Right now more than ever, we’re feeling burned out. Burnout is the result of constant workplace stressors that can make you feel exhausted, depressed, disengaged, and generates negative feelings about your job. Burnout isn’t just bad for your employees mental health, it also negatively impacts their performance and can contribute to a higher turnover rate. In a recent study by Indeed, 54% of respondents are currently experiencing burnout – that is up nearly 10% compared to pre-pandemic numbers. The same survey found that remote employees are more likely to feel burnout due to the lack of work-life balance and loss of socializing with coworkers.
Helping your employees avoid burnout is key to prioritizing their mental and physical health and improving their overall experience with your business. Here’s how we do it:
Prioritise Your Time and Tasks
Even your regular set of tasks can become overwhelming when you’re feeling burned out. Making sure to keep organized and set realistic due dates can help you keep each day running smoothly so you know exactly what needs to be done.
Our Office Administrator, Haylee Smith shared her best tips for better time management and organization previously. Her top tips include:
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Map out daily, weekly, and monthly tasks
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Utilize a time management system that works well for you
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Make room for challenging tasks
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Identify your time-drains
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Outsource your biggest pain points
Sometimes we get into seasons at work where there is more to do than usual. During these times it’s critical to prioritize your tasks. Speak with your manager to make sure you are on the same page with which tasks are “must-dos” and which tasks can sit on the back burner for a little while.
Have Set Work Hours and Stick to Them
There are only so many hours in a day and you shouldn’t be spending all of them at work. Recently, with more people working from home, it can be difficult to know when to switch off. Creating set work hours, and sticking to them is important in creating time where you’re at work and time when you can relax.
This year many businesses have become more flexible about when work hours occur to allow for employees to care for children or loved ones during the day. If this is the case it is especially important to work with management to outline when you have office hours. This will help you to cope with a less-traditional work day and help your management know when it is best to contact you during the day.
Set Realistic Goals
While goal setting is generally a great thing, setting unrealistic goals for yourself or for your team can be a huge contributor to burnout. Goals that are so lofty that you’ll never achieve them can be demoralizing and create negative feelings towards your work over time.
Realistic goal setting is easier said than done for many of us. Practice by setting small realistic goals like finishing a big project on time, or accomplishing a particular task for the day. When you have a good idea of realistic goal setting it will naturally extend to your big picture goals.
Managers, it’s also important to have real conversations with your staff about your goal setting. Sometimes it’s easy to create a goal that is ultimately unrealistic for your staff to achieve. When you get into the habit of having frank conversations about your goals, it helps the team feel engaged, and makes your goals more likely to be achieved.
Take a Break
Sometimes the simple things are the most helpful. Taking a 15 minute break away from your screens can energize you for your work. Grabbing a coffee during a morning break, going for a quick walk, or taking your lunch hour outside can help you break out of your stress.
It can be especially helpful to take your break out of the office, or out of the area of your home where you work. When we spend all day every day at the same spot, burnout is inevitable. Shaking things up and getting a change of scenery on your breaks can be extremely beneficial.
Plan Post-Work Activities (And Actually Do Them)
Lastly it’s important to remember that life isn’t all about work! Having an activity that you look forward to at the end of the day can help make getting through a tedious task easier. When our minds are on our work 24/7 burnout comes quickly and easily. Doing your favorite hobbies or activities, or even just cooking a great dinner allows your mind to focus on something that isn’t work.
Enriching your life with activities outside of work has value in and of itself. But this time spent thinking about anything but work can also be helpful for your next work day! The “Eureka Effect” is a common phenomenon when you get a sudden idea, or you suddenly understand the answer to a problem, when your mind is elsewhere. Giving your mind a chance to wonder makes these eureka moments happen much more easily.
These are the tips we endeavor to use ourselves and recommend for our clients as well. Stressed about HR? It doesn’t have to be another task on your list – contact us today to set up a consultation and find out how HR can boost your business!
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