Employee Burnout occurs when employees are in a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
It occurs when employees feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.
Signs of employee burnout include:
- Poor sleep habits, where employees seem groggy or overly tired on the Zoom calls.
- Lost Motivation, where employees no longer seem to have the drive to perform.
- Increased Mistakes & Poor Memory, where employees are making more mistakes than normal and they’re forgetful.
- Decision-Making Struggles. Employees struggle to give clear responses to questions.
- Irritable. Employees are arguing more with co-workers, and management.
To rectify employee burnout, employers need to strongly encourage employees to use their vacation time. In a pandemic world, most people are reluctant to take vacation time, because they associate vacations and traveling somewhere. Staycations are helpful if proper boundaries around work are used.
Another step is to establish boundaries around working hours. Since the pandemic, many employees became full-time school teachers as well, due to lockdowns and in-class school being shifted to remote learning. Encouraging employees to shut down work by early evening is crucial to maintain wellbeing among your team.
Crucial steps to prevent employee burnout include:
- Encouraging employees to get proper sleep. Maintaining a no work hours policy, and encouraging employees to get 7-8 hours of restful sleep is critical for restful and healing sleep.
- Providing employees access to a dietitian or nutritionist will help employees eat healthier, which gives them the natural energy to perform and navigate stressful situations, without the sugary and highly caffeinated “pick-me-ups” that are often the go-to for employees.
- Encourage employees to get more active. Walking check-in calls instead of zoom calls will help employees get in some more activity, instead of being chained to their desk (or chair/couch if working remotely.)
It’s key for employees (and employers) to focus on other areas of their lives as well, because those out of work activities bring harmony to our lives.