A recent study found that employee burnout is at an all-time high, with 66% of American workers reporting having some degree of burnout in an already stressful workplace. What is clear is that there is a generational divide, with more young people experiencing burnout than among previous generations. The threat of artificial intelligence taking over jobs and reducing meaningful work is triggering stress. This represents a challenge and an opportunity for companies to prioritize the mental well-being of their employees. The first step is to be able to recognize the signs of burnout before it reaches a critical point and impacts employee productivity.
While burnout usually results from the work situation, there are other contributing factors, including inability to maintain work-life balance. Work-related stressors include regularly working long hours or overtime, a lack of job support, ambiguous job expectations or working on repetitive tasks. Signs and symptoms of burnout may include feeling exhausted, difficulty focusing, reduced productivity, being irritable with colleagues or clients, or physical complaints such as headache or stomachache.
How to get started
While small businesses do not have the large budgets for formal employee assistance programs, there are plenty of low-cost solutions available. These include:
- Offer flexible employee start schedules to accommodate those who might have to care for young children or older relatives before or after work. Some early-bird employees may also appreciate starting and leaving early, while night owls may prefer working later hours.
- About one-quarter of employees did not take a single day off in the past year. Employees may be reluctant to take a rest due to company culture, high work demand, guilt or fear of falling behind. In this instance, it is the responsibility of the owner of the company to model the behavior they want to see in their employees.
- As difficult as it may be, this means stepping away from the workplace and not working weekends or late nights. The owner can schedule a companywide shutdown, such as during the time between Christmas and NewYear’s or during the summer months. Employees can feel less stressed about coming back to work and not having to face a backlog of work.
- Leaders who have experienced mental health challenges should be encouraged to share their stories with their team to break the stigma surrounding the issue. Similarly, leaders should check in regularly with their staff to find out what they need to feel supported while at work. Leaders should use this feedback to make changes to company culture to better everyone’s mental health and job performance.
Keeping a positive company culture to boost mental health does not demand large budgets. Small businesses need to make employee mental health an everyday priority by valuing those who help make their business a success.