Ways to combat work stress and burnout in the workplace.
In a post-pandemic world, the conversation around chronic work stress and occupational burnout has never been louder. Workers are becoming increasingly conscious of their total wellbeing and the impact their work has on their mental health, physical health and happiness.
Oftentimes, employee burnout can be prevented or mitigated, in this article we explore three simple preventative measures your workplace can implement to protect staff against occupational burnout.
What are the signs of burnout at work?
Burnout is a term used to describe a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
Burnout can affect anyone, regardless of their profession or personal circumstances. Some common occupational burnout symptoms include, but are not limited to:
feeling tired,
having difficulty concentrating or remembering things,
feeling irritable or impatient with others,
withdrawing from social activities,
physical symptoms such as headaches, nausea or insomnia,
anxiety.
This experience of chronic work stress has been recognised in many countries, including Australia, as Fair Work Australia states that an employee can take paid sick leave if they’re unable to work because of personal illness or injury, including stress and pregnancy-related illness.
What are the causes of burnout at work?
There are multiple common contributors to workplace stress that can result in occupational burnout, these include:
unreasonable deadlines and pressure,
insufficient support from management,
inadequate communication from management,
unfair treatment at work.
How to manage burnout.
The reality is that workplace culture and management are amongst the most significant factors, when it comes to either perpetuating or preventing occupational burnout. Here are three ways you can prevent and manage work stress and burnout in your workplace.
Encourage conversation.
One of the best and most simple ways to avoid work stress and burnout among your team is to encourage conversation. Promoting a work culture that allows employees to openly discuss issues they are having at work helps them feel heard, and allows employers to understand the issues and implement solutions sooner.
Allow for more flexible working.
There has been a considerable rise in companies offering flexible working among many industries as workers seek a better work-life balance. Flexibility of work location, hours and workload can all help to combat feelings of burnout and work stress by providing greater control and autonomy to employees as well as the ability to design a work-life arrangement that works for them as an individual.
Flexibility can come in many forms, and you don’t have to offer everything all at once, but any flexibility you can provide will make a significant difference.
Hiring the right people.
Ultimately, the most common causes of work stress and occupational burnout are under the control of your workplace managers, and so it is essential that the individuals you place in these important positions have the personal attributes, training and desire to manage people effectively and with empathy.
Additionally, underqualified or mismatched employees that are not the right fit for a specific role may be more likely to experience burnout than others, due to an unachievable or difficult to manage workload. This situation often occurs when businesses fill positions internally rather than sourcing professionals from elsewhere.
Hiring the right people for both managerial and individual contributing roles is one of the most effective methods of preventing occupational burnout.
Build a strong team with support from Recruitmark.
Recruitmark understands the weight a strong, supportive and capable team holds in preventing burnout within your organisation.
At Recruitmark, we pair our extensive experience within the industrial, mining, energy, engineering, renewables and process industries with an in-depth analysis of your organisation’s objectives and challenges, so that we can select the best candidate not just for the role but also for your organisational culture and your strategic objectives into the future.
Contact our team of recruitment business partners today and start your journey in hiring optimal candidates for your operation.