Understanding how important it is to know how to manage burnout in ourselves, knowing how to manage burnout in burned-out employees - if this is your case - is just as important.
Last week we talked about 3 of 6 key tips to improve the quality of life of your employees and prevent them from suffering burnoutat work.
Today we will continue with the other three:
- Give employees a voice
Talking to employees and asking them to express their frustrations or practice problems is a useful way to prevent or manage burnout .
When they feel they have no control over their circumstances or that they are not being heard, they begin to feel powerless in their situation.as a leader, conduct informal check-ins and welcome open conversations to give them the opportunity and comfort to share. When employees communicate, really listen to them, even if the instinctive reaction is to become defensive.
- Encourages "painkillers" for stress
One way to motivate employees and reduce stress is to encourage them to find ways in their day to relieve stress themselves.
Allow them to listen to music while they work, be flexible in working hours where possible, allow casual dress (either regularly or on designated days), and offer them the possibility to work remotely where appropriate.
Showing them that you trust them to carry out their tasks will go a long way to showing them that you care about their well-being and happiness.
- Make mental health a priority
Normalise mental health care. There are many ways to show them that their mental health is just as important. Some ways you can do this include:
- Build brain breaks into the day. If an employee needs to take a 5-minute break to breathe and step away from the desk, don't just allow it without resistance, recognise it as healthy in its own right.
- Establish and promote a strong Employee Assistance Program that includes mental health counselling, financial counselling, addiction counselling and other services to help them with the stress they bring to theworkplace.
It is vitally important to recognise that making productivity targets (often unrealistic) a priority over employee well-being will not only harm the individuals within the company, but the company as a whole.
