Burnout can be a serious issue. Stress or boredom is usually at the core of burnout, and the ramifications for those feelings being improperly managed over a period can be severe.
When an employee is suffering from burnout, they typically feel exhausted and struggle to remain focused and connected to their job. They may feel negatively about their work, causing their productivity to decline and the quality of their outputs to diminish.
Since burnout can be so harmful, it’s wise to intervene quickly. If you are seeing signs of burnout on your team, here’s what you can do to help.
Reach Out and Offer Help
If you notice that an employee has been struggling, the first step you should take is to ask if they are alright. Let them know that you’ve seen a change in their behavior (without being overly critical) and reassure them that you aren’t trying to be intrusive but that you’ve observed a new pattern and want to know if you could help out in any way.
At times, this small gesture is enough to encourage the employee to share what’s troubling them. It allows you to potentially discover the root issue, making it possible to identify action steps that can alleviate their stress or boredom.
Encourage Self-Care
When an employee is burning out, self-care can be critical. Whether that involves regular exercise, participating in hobbies they enjoy, or spending time with friends and family, ensuring your team has the ability to recharge is essential.
Make sure your employees have the ability to leave work at a reasonable hour and discourage or prevent them from monitoring work communications when they aren’t on the clock. Support employee vacation requests whenever possible, particularly if someone is showing signs of stress overload. Additionally, allow socializing to occur in the workplace when appropriate.
Adjust Their Responsibilities
If an employee is being crushed by the weight of their current workload, see if you can lighten their burden, at least temporarily. Examine what is on your other workers’ plates and see if there might be a workload unbalance. If so, shift tasks over to other team members to make things fairer.
If the workloads are reasonably even, you may want to explore other options. For example, see which tasks the burned-out employee enjoys and see if there is a way for them to spend more time on those and less on the ones that don’t align with their passions. You could also explore hiring a temporary employee to offload some of the burden for a period, giving your team member a chance to regain their footing before shifting the tasks back onto their plate.
Managing a Team That’s At-Capacity? Looking to Hire?
In the end, it’s critical that you take action if one of your employees is burning out. Otherwise, productivity can suffer dramatically. With the steps above, you can do your part to help, giving your worker a chance to improve and get back to a better place. If you’d like to learn more, the staff at TRC Talent Solutions can help. Contact us today and see how our stress management expertise can benefit you.
