What Is Employee Burnout? How To Spot It and Take Action

Employee burnout is stress related to work that causes emotional as well as physical exhaustion. It also results in a loss of one’s identity and reduces their feeling of accomplishment. During burnout, one is left with no motivation to work. After the pandemic, most people experience employee burnout. According to reports, it has a recurrent pattern among employees.

Employees experience burnout when they have chronic stress at their work. In case a person starts feeling afraid of going to their work, it can be a sign of employee burnout.

What is employee burnout? If you want to know more about it, read on.

What is the reason behind employee burnout?

One of the reasons can be the rise of technology and globalization. This compels employees to stay in connection with their work twenty-four seven. As a result, they cannot possibly have the opportunity to disengage or disconnect from their work. Employee burnout can further be due to an absence of control. For instance, they may not get to choose their assignments, workload, or schedule.

When the job of the organization is monotonous, employees require constant energy. This then helps them to maintain their focus. However, this can cause employee burnout. As a result, employers have to find ways to motivate employees.

Another way of how to prevent employee burnout is by maintaining a balance between your work and your life. If you invest too much time in your work, you will not be able to spend time with your family and friends. In this case, you will start having resentment towards your work.

Burnout of employees can also be a consequence of unclear expectations of work. You can avoid employee burnout by knowing exactly the authority of both you and your employer.

To reduce employee burnout, the employer must maintain proper workplace dynamics. If one of your employees tries to micromanage other employees’ work, then it can make for a stressful work environment.

What can be the consequence of job burnout?

If you do not address or ignore your job burnout, it can lead to the following consequences.

• Type 2 Diabetes

• Excess stress

• Insomnia

• Fatigue

• Irritability, anger, and sadness

• Heart disease

• Substance or alcohol abuse

• Increased vulnerability to diseases

• High levels of blood pressure

How can you check for employee burnout?

You can determine if you are experiencing employee burnout while taking into account your working from home mental health. Some of the signs and symptoms of employee burnout are as follows.

• Change in sleep habits.

• Becoming critical or cynical at work.

• Lack of energy to be productive consistently.

• Use of alcohol, drugs, and food to feel better.

• Trouble starting work and dragging yourself to finish tasks.

• Feeling dissatisfied with your work achievements.

• Feeling impatient or irritable with clients, customers, and co-workers.

• Find it hard to maintain your concentration.

• Feeling of disillusionment at work.

• Having bowel and stomach problems and unexplained headaches.

These are some of the employee burnout signs that you can keep a lookout for.

What are some employee burnout solutions?

1. Setting boundaries

You can prevent remote work burnout by setting boundaries in your workplace. For this, you have to first try to address sources and issues of job stress that contribute to burnout. An employee needs to make an attempt to reorganize their work schedule as well as their work environment. You can also avoid work that does not fall under your job to lower the feeling of burnout.

2. Nourish relationships

Sometimes people feel burnout, not because of stress in their workplace but stress related to personal life. If you are an employer, you can encourage your employees to talk about their personal problems with someone. Isolation is a symptom of burnout and is most associated with the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, you need to support your employees to maintain a balance between their communication skills and social interactions.

3. Seek support

If you frequently find yourself at the edge of burnout, you need to consider seeking support. Counseling for protecting your mental health, coaching, and assistance programs for employees can allow employees to restore their balance at work. A health or business coach will enable employees to keep better focus on goals and practice self-care.

4. Reconnect with your purpose

When you help someone get meaning from their work, it can help them manage and prevent burnout. They can break their task into smaller halves so that it becomes easier for them to attain success. Personal development will further allow them to stay connected with their purpose. This can be achieved when individuals and teams are a part of some organizational culture.

5. Practice self-care

This is one of the most important steps that can allow an individual to make a change when they experience burnout. Self-care can differ from person to person. However, some self-care practices that you can add to your list are mindfulness, getting quality sleep, and exercising.

6. Mindfulness

Mindfulness refers to your ability to focus on the flow of your breath. It allows you to become aware of what you are feeling or sensing at each moment without judgment or interpretation. Within a job setting, this refers to facing situations with patience and openness.

7. Evaluating options

If you are facing any problems with regard to certain areas at your work, you need to contact your employer. They will be able to make things easier for you at work and help you prevent burnout.

8. Getting sleep

Getting enough will not make you feel tired at work. This can further eliminate the chances of burnout. So, make sure that you are getting enough sleep.

9. Getting exercise

Exercising makes your mind clear and focused. It also acts as a stress buster, so you can use it to relax and increase your productivity.

Conclusion

If you are an employee who works for long hours, try the above methods to prevent burnout. Most of them, like practicing mindfulness and self-care, can really improve your mindset at your workplace