Rust-out: Dealing With Burnouts’ Pesky Counterpart

While looking out for burnout, we may miss another pesky phenomenon: rust-out, which can be just as bad for professionals and specialists around the globe.

What is rust-out, why does it occur, and how can we deal with it? Let’s solve the question.

What is rust-out?

Imagine a boat that doesn’t sail or a bike that doesn’t ride. Simply resting in a garage makes them rust. The same happens to professionals who do not find a challenge in what they do and let their skills ‘just sit there’.

Professionals start to experience rusting out when they don’t find their job challenging enough. They do not find enough stimulation and fail to connect with their duties and team, which results in disengagement, low morale, low energy, and even irritation with their colleagues. Simply put, they become disinterested in their job.

Rust-out vs. burnout: the battle for productivity

While seemingly identical, these two have one key difference: the number of tasks assigned to a professional and the speed of completion required. The faster a professional has to go, the more likely they are to burn out. The slower they go, the more rust starts growing on their skills.

Rust-out: reasons & countermeasures

There is no challenge

As I already said before, the most common reason for the phenomenon is the lack of challenge.

When a professional has been working in the same position for several years, they learn every aspect inside and out. This means they have no reason to grow and develop their skills, because they already know everything they need to complete their tasks. So why bother?

The absence of challenge can result in a professional withdrawing from their team and tasks. Their performance can start deteriorating even with them knowing everything about their job.

How to fix it? Businesses and managers who want to fix the issue need to make sure there is always some new challenge to tackle or some new task to dive into. This will also be a good approach to business growth, as it will open new opportunities and doors for future development.

There is no communication

Team communication is one of the cornerstones of team productivity. It is also a way for professionals to exchange information and come up with new ideas, which can stimulate the desire to acquire new skills and start new projects.

When team communication is broken, this crucial contact becomes impossible. There may be several reasons for team communication to break:

• Teammates have no personal connection
• The team is micromanaged and has no time to communicate with each other
• There is no synchronization because the team works in different time zones
• The team’s manager does not encourage personal connections

The absence of proper team communication can result in one of the rust-out’s most annoying symptoms: one’s irritation with their teammates. This creates a vicious circle: the less communication there is, the less connected a professional will feel with their teammates, and the more irritation there will be, which can lead to even less communication. And the circle goes on and on.

How to fix it? A team should have no roadblocks in professional and personal communication. Apart from having regular work-related syncs and calls, teammates should have an opportunity to connect on a personal level. This can be achieved with the help of on- and offline team building activities and frequent calls. Simple, yet very effective fix.

There are no opportunities for growth

The opportunity to grow professionally is a good incentive for people to keep on developing their skills. Without the possibility to climb a corporate ladder, there is no reason for them to invest their time and resources into courses, seminars, and classes. They would rather spend time relaxing, recharging, and doing what they love.

Without a reward, there is no reason to put in an effort, no matter what managers and leaders want.

How to fix it? Ensure everyone has room for growth. This will not only keep rust-out at bay, but can also help develop company structure and create new opportunities for everyone. Research the market, take other companies’ experience as an example, and see what new positions can be advantageous for your company’s future growth. For SupportYourApp, such positions as People Experience Managers have created new growth opportunities for our team members, saved them from rusting out, and helped us make the SupportYourApp experience even better.

Rusting out may just be one of the most unpleasant things in the workplace. With the right attitude and nurturing, leaders can help their teams stay on course and never feel rusted- or burnt out.