Kishar Ahmed
Managers and employers may come across one of the biggest problems when it comes to staff: employee burnout. This is terrible for the mental and physical health of the employee, and it also causes issues within the business itself: the work will still need to be done, but there is no one to do it. Should you hire someone temporarily, do the work yourself, or try to persuade the unwell employee to come back to work earlier than they should do? None of these options are very positive ones.
Ideally, you will want to ensure your employee gets the help they need as quickly as possible so that they can come back to work sooner rather than later, and so that they are healthy when they return. Here are some ways to help.
Understand Mental Health
Understanding mental health and how it can be affected by all kinds of environmental and emotional triggers is crucial. By checking out inpulse.com, you can see just how to help employees who might be suffering from burnout, and you can base your strategy on their individual needs.
Many people suffer from mental health issues and are able to work perfectly well without those issues affecting what they are doing – you might even suffer from such issues yourself. Sometimes, however, due to all kinds of outside stimuli, those issues can become much more unmanageable, often temporarily. Being sensitive and informed will help both you and your employee.
Give Self-Care Rewards
It might not be an underlying mental health issue that sparks an employee’s burn out. It might be that they are simply working far too hard and not giving themselves enough ‘me time’ to recuperate. This could be down to you as an employer asking too much of them (often without realizing this is what you are doing), or it could be because the employee wants to work hard and gain recognition; they might be looking for a promotion, for example. Whatever the reason, working too hard for too long will result in burn out.
As a manager and employer, it is your task to ensure this doesn’t happen. You need to be looking out for the signs of burnout and take preventative measures to stop things from going too far. One way to do this is to offer rewards. If there is a project that has just been completed and you want your staff to take a break before moving on to the next job, offer them some kind of self-care reward. A few days of vacation is a good idea or a trip to a spa. They will need to re-set their work-life balance and their own mental health in order to avoid burnout.
Don’t React Immediately
The best thing to do if you find that an employee who was once at the top of their game is now starting to show signs of burnout, such as making silly mistakes or becoming less punctual or less productive, is not to react right away, and certainly don’t react negatively. It’s true that some of the signs of burnout are similar to those of a lazy worker, which is why you need to step back and take a little time to observe what is going on.
Speak to your employee and determine what is behind the changes in their work. This will prevent you from making a mistake and making the situation worse, and it will show your employee that you care.
