“Burnout is the real problem because it can be never-ending.” - Tomy Evans
Vita is the department manager in her organization and is in charge of around 60 employees. Naturally being at a level like this gives her authority but along with that a lot of responsibilities. Out of all her responsibilities the one she faces a lot of trouble with is the onus of making sure that the instances of employee burnout don't take place or are short-lived. Because employees are an organization's most valuable and unique asset instances of burnout are always an uncertain risk that can hinder the productivity of the employees and their functions.
The lack of motivation can often lead to employees not engaging and becoming lethargic. This is one of the states which be difficult for the employees like Vita who are at a superior level to get their subordinates out of. For someone to tackle burnout they need to understand what leads to the origin of this disease which can be fatal for the organization.
So what exactly causes burnout?
Several things can make an employee lose their motivation or make them feel stressed. It could unclear or impossible expectations of the employer from their employees can make the employees feel lethargic towards the task assigned because of the mindset that they will never be able to fulfil the task with utmost perfection, while employers believe it to be a motivator such expectations can often to the opposite. Lack of autonomy or acknowledgement is another prominent cause of employees feeling unmotivated to perform at all. It can happen because of a lack of acknowledgement from the employer on their prior tasks or because of the employer's general habit of not acknowledging their employees.
These are the examples of poor leadership portrayed by the employer which causes burnout for the employees other instances can include insufficient payment. While an employee's salary is decided after mutual agreement the employee can feel unmotivated considering the amount of the work they are being assigned when compared to their stipend which might seem less to them. According to Deloitte's marketplace survey on burnout, it was discovered that the ways companies handle burnout tackling can often lead to more stress for the employees.
So how to go about tackling this burnout?
Being a crucial occupational phenomenon employee burnout is significant and should not be taken for granted. However, often employers are unable to spot this and keep on burdening the employees. While the above-mentioned will help the companies to figure out the cause of such burnouts they are utterly useless if companies are unable to figure out that there is burnout at their workplace. Markers of burnout for which companies to keep an open include less engagement, reduction in productivity and efficiency and increase in complaints, stress and easily irritable and exhausted employees.
Employers can simply not tackle burnouts if they are not aware of it. As for how to go about tackling burnouts efficiently what Vita and someone in Vita's position can do is acknowledge the burnout. After doing so, they need to make sure that the way they want to go about tackling burnout is appropriate for their workplace and workplace culture. The next few steps can be ensuring a fair division of work, reduction in workload, keeping unnecessary and tasks that are not a priority aside and conducting engaging sessions to voluntarily motivate the employee.
Different problems require different solutions.
While this might work on a surface level for most of the employees there can be a few employees whose reason for burnout might be something entirely different. In such cases, the superior should have a one on one conversation with their subordinates about the issues making them unmotivated. For people like Vita who have a large number of people under their leadership, they can always create a query box where each employee can write down their query and the superior can address them. These queries will be varied and require different actions for instance an employee could be unmotivated because of long working hours, or insufficient salary or lack of break days,
All and all the company needs to realize that employee burnout is never an issue that can be taken lightly and should do its best to tackle it. It is a problem that affects the entire organization and its operation hence should be dealt with at the earliest. Prioritizing an organization's employees is equivalent to prioritizing the functions and goals of the organization.
#employeeburout #pmcpl
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An avid reader, researcher, and versatile content writer who is still learning and enjoys the company of animals and books on a peaceful Sunday evening.
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