Sometimes managers can see their employees unmotivated, exhausted, frustrated, and even rude or sarcastic. The workers tend to be coming late at their workplaces, the quality of their performance is poor, and they are overall unproductive. These may be true signs of burnout.
Some people may think that employees experience burnouts only in case they are overloaded or get poor salaries. It’s a common myth. Actually, there is an infinite number of other reasons for such a state. Here are some of them:
- The workers may feel underestimated and unappreciated
- They may feel incompetent and not recognize their contribution to the business
- The employees have work expectations that are too high or unclear
- The work is too monotonous or the working environment is too depressing
- The workers don’t see any perspective for career growth
- High level of stress
- Low level of engagement
Once you have identified the problem, you have something to work on. However, some tips are overall effective and will work in any case.
How You Can Help
1. Start a conversation
Ironically, the most obvious things are rarely put into practice. Communication is the most important part of quality teamwork. No wonder that the lack of it definitely causes many problems. Not only meetings but also private conversations are essential to make the environment overall more pleasant.
By talking to your employees you kill two birds with one stone. If you show interest in, let’s say, project development details, the worker will know you care about his work and will have a chance to share his wins and issues. This will establish trusting connections, and, as a result, the employee won’t be so afraid of being imperfect. The same was done at the wedding photo retouching studio by creating group chats for employees in popular messengers; as a result, employees who work for a long time at remote work are happy to share their ideas, experiences with colleagues and bosses in a free manner.
On the group level, don’t be just the top banana, become a part of the team. That means you should also engage in the working process, take part in discussions, meet regularly, develop polls and surveys, etc.
2. Take care of their work-life balance
Having not enough time due to being overloaded with your workload is extremely demotivating. That’s why it’s so important to give your employees enough time for their personal life. If it turns out that they simply have too much work you can always decide to invest in other projects.
Here is how professionals from LinksManagement describe what they can do for you, in case you’re working with creating content:
- You set your task and state what should be in the text
- We transfer the task to the best-fitting copywriter who has gone through our strict selection process
- The copywriter creates a unique, outstanding, and catchy content
- You check and accept the task
Other options for supporting your employees’ work-life balance are:
- making the working schedule more flexible
- working time that is not extremely strict
- giving extra hours or even days off if possible
Don’t hesitate to incorporate those tips if it doesn’t affect your business badly. That will cause less stress to your employees, and thus prevent or help with their burnout.
3. Listen to your employees
As a part of the conversation, be attentive to your employees’ needs, wishes, victories, and problems. This will make you an attentive and caring boss - a leader’s qualities that are highly appreciated in the business world.
Let your workers show initiative, train your open-mindedness and abilities to incorporate new ideas in your working environment or projects. Build your little office world together, and then it will turn into a comfortable place for everyone.
Also, it’s a good idea to ask your employees how they are doing: are they coping with the workload and whether everything is going as planned. It will be not only a polite move but also benefit your projects in the long run. The workers won’t be stressed out because of the deadlines, and you will adjust the working process to their progress.
Discuss the working environment from time to time. You will discover what people like and dislike, and then improve it. This might be not only the schedule but also something like fresh fruits and veggies in the office as well as yoga classes twice a week, or meditation hours.
And as always, a comprehensive annual employee survey done with the rigor and expertise necessary to uncover the deep motivations and drivers of satisfaction is essential.
4. Consider reorganizing the working process
For the last few years, people have changed their thoughts about multitasking. Scientists found out that trying to perform numerous tasks at once may not be as effective as it seemed. Doing several things at once, you will end up barely completing any of them, not to mention the quality.
On the office level, be sure to organize the tasks for your employees mindfully. People tend to burn out when they have many deadlines, so make sure you avoid such situations. Prioritize the work, let them focus on one thing at once, and you will definitely see improvements soon.
5. Make the work meaningful
People burn out if they put forth an effort but see no point at it. Especially among millennials, the aim plays a huge role. This applies both to little and larger tasks as well as the major goals of the whole company. In order to increase the motivation of your employees make sure their efforts are fairly paid and the team spirit is in place.
Explain the purpose of some projects, make the outline of the result, and you will instantly see the stirring eyes of your workers. Also, organize meetings where you remind your employees of your ultimate goal. Such discussions are always inspiring and make the work meaningful.
To be a manager doesn’t only mean setting the tasks and making sure they are achieved. The essential part of your work is also to maintain a pleasant environment and always motivate your workers. By implementing these tips, you will change the way your employees perceive their work. So you have the power to make their job and overall life less complicated, thus increasing the overall performance.
Marie Barnes is a Marketing Communication Manager and a writer for gearyoda. She is an enthusiastic blogger interested in writing about technology, social media, work, travel, lifestyle, and current affairs.
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