The world of work has changed over the past two years. Some organizations adapted well by adopting technology with urgency to support employees and workflows, by developing more compassionate leadership practices, and by reducing or eliminating micromanagement. Some organizations did not.
We are in the midst of the “Great Resignation,” and experts predict that it is not done yet—that 2022 will see more resignations, especially among Millennials and Gen Z-ers. Employees are leaving their employers, citing lack of flexible work, lack of advancement opportunity, and burnout as key reasons. And as more employees leave, remaining employees are being pushed to the max.
In response, and in an effort toward retention, many organizations have largely addressed burnout and dissatisfaction by providing employees with tools, technologies, training, and employee benefits to help employees strengthen coping skills. These tools and benefits are not a bad idea; however, many organizations are missing the mark if that’s all they’re doing. Organizations should focus primarily on identifying what they are doing to cause burnout.
Here are key steps for addressing burnout in more meaningful ways. Leaders of functional areas may use these steps as well as an entire location or organization.
1. Identify, reduce, or eliminate the causes.
A. Whether in one-on-one sessions or in small groups (I prefer small focus groups), leaders need to ask employees, “what stands in the way of your doing a good job on a day-to-day basis?” You want to identify any process inefficiencies, redundancies, bottlenecks, decision-making practices that cause frustration or loss of productivity. Guard against responses focusing on blaming others or identifying certain people as the problem. If there are interpersonal conflicts among personnel, there are usually conflicting processes, goals, or performance measures that are contributing causes.
B. Compile and prioritize the employee input.
C. Create and implement plans to address and correct the issues identified by employees. For example, if you repeatedly hear “lack of advancement” as a major frustration among employees, the organization needs to create a plan for addressing that. How are leaders communicating to employees related to advancement? Do employees know what performance measures they must execute for how long in order to get the next raise or promotion? And what performance, competencies, and skills will guide them up the organization? It is possible for employees to have a direct line of sight to future raises and promotions, but many employers have not thought this through or communicated it. Any leader at any level of the organization can use this process to improve employee retention within their areas of responsibility. If you hear input about “always having to be on”—such as employees having to reply to messaging from a manager at 9 or 10 p.m., a plan will need to be developed and cascaded throughout the organization to help relieve employees of unrealistic expectations.
2. In alignment with Step C, above, develop leaders as coaches. Leaders at all levels of the organization need to possess different competencies and skills than in the past. How do you do this?
A. Assess leaders throughout the organization to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
B. Improve leadership capabilities. Through training and development, leaders should demonstrate behaviors that will support the improving company culture. And if not, measures need to be put in place to help ensure those behaviors are developing.
C. Develop improvement plans. Based on the assessment, training, and development steps above, you will have uncovered significant opportunities for improvement for both individual leaders and for the organization. Improvement plans need to address and correct these issues. You may wish to combine this plan with the plan generated in Step One, above.
This process as outlined above will not only let you address and correct causes of burnout, but it will also help you prevent employee burnout in the future.
For more ideas on meaningfully addressing employee burnout, please contact Verna Lynch or Mackenzie Childs for a complimentary 60-minute strategy session.