Burnout is defined as a state of utter physical, mental, and emotional weariness that prevents a person from performing even basic daily chores, let alone working to their full ability.

Why is Employee Burnout Prevention necessary?

Aside from the humane reasons behind pushing for Employee Burnout Prevention, there are significant organizational benefits. Burnout causes a turbulent company structure, cracks within the hierarchy, low productivity, low attendance and high employee turnover. Employee turnover can have a big influence on a company’s bottom line. It is projected that replacing an employee will cost 90 percent to 200 percent of the employee’s annual compensation.

So, if your workload is increasing and your engagement is waning, it’s time to bring a change. The first step to prevention, is assessment.

Assessment of Burnout

Although work from home and telework appear to provide more freedom and a better work-life balance, this is not always the case. It can all be too easy to substitute overwork, anxiety, and an inability to detach from the stresses of the workplace.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management 41% of employees feel burnt out during the pandemic.If you suspect you or someone is at risk of burnout, here are the top three assessment of burnout signs:

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
2. Increased mental distance from the job
3. Reduced professional efficacy

How companies can address WFH burnout

Recognizing and preventing work-from-home burnout is the first step toward resolving the problem. Next is taking active measures to prevent it. 37% of employees reported having done nothing to cope with these feelings. 

We have enlisted insightful tips for companies to prevent burnout and protect employee retention. 

Ways managers can prevent burnout at work

1. Recognize and accept the problem
Managers should be prepared with information on what work from home burnout is, what causes it, how to avoid it, and how to deal with it if it arises. Organizations may help by investing in mindfulness programs that help managers develop the skills they need to recognize the problem and deal with it in a compassionate manner.

2. Reduce Online meet fatigue
As work went remote, so did the meetings. Naturally, video conferencing services like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and others became the go-to solution for any type of meeting or contact. A simple mail, message, or voice call can be used to start a conversation. Managers must balance between several modes of communication that are best suited to specific scenarios.

3. Mind the workload and mails
Employees can become exhausted at all levels if they are forced to work 12-14 hours a day with emails every other minute. Managers must be aware of the maximum amount of work that any employee can handle and ensure that the work assigned to them does not exceed that limit.

4. Encourage Boundaries
Weekends and other unscheduled times should be considered sacred and untouchable by the workplace. Managers may advise their employees to take a break now and again to relax, rejuvenate, and de-stress.

While managers can adopt insightful strategies to prevent employee burnout from work from home, some steps can be conducted at the corporate level too:

Building the right managerial leadership to prevent burnout

Preventing remote work burnout is not a one-click solution.  It necessitates managers who are empathic, have great interpersonal and communication skills, and genuinely care about their employees’ well-being. Organizations can collaborate with employee database management systems like Emgage to provide managers with subtle behavioral nudges based on cloud-based data to assist them in leading their staff.

What Causes Burnout?

The ultimate list of factors that lead to employee burnout: 

1. Monotonous work
Repeatedly completing the same tasks is not only laborious, mind-numbing, and tedious, but it can also lead to burnout.

2. Career stagnation
If you don’t provide opportunities for your staff to grow, their productivity, job happiness, and performance will suffer.

3. Non-existent employee recognition
It’s a major turn-off to deliver your best accomplishments and not be recognized and appreciated properly.

4. Mythical work-life balance
A person becomes fatigued, bored, unhappy, and burned out if they do not take time off from their job. Everyone requires alone time, time with their families, and time to pursue their interests.

5. Job requirements impossible to meet
Inability to complete tasks, failure to meet deadlines, and frequent multitasking can all contribute to increased stress.

Even under the best of conditions, employee burnout is a cause of concern, more so in times as trying as these. It becomes even more important to be vigilant now.