The cost of employee burnouts

Like many in the world of HR, our resident experts are aware of the true cost of employee burnouts on both productivity and mental health.

The World Health Organisation defines a burnout as “a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been successfully managed”and research from within Capita suggests that stress is the biggest threat to workplace health, with being overworked coming a close second.

Feelings of depleted energy, negativity about one’s job and a reduction in professional efficiency. These are all be signs that you or someone in your team is suffering from a burnout.

Here are some ways to prevent a burnout:

Workers will quickly burn out if they have too much on their plates or feel as though they don’t have the required skills to complete their tasks.

To avoid this, set clear goals for your employees with reasonable deadlines. Regular check-ins can also be beneficial in making sure that employees aren’t overloaded. Investing in extra training for your staff will help to bridge the gap between the skills that they have and the skills that they need to do their best.

Nobody likes to be micromanaged!

Giving employees more autonomy over their day to day tasks could reduce stress and allows them to achieve their goals in whichever way works best for them!

Employees who aren’t fairly rewarded for their work will become much less passionate.

Of course, pay rises aren’t always an option – though it’s amazing how far a ‘thank you’ can go in making your employees feel recognised. Sharing the success stories of an employee is also an effective way to motivate the rest of your staff. Introducing other low-cost benefits is also an option; here at HR180 every employee has an Amazon voucher which they can gift to another member of the team who goes above and beyond for them.

Employees work best when they’re surrounded by supportive co-workers. Workers without a sense of community are much more likely to suffer from a burnout.

It’s important to build this sense of community, which can be achieved through team building activities and encouraging the cohesion of your team.

A burnout is often easier to prevent than it is to fix. If you’re concerned about your employees or the culture inside your company, our HR superheroes would be happy to help!