Not all stress is bad. In fact, stress can be productive when it motivates you to take positive action toward a goal—such as studying for a test—and then subsides after the action is taken. But excessive stress that persists is unhealthy and associated with burnout.
Burnout is a state of complete physical or emotional exhaustion. Employees can experience burnout from unrelenting and unrealistic deadlines, chronic work overload, or even unresolved conflict with colleagues or managers.
Burnout also has been shown to be closely associated with certain personality traits, such as high levels of neuroticism and low levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion.
Rising burnout harms employees and organizations
Unfortunately, despite employers’ increased investments in employee well-being, burnout is a growing problem. According to a recent large-scale employee survey, nearly 6 in 10 of employees (59%) are experiencing at least a moderate level of burnout, and almost 1 in 4 (23%) are experiencing high burnout.
Employees struggling with habitual burnout often gradually disengage and may even develop physical or mental health challenges. And when burnout becomes pervasive across the workforce, employers can suffer, too. Higher absenteeism, reduced productivity, low morale, and costly turnover are some of the common consequences of widespread burnout. Organizations also may face higher healthcare costs and worsening customer satisfaction.
How can you identify burnout?
Signs of burnout vary from person to person. You might see an employee fall behind on tasks or make uncharacteristic mistakes. Or you might see them opt out of work get-togethers or lose patience with their co-workers for the first time.
If you spot any signs of chronic stress or burnout, it’s important to start a conversation to find out how an employee is feeling. Ask them individually in a one-on-one meeting and consider implementing an anonymous survey to find out more about employee well-being across the organization.
These approaches may reveal some of the emotional aspects of burnout, such as cynicism, disillusionment about work, or a feeling of not belonging. Burned out employees also may feel unable to celebrate their achievements. For more on spotting burnout, check out 5 signs of employee burnout you could be overlooking.
Helping employees tackle burnout
There are a number of ways to help employees combat burnout. A digital mental health platform such as Calm Health can help support employees struggling with stress before it becomes chronic, for example.
But a critical first step in preventing stress and burnout is establishing a positive workplace culture. Here are some strategies for bringing about change and better supporting the well-being of team members.
Talk and listen
Talking and listening may seem like “soft” actions that won’t necessarily have any concrete impact. According to research by Gallup, however, an employee whose manager is always willing to listen to their work-related problems is 62% less likely to be burned out.
Ask your employee how they’re feeling and work together to find solutions that can make an immediate impact, e.g., finding additional resources to help or offering short-term flexibility in their work hours or environment. Remember to offer positive reinforcement, which can go a long way toward helping someone feel appreciated.
Combat overwork
A heavy workload and long working hours are often the main risk factors for burnout.
One study found a strong correlation between working 40+ hours per week and burnout—and the link was even stronger when the total topped 60 hours. Additional factors behind burnout include how long workers have to recover from a long day, their level of emotional investment in their work, and how much control they have over their working hours.
If your teams are consistently working longer than expected hours, you need to act. Consider reviewing the tasks allocated to employees. Assess how work is distributed across the team and whether some employees have the bandwidth to help relieve peers with heavy workloads.
You may also need to consider whether there’s a culture of overwork in your company, and how incentives and personal values are linked to workload. People may have an underlying reason to work long hours—even if you’re advising them not to do so.
Promote work-life balance
If your teams are spending excessive hours working, their life outside of work is likely to suffer. Simply being away from home, as well as lacking the energy or motivation for other aspects of life, can affect relationships with partners, children, and friends.
The first step to restoring balance is starting the conversation with your team members. How are they feeling? Are they able to maintain boundaries between work and their personal life? Together, brainstorm ways to strengthen those boundaries, e.g., by turning off notifications after hours or establishing work hours in your calendar.
Cultivate a positive work environment
In a Calm survey of 4,000+ employees, nearly half of respondents (49%) used words such as “toxic” and “tumultuous” to describe their workplace environment. Only 35% used positive terms such as “supportive” and “fun.”
Unhealthy work environments can lead to chronic stress and burnout. Indeed, a study of nurses found that workplace bullying was strongly associated with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and an intention to leave
Workplace culture doesn’t change overnight—and to make change, the impetus needs to come from the top. As a leader, you decide what’s emphasized and valued within your workplace, which sends a message to employees about how they should approach their work and working relationships.
The UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development suggests that change works best when it’s guided by an overarching vision, but pursued in an incremental rather than dramatic way. (The prospect of sweeping changes and big upheavals can make people feel even more stressed.)
Make roles, expectations, and goals crystal clear
Lack of clarity in a job is stressful. If employees don’t know what’s expected of them, if strategy continuously changes, or if roles and responsibilities are cloudy, employees are at risk of burnout, particularly if they’re overworked as well.
Detailed job descriptions, clearly stated goals, objectives, and metrics (e.g., OKRs); and responsibility assignment matrices (e.g., RACI) are helpful tools you can use to ground team members in a shared understanding of what you’re trying to achieve and how. Regular one-on-one meetings, mid-year and annual performance reviews, and employee surveys are ways to assess how employees feel about their roles and the broader vision and strategy of the organization.
Lend a sympathetic ear
Finally, keep in mind that burnout could be linked to personal challenges outside work. You can always offer people the chance to talk, even if sympathy is all you can offer.
Creating an employee wellness program
Another important way to help combat burnout is by creating an employee wellness program. This is a program aimed at maintaining employees’ mental, emotional, and physical well-being through activities, on-site facilities, one-off events, and resources they can access anytime.
To learn more, read our post on Building an employee wellness program 101.
Mindfulness in the workplace
Activities like meditation can support employees struggling with stress. Resources on Calm Health and the Calm app offer a friendly, accessible way to explore mindfulness, relaxation, resilience, focus, and better sleep.
Tackling remote work burnout
Burnout may be associated with late nights in the office, but it can also affect remote workers who have difficulty setting clear boundaries between work and their personal sphere.
Make time to check in with remote workers one-on-one, and specifically ask them how they’re coping with remote working in terms of productivity, energy, maintaining focus, and preserving boundaries around their work.
For more on this topic from the employee perspective, check out our post on Working-from home resilience strategies.
Giving time off for burnout recovery
If an employee has become truly burned out, some time away from work might be the best way for them to regain their equilibrium. Think of it as a long-term investment in your people. You’re trading a few days of work now for more productive days, weeks, or months in the future.
After taking some time off, returning to work may be a time of anxiety for some employees. Consider easing them back into the routine with a less demanding schedule at first. You might also hold a few back-to-work meetings with them so they can share any concerns.
Above all, don’t assume that the problem will be solved by the time off in itself, and simply recreate the same situation that created burnout in the first place.
Recommit to curbing stress before it becomes burnout
Stress and burnout are serious workplace problems, but many of the most effective remedies are already within your grasp as a manager. Actively listening to your employees, providing them with resources for mental well-being, giving recognition, and providing a healthy, sustainable working environment can help stop the problem before it starts.
