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Addressing Employee Burnout And Retention Challenges In A Post-Pandemic World

COVID-19 has completely reshaped the dynamics of modern workplaces and the rules of employee engagement, as most leading companies or enterprises will testify to. Even though the pandemic may be officially done and dusted (at least we hope so), it is still crucial for companies and employers to understand that its effects are yet to fade. The new normal has completely transformed employee expectations from their employers and hastened employee burnout simultaneously. Let us look closely at these symptoms in the post-pandemic world and how companies can address them.

Key Aspects Worth Noting about Employee Burnout

Here are some important facts/figures that you’ll find interesting when it comes to unraveling employee burnout and how it has manifested after the pandemic.

• A survey titled Stress in America (2021) by the American Psychological Association discovered how 64% of adults saw weight changes during the pandemic owing to burnout and stress.
• Employees are already exhausted and drained, with most companies insisting on near-normal or completely normal operations.
• Blurred boundaries between personal life and work, as seen during the pandemic, are still prevalent.
• Higher workloads and remote work are also responsible for burnout symptoms.
• Employee burnout is a result of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion due to prolonged stress levels.
• A SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) discovered how 41% of employees stated that they were burnt out at work, while 48% also felt physically and mentally exhausted.
• A survey by McKinsey revealed a perception gap of 22% between employees and employers.
• In fact, a year-long survey initiative across select technology companies unearthed a shocking fact. A whopping 23% of employees mentioned poor management or leadership as the biggest cause of their burnout.

A Little More about Burnout

Here are some other aspects that deserve to be highlighted in relation to employee burnout.

• Most employees highlight being on call continuously, lower autonomy, unreasonable workloads, and absence of social support as reasons for poor mental health and overall wellbeing.
• Higher burnout levels are also leading to employees indulging in toxic behavior and absenteeism, which may be harmful for organisational productivity, morale, and overall growth.
• It may also lead to lower retention rates, with more employees prioritising companies that focus more on their wellbeing.
• Many employees are willing to forego additional pay and perks for a more supportive, relaxed, empathetic, and autonomous work environment that ensures higher work-life balance.
• Persistent burnout symptoms lead to an erosion of trust in organisational leaders, while impacting the overall perception of the employer negatively among its employees.
• Workaholism is something that is often promoted across organisations for continual professional advancement, while putting healthy work-life balance equations on the backburner.
• Employee burnout has increased over time with higher work pressure, fears of job losses and layoffs, and personal life demands, with higher responsibilities to meet at home as well.
• The senior leadership is often similarly affected, and this has a trickle-down impact on employees, thereby creating a vicious cycle of employee burnout on a wider scale.
• Job burnout may lead to enhanced employee turnover, with stressed employees likely to seek alternative employment elsewhere.
• This is often the result of unfair treatment and also excessive professional/work schedules, as per the American Psychological Association.
• Some other negative effects include erratic behavior of employees, lower job satisfaction, clinical depression, self-doubt, higher risks of errors and mishaps, communication gaps and breakdowns, and poor overall morale.

Some Must-Watch Signs of Burnout

Here are some signs of employee burnout that workplace managers and leaders should learn to identify.

• Emotional and physical fatigue of employees and teams who report continually being tired and drained.
• More sarcastic and cynical approach of employees towards colleagues, work, and the office in general.
• Detachment among employees from professional tasks and relationships.
• Significant drop in overall work productivity and performance, with employees struggling to finish their jobs, missing deadlines, and showing lower engagement in work.
• Higher absenteeism, with many employees calling in sick frequently.

What Employers Can Do to Address These Challenges

Here are some things that employers can consider in order to address these challenges of employee burnout and lower retention as a result.

• There should be a consistent policy that promotes better work-life balance.
• This is possible through encouraging flexible schedules, enabling periodic time-off, and encouraging self-care.
• Employees can be taught to focus on the best possible outcomes and companies should recognise the overall outcome as the target.
• Interim flexibility while working on projects with provisions for work-anywhere or flexi-schedules go a long way towards boosting employee morale.
• Supervisors and managers should also be trained in identifying burnout signs and also taking measures to support their employees in turn.
• Mental health days can be encouraged throughout the organisation, thereby encouraging professionals to take time off to decompress at least once every quarter.
• This benefit can be included in the overall spectrum of paid time-off and other perks offered by organisations.
• Companies should consider allocating mental health and wellbeing responsibilities of employees to proper ethics, compliance, and health professionals.
• They will not only keep their companies/employers aware about compliance, ethics, and ways in which to keep employee morale high, but also take care of employee requirements simultaneously.
• Access to counseling and other support services at the workplace goes a long way towards helping combat employee burnout.
• Chief happiness officers/equivalent professionals can also plan periodic sessions for counseling, support, guidance, grievances, addressing employee needs, and so on.
• Group activities at work that include fitness, wellbeing, teamwork, and pure enjoyment should also be prioritised every once in a while.
• Ethics and compliance professionals should collaborate with HR teams for creating more effective strategies for communication and training programs. These will educate supervisors and managers on offering vital support to their employees.

Some other aspects that companies need to consider include smarter scheduling and workload management and also ensuring fair and equitable opportunities for growth/progression within the organisation. Leadership has a crucial role to play in negating the harmful effects of employee burnout while continually striving to build a healthier and happier workplace. This will not only boost overall employee retention and productivity, but ultimately help the company witness steady growth over a sustained duration.

Employers/companies should perceive these high burnout rates as strong warning signs and take meaningful steps accordingly to tackle these issues. Leaders should take the initiative in addressing mental wellbeing challenges of their teams, while adapting to post-pandemic circumstances and the new normal swiftly. Job expectations, workloads, schedules, and processes should be redesigned accordingly.

FAQs

1. What is employee burnout, and why has it become a significant concern in the post-pandemic world?

Employee burnout is a particular type of stress at the workplace, where employees feel a sense of dissatisfaction with their tasks and exhaustion at multiple levels, including physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion.

2. How has the pandemic changed employee expectations of work?

Employees now expect companies/leaders to acknowledge their higher workloads and help them achieve better work-life balance through flexible scheduling and deadlines, remote work, more social support, and so on.

3. How can companies create a work environment that fosters loyalty?

Companies can foster loyalty at the workplace by creating a transparent and fair environment. If there is fair treatment and transparency in growth, progression, and available opportunities, then employee motivation levels will naturally be high. At the same time, initiatives to improve employee morale should also be taken up by companies.

4. What role can training and development programs play in empowering employees to manage stress, build resilience, and prevent burnout?

Organisations may consider investing in training and development programs to empower their employees to tackle burnout and stress more effectively. These may help employees equip themselves with the necessary techniques, skill-sets, and knowledge to ensure proper self-care and motivation.

5. How has the shift to remote work during the pandemic impacted employee burnout and retention?

The shift to remote work has scaled up employee burnout to an extent, with professionals struggling to manage higher workloads, always being on call, higher family and personal responsibilities, and juggling so many duties simultaneously. This has often led to higher employee attrition across organisations, with many professionals seeking alternative employment opportunities with better work-life balance and lower stress levels alongside.