Employee Burnout: How to Recognize and Address It

The piles of work seem to grow while your energy depletes. You dread the work day before it even starts. You can’t stay focused on your tasks — no matter how hard you work to be productive. Sound familiar? If so, you’ve probably experienced burnout at some point in your career.

And you’re not alone. According to a recent workforce pulse survey, 40% of workers reported feelings of burnout. And a Deloitte survey of 1,000 full-time, U.S. employees found that 18% of professionals feel stressed or frustrated at work every day.

Burnout is a very real occupational phenomenon that can affect your employees’ wellbeing, psychological safety, and ability to turn in quality work. But you can take steps to prevent burnout by creating an inclusive, healthy work environment.

What is Employee Burnout?

Employee burnout is a condition of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged stress, helplessness, and loss of control at work. It’s often characterized by feelings of hopelessness, fatigue, irritability, cynicism, difficulty focusing, and decreased productivity. Burnout can even lead to more serious issues like depression or other mental health concerns.

The World Health Organization defines burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Importantly, burnout isn’t just synonymous with overwork — it can also stem from a lack of control over workload, conflicting job demands, and poor work-life wellness .

Causes of Employee Burnout

Burnout can be caused by a variety of factors in the workplace: long hours, lack of autonomy, feeling undervalued or unrecognized for your work. These are some of the root causes of job burnout:

Signs of Employee Burnout

Burnout can manifest itself differently in each person. Some signs are obvious, while others may be subtler. Here are some of the most common symptoms of burnout:

How to Prevent Employee Burnout

Burnout is a serious issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible to protect your employees and they are capable of fully engaging both in their work. Here’s what you can do to prevent burnout among your workforce:

Burnout is an Employee Wellness Issue

Burnout is, at its core, an employee health issue because it wreaks havoc on an employee’s mental and physical wellbeing. Although fostering a supportive and safe workplace culture is crucial to managing burnout, it’s also important to support employees holistically and provide access to wellness resources.

But there’s still a good number of employees who feel they aren’t getting that support: their company doesn’t offer any incentives or programs to help alleviate feelings of burnout. You can offer a better experience to your team members by crafting a wellness program that explicitly addresses those feelings.

Give your employees the tools to improve mental and emotional wellbeing, stress, and fatigue, based on their individual needs. For some people, a fitness regimen can really help them. For others, access to flexible work arrangements or time away is the best way to feel supported.

Reach out to one of our wellbeing specialists today to learn how you can tailor your wellness program to improve your employee experience!

Originally published at https://blog.gympass.com on March 24, 2023.