When you’re managing a team, it’s essential to recognize the warning signs of employees who are overstressed, overworked, and losing their motivation in their role. When employees are burnt out, it’s not only physically, mentally, and emotionally draining on them as individuals, but it’s also a massive threat to your organization.
One thing that is important to note is that everyone experiences burnout at different rates. As the manager of your team, you must make a conscious effort to notice the warning signs before they become a problem. If you let things get out of hand, burnout can warrant a reduced sense of accomplishment, lower productivity, decreased team collaboration, and a loss of personal achievement and motivation in the job.
Some early threats that can lead to employee burnout are:
- Team members becoming increasingly cynical and bitter
- People seem to be complaining more than usual
- Employees no longer seem excited to be at work
- They have a lack of energy and seem exhausted whenever you run into them
- They are showing signs of chronic physical stress
Prioritizing your people and taking precautionary steps to ensure the above symptoms don’t become an issue will increase the happiness and retention of your employees, making your organization a well-oiled machine.
Here are some of the leading causes of employee burnout that you need to be aware of to proactively assess your team, adjust workloads, and encourage a high performing environment.
There’s a Grey Area in the Clarity of the Role
It’s imperative to utilize the job description and be upfront with candidates about what the expectations are in a role before they agree to begin working with you. If hours begin to invade employee’s work-life balance, they find themselves working outside their scope and expertise, or the position isn’t what they expected, it’s common for individuals to get frustrated quickly. If employees don’t know what is expected of them upfront, there is no way to measure success in a role.
Lack of Feedback
Feedback is imperative to an employee’s continuous development and growth in a role. It’s necessary to understand the communication styles of everyone on your team, so that you can provide them with constructive feedback, clarify expectations, and make them aware of the things they need to work on.
Leadership Burnout = Employee Burnout
As the manager, are you delegating work appropriately? Are you feeling fulfilled in your role, or is stress overcoming you and making you feel discouraged when it comes to being productive and managing your team? If the manager is feeling burnt out, they are likely projecting these feelings onto their team. Sending emails at midnight, making unrealistic requests, and continuously criticizing the work your team is producing only breeds a negative, un-collaborative work environment.
There Is A Disconnect With Corporate & Employee Values
It’s so important to make sure the company values align with your employee’s values before you hire them onto the team. When values clash, it causes deep discomfort and dissatisfaction for both parties. It eliminates the ability for collaboration, because both the employee and organization are intentionally working toward different end goals. This only breeds frustration and stress.
Leaders Reward Business Over the Value Add
Rewarding business breeds an environment of overworked employees. Instead, managers should be looking at each employee’s overall contribution, the quality of their work, and their ability to form relationships within the workplace. Quality over quantity is how you sustain your team in the long term, rather than merely grinding for short term wins.
Being a great leader takes work and being able to identify the root of what is causing burnout amongst your team is a valuable skill to have. During the recruitment process, Certified Coach and Behavioural Consultant, Trevor Johnson, who brings over 20 years of industry experience to the table, will help you optimize your leadership skills so that you can build a high performing team.
Contact us today to book your free consultation!
P: 403.264.2242
E: trevor@bullseyerecruitment.com
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