes referred to as a “compliment sandwich”. Providing feedback in this way keeps employees working at their best.
Chronic stress has a detrimental effect on a person’s health. Burnout isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a real medical issue and a form of chronic stress. Prevent employee burnout by implementing the three business principles above. Employees need to have sufficient paid vacation time and balanced workloads to stay healthy as well as productive. Providing regular positive feedback also helps to keep them motivated.
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