Encourage Your Team to Take Leave and Prevent Burnout
When managing a team, burnout is a very real issue. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was major concern about burnout and mental health in the workplace.
A survey in 2018 of 1,000 full-time American professionals showed that 77% of them experienced burnout at their current job. This was even though 87% of professionals said that they remain passionate about their job.
And when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and most of the world went into lockdown, the incidences of burnout increased. The stress of working from home and staying connected 24/7 drove many to an unhealthy work-life imbalance. Social isolation, coupled with health concerns as well as the blurred divisions between home life and work life further worsened burnout.
Employees who burn out obviously become unproductive, but it is equally telling that burnout usually occurs in high performers that initially love their job and are greatly engaged with the business. Top employees who perform well when they first join the company but deteriorate over time are classic burnout victims. In fact, business owners themselves routinely report greater symptoms of burnout. Long-term, burnout can lead to health problems such as digestive issues, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
Tackling Burnout Starts from the Top
More often than not, burnout is the result of a dysfunctional culture with deep-rooted problems involving unhealthy social dynamics. The biggest drivers of burnout are:
- Lack of support and recognition from the organization
- Unrealistic expectations and/or deadlines
- Consistent long hours and/or working on weekends
- An inability to voice out or influence decisions that affect one’s job
- Colleagues that undermine confidence, for example office bullies or micromanaging bosses
- An extremely chaotic or unstructured workload without proper support
- Loss of belief in the organization’s purpose and leadership
- Social isolation, aggravated by the pandemic
Hence, it is contingent upon the organization’s leadership to tackle these causes head-on. Burnout is as much a state of exhaustion as it is a state of mind. The good thing is, more and more organizations are looking at taking care of employees’ mental health as a priority.
But while mental health and workplace culture contribute greatly to burnout, another risk factor that is often overlooked is the lack of rest and relaxation. As mentioned above, this factor can be easily missed as it is often the most enthusiastic, highest performing employees that are susceptible to burnout.
Rest and Recuperate
Aside from recognition and workload factors, encouraging your team to take leave is a great way to maintain their wellbeing. Like machines, humans cannot be expected to keep performing at high levels for extended periods of time.
Yet in today’s day and age, we’re expected to be on call pretty much around the clock, 365 days a year. Between family commitments, being active socially, and constantly working, we have almost no downtime for ourselves. This situation was exacerbated further during the pandemic as work and home life combined into one, stressful blur.
In addition, modern workplaces tend to have a culture that deems taking time off for rest as bad, making employees feel guilty for taking annual leave. As a result, many employees are hesitant to take time off because of increased workloads and concerns about job security.
However, such a culture misses the point. Rest and recuperation are just as important to productivity. Employees that are well-rested are more productive at work, take fewer sick days, and have a more positive attitude overall.
Therefore, your organization should have policies in place to encourage employees to take leave. Whether it is leave forfeited at the end of the year, or the ability to carry forward leave, you should tailor your leave policy to the nature of your business while also ensuring everyone gets enough rest. This culture should start from the top, where managers should also take breaks themselves.
Really, Truly Take a Break
Still, during time off, employees are also guilty of constantly being switched on, checking their emails first thing in the morning and replying to them, even if they have no obligation to. This detracts from truly resting and taking one’s mind off work even for just a day.
The prospect of returning to a pile of work is enough to negate the benefits of actually being away. But this can be managed with a little bit of planning and good teamwork. The worry of being unable to help customers or co-workers should be put to rest by team leaders to ensure a real break, by dividing work between team members. In turn, those that need a break can be assured of a real rest when out of the office.
On the employee’s side, they need to set clear boundaries around vacation time. This means no emails, no Slack messages, and most definitely no calls. The experience during the pandemic has shown the importance of ‘switching off’ to rest and prevent burnout. Curb that feeling of guilt and set expectations for all stakeholders. As a leader, you can start this trend by ignoring work communications outside working hours and at weekends, while expecting your employees to do the same.
While this isn’t a 100% cure for burnout, encouraging a culture where rest and relaxation is valued will help to maintain long-term wellness. In turn, this will help maintain the productivity and mental acuity of your team. Customers are also increasingly appreciating the honesty of work-life balance, recognizing that this too will bring benefits to them in the form of a greater customer experience.
Learn how BrioHR can simplify HR for your business by getting a free demo here.
When managing a team, burnout is a very real issue. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was major concern about burnout and mental health in the workplace.
A survey in 2018 of 1,000 full-time American professionals showed that 77% of them experienced burnout at their current job. This was even though 87% of professionals said that they remain passionate about their job.
And when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and most of the world went into lockdown, the incidences of burnout increased. The stress of working from home and staying connected 24/7 drove many to an unhealthy work-life imbalance. Social isolation, coupled with health concerns as well as the blurred divisions between home life and work life further worsened burnout.
Employees who burn out obviously become unproductive, but it is equally telling that burnout usually occurs in high performers that initially love their job and are greatly engaged with the business. Top employees who perform well when they first join the company but deteriorate over time are classic burnout victims. In fact, business owners themselves routinely report greater symptoms of burnout. Long-term, burnout can lead to health problems such as digestive issues, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
Tackling Burnout Starts from the Top
More often than not, burnout is the result of a dysfunctional culture with deep-rooted problems involving unhealthy social dynamics. The biggest drivers of burnout are:
- Lack of support and recognition from the organization
- Unrealistic expectations and/or deadlines
- Consistent long hours and/or working on weekends
- An inability to voice out or influence decisions that affect one’s job
- Colleagues that undermine confidence, for example office bullies or micromanaging bosses
- An extremely chaotic or unstructured workload without proper support
- Loss of belief in the organization’s purpose and leadership
- Social isolation, aggravated by the pandemic
Hence, it is contingent upon the organization’s leadership to tackle these causes head-on. Burnout is as much a state of exhaustion as it is a state of mind. The good thing is, more and more organizations are looking at taking care of employees’ mental health as a priority.
But while mental health and workplace culture contribute greatly to burnout, another risk factor that is often overlooked is the lack of rest and relaxation. As mentioned above, this factor can be easily missed as it is often the most enthusiastic, highest performing employees that are susceptible to burnout.
Rest and Recuperate
Aside from recognition and workload factors, encouraging your team to take leave is a great way to maintain their wellbeing. Like machines, humans cannot be expected to keep performing at high levels for extended periods of time.
Yet in today’s day and age, we’re expected to be on call pretty much around the clock, 365 days a year. Between family commitments, being active socially, and constantly working, we have almost no downtime for ourselves. This situation was exacerbated further during the pandemic as work and home life combined into one, stressful blur.
In addition, modern workplaces tend to have a culture that deems taking time off for rest as bad, making employees feel guilty for taking annual leave. As a result, many employees are hesitant to take time off because of increased workloads and concerns about job security.
However, such a culture misses the point. Rest and recuperation are just as important to productivity. Employees that are well-rested are more productive at work, take fewer sick days, and have a more positive attitude overall.
Therefore, your organization should have policies in place to encourage employees to take leave. Whether it is leave forfeited at the end of the year, or the ability to carry forward leave, you should tailor your leave policy to the nature of your business while also ensuring everyone gets enough rest. This culture should start from the top, where managers should also take breaks themselves.
Really, Truly Take a Break
Still, during time off, employees are also guilty of constantly being switched on, checking their emails first thing in the morning and replying to them, even if they have no obligation to. This detracts from truly resting and taking one’s mind off work even for just a day.
The prospect of returning to a pile of work is enough to negate the benefits of actually being away. But this can be managed with a little bit of planning and good teamwork. The worry of being unable to help customers or co-workers should be put to rest by team leaders to ensure a real break, by dividing work between team members. In turn, those that need a break can be assured of a real rest when out of the office.
On the employee’s side, they need to set clear boundaries around vacation time. This means no emails, no Slack messages, and most definitely no calls. The experience during the pandemic has shown the importance of ‘switching off’ to rest and prevent burnout. Curb that feeling of guilt and set expectations for all stakeholders. As a leader, you can start this trend by ignoring work communications outside working hours and at weekends, while expecting your employees to do the same.
While this isn’t a 100% cure for burnout, encouraging a culture where rest and relaxation is valued will help to maintain long-term wellness. In turn, this will help maintain the productivity and mental acuity of your team. Customers are also increasingly appreciating the honesty of work-life balance, recognizing that this too will bring benefits to them in the form of a greater customer experience.
Learn how BrioHR can simplify HR for your business by getting a free demo here.
