How Your Company Can Avoid Aiding In Employee Burnout
26 Apr 2017
When many employers look into their employees quitting due to stress they tend to think that the employee was either not fit for the job or was working harder than they needed to. Both of these cases can definitely be causes for employee burnout but they aren’t the only causes out there. One reason that is often overlooked is the company can be a cause of burnout. Here are why companies contribute to employee stress and how they can avoid being a contributing factor.
Training is Crucial
Having enough training with any job is crucial. A lack of training means that employees work harder because they haven’t learned the best practices. They are also learning a good amount of the job on the fly. Making sure that your company sets up a good training program is crucial. Training should include instructional training, hands on training, shadowing, and on the job supervision. Those who need extra training shouldn’t be looked down upon or written up, but rather, receive that extra training in a positive manner.
Lacking Health Insurance
All around the world, health insurance has been a big topic. Poor health insurance options tend to lead to companies having employees who are not satisfied or engaged. A company that offers great health insurance, or even a selection of insurance options sees better employee health and less burnout.
Ensuring that your employees have the ability to choose insurance options with counselling and mental health benefits will give them somewhere to turn to when a feeling of burnout starts to hit. This is especially crucial in high stress industries, which is partly the reason why hospitals and medical jobs offer such good insurance to their employees.
Employee Wellness Program
In today’s day and age of sitting at desks, an employee health and wellness program is crucial. These programs are meant to benefit employees who actively focus on their health. Programs like these take on a variety of forms. Without one, employees tend to build up unhealthy behaviours and suffer from a lack of engagement. Here are some of the things that an employee wellness program often contains:
- Gym Discounts
- BMI Screening
- Blood Screening
- Company Sponsored Sports Teams
- Smoking Cessation Programs
- Health Rewards
- Insurance Discounts For Active People
- Rewards For Walking Often
- Extra Time Off For Active People
There are many different reasons for employee burnout but ensuring healthy employees helps to prevent it.
Portable employee benefits have been taking on a lot of traction in recent years, as employees like to have the choice of how much coverage they want. Being able to research on the options and having a good selection doesn’t only help the employee but the company too. By using a portable insurance service, the company doesn’t have to focus as heavily on that part of the benefits program.
Excessive Workdays
Many companies require that employees complete a certain amount of work each day. If that work isn’t completed, they are expected to stay until it is completed. This can be extremely taxing on employees and can easily lead to burnout.
Excessive workdays aren’t always required by the company explicitly, but are expected by company culture. Employees who are spending time after work hours to get more work done are missing out on sleep and food, both are requirements to keep them effective for the next business day.
If you find that your employees are staying late and trying to get tasks done it might be time to look into adding extra employees, attempting to change the culture, or looking into time management classes. Proper rest and relaxation keep your employees working as hard as possible
Too Many Meetings
In the corporate world, there has been an ever-growing trend of having meetings for everything. While communication is key to making any business succeed, if you are constantly spending your day in meetings, you aren’t going to get anything done. Before scheduling any meeting, your company should look at the topic of the meeting and see if it is something that could be addressed in an email or physical memo.
Taking too much of your employee’s day away with meetings leads to them needing to stay late to achieve the tasks they are supposed to complete. Too much time in meetings can be stressful as is and when both factors combine, they can easily lead to burnout.
Taking the time to examine your company from an outside perspective can be a great way to detect the causes of employee burnout. While losing one or two employees is normal in some career fields, more and more employees are leaving their jobs every year because of burnout. Take a look at what you can do to prevent it!