If you’re wondering how to avoid employee burnout, it’s important that you first understand what causes it. Burnout is disastrous for employee productivity, and has the potential to leak into their personal lives- it’s important to be able to assist employees in reducing their risk of burnout, or avoiding it altogether.
The Symptoms: How to Avoid Employee Burnout
Identifying burnout in your employees begins first with the symptoms. Common symptoms of burnout include:
- Loss of motivation. The most identifiable symptom of burnout is motivation loss. If you or an employee experiences a sudden increase in difficulty continuing work or staying motivated, it may be a sign of burnout.
- Difficulty concentrating. Individuals experiencing burnout may find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on tasks at work, particularly those that are repetitive.
- Feeling tired or drained. Burnout takes both a psychological and physiological toll on your body; this means that both mental and physical exhaustion can come as a result of burnout.
It’s important to understand that burnout rarely comes on suddenly or all at once. Identifying the symptoms early and taking care of the root cause can help your employees mitigate or prevent the negative effects of burnout at work.
The Causes
Burnout is most often a case of mental exhaustion caused by prolonged anxiety and stress. Some causes of this anxiety and stress may include:
- Inadequate social interaction. Does your workplace support an interactive culture, valuing unity and cooperation? If an employee feels isolated during his tenure with an organization, that individual is infinitely more likely to become burnt out than one that regularly interacts with their colleagues.
- Ambiguous expectations. An employee may feel burnt out at their job because they’re unsure what is expected of them or anyone that would fill their position. Ambiguous expectations can lead to unexpected tasks being assigned to them, unclear goals, and other issues that may lead to frustration with work.
- Work-life imbalance. Overworking is a common cause of employee burnout. If you’re concerned about how to avoid employee burnout, take measures to ensure that your employees take some time off to relax, and have the availability to do so.
If you or an employee is unsure about burnout, its causes, and its symptoms, consider scheduling a telehealth visit. Telehealth visits are easy and quick ways to obtain a better understanding of your symptoms and method of treatment for any condition you’re currently experiencing. These visits are in particular effective for those who are immuno-compromised or otherwise experience difficulty leaving the house for medical visits.
The Solutions
Avoiding employee burnout is integral for preserving the mental health of your employees, and retaining them as an efficient and happy workforce. Some methods for minimizing the risk of burnout include:
- Offer fleshed-out support structures. This will look different for every business. For some, including in your benefits package insurance that covers mental health-related costs is a great way to encourage your employees to seek the help they require. For others, this isn’t quite feasible- there are still steps you can take to provide employees with ways to reduce burnout.
- Help your employees avoid overtime. Working on the weekends and after-hours should be the exception, not the rule. Your employees shouldn’t need to be taking their work home, or coming in on the weekends- doing so is the easiest way to expedite burnout. Always ensure that your employees have the correct tools and resources necessary to complete their work on time, and assist them in completing any tasks that are running late.
- Build a cooperative workspace. Workplace culture is often one of the largest influences on employee motivation and the risk of burnout. With one of the largest causes being social isolation, it’s important to encourage employees to work together on projects that require collaboration, or with everyday tasks. Creating a more unified work environment helps prevent any employee from feeling isolated or left behind, significantly reducing burnout risk.
If you are suffering from depression as a result of burnout, consider transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which uses magnetic stimulation to treat symptoms of depression by stimulating areas of the brain with low activity. TMS is safe, noninvasive, and effective..
Avoid and Treat Burnout with Mid City TMS
Mid City TMS is a New-York based transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) center at the forefront of modern depression and mental health treatment. Founded by Dr. Bryan Bruno, MD, Mid City TMS is committed to providing patients the modern and effective care they deserve. Contact us today to see how TMS can help you!