As an employer, you know the greatest asset to your business is your employees. You want them to be healthy and happy, as that means they’ll be able to work their best when they’re on the clock. Are you seeing employees struggle with their work, or even give up and quit? There are likely causes of burnout in your company that you need to eliminate. Here’s what to look for, and how to avoid those causes of burnout with your employees.
Toxic Workplaces
When you employ a lot of different people, you know that they aren’t all going to get on perfectly. After all, they’re here to do their job, not befriend everyone in the building. As such, some people may not mesh with each other, personality wise. That in itself is fine. You just need staff to be polite and professional when they’re at work.
Some staff will start to experience burnout if they’re experiencing toxic behaviour from other staff members. Bullying, gossip and harassment will drive an employee out if they’re not handled. You can avoid this by setting clear guidelines for staff behaviour at work. If anyone is experiencing problems, you also need to make it clear you want them to comer to you with them. Once they have, show you take these problems seriously by taking action. If you’re doing your best to foster a positive work environment, then this will have a huge impact on your staff.
Constant Long Work Hours
Every now and then, there’s going to be an emergency and you’ll need all hands on deck. That’s fine to ask for a few more hours here and there, but 14 hour days should not be the norm. ‘Is the office still full at 9pm every day? That’s a sign that your employees’ work/life balance is being disrupted’ says writer Bryan Jennings from Elite Assignment Help and Essay Services. ‘When they spend so long at work day after day, they’re going to experience burnout.’
Examine why your staff are staying so long. It could be a culture of being seen as working harder the longer they stay. They may have more work than they’re able to do in a standard work day, so they have to stay longer. Look for the cause of those extra hours, and eliminate it.
Job Scope Creep
When you took on an employee, they were contracted to complete a certain set of tasks. Over time, it’s so easy for their task load to increase. If they’re asked to do more and more without being rewarded for it, it’s going to lead to burnout. Would you want to do extra work and not be recognised for it?
It’s a good idea to check employees’ workloads against their initial contracts. This can be done regularly, to ensure that everything is in line with their contracts. If an employee is doing more than they should, you have options. You can delegate work and spread it over a few other employees to lighten the workload. You can also hire more employees if needed. There’s also the option to revisit the employee’s job title and salary, making changes to reflect their increased workload.
Lack Of Resources
Sometimes, the cause of burnout is a lack of resources in the department. It’s going to be a lot harder to do your job when you don’t have the right tools, after all. This could be anything from a lack of software needed to complete tasks, or even extra staff members to take on work.
‘As an employer or department head, you have the responsibility of helping your staff’ says HR manager Carol Pilkington from OXEssays and Revieweal. ‘If there’s something the team needs, you need to advocate for them and secure it. That means creating a strong case for new software, or bringing in that extra staff.’
These are just a few reasons why your staff may be experiencing burnout. If you can address the problems now, then you’ll be able to stop it in its tracks. Use these tips to create a better workplace for your staff, and allow them to do their best every day.
Lauren Groff is a professional writer, working with services like Do My Assignment and Big Assignments. Her speciality is creating guides for greener living. She’s also a qualified tutor with Simple Grad.
