Employee burnout has been a major concern since the outbreak of the pandemic. A 2021 study showed heightened incidences of burnout due to work-life imbalances as employees felt isolated from their working teams. According to the WHO, burnout can cause serious physical and psychological issues, including depression, diabetes, and heart-related disease. Since burnout can happen to anyone, understanding some warning signs will enable you to easily identify burnout in your employees.
Physical signs
Physical symptoms such as chest pains, elevated heart rate, and panic attacks are usually caused by exhaustion and stress. It is also common to see employees losing appetite and sometimes weight. In some cases, you may notice employees gaining weight due to emotional eating to help them deal with stressful situations. It would be best to recognize these as genuine health and safety issues and discuss and encourage the employee to take the appropriate action.
Cynicism towards clients and coworkers
Keep an eye out for cynical attitudes in the workplace. Cynicism is a major indicator of employee burnout since it demonstrates a decline in workers’ enthusiasm for the job. Cynicism can also impact a person’s trust in workplace leadership or coworkers. Your workplace productivity can substantially decrease if this behavior is prevalent in your workplace culture. If employees are dissatisfied with how they are treated, words about your company’s shortcomings will spread quickly. At this point, you may notice employees openly speak negatively about the business, complain about customers, and will no longer be open to feedback.
Increasing irritability
A clash of personalities can lead to tensions in the workplace. However, when an employee suddenly can’t get along with anyone, it could be that they are under a lot of stress. Increased irritability is usually caused by feeling ineffective, unimportant, and less efficient. It is okay to consider conventional disciplinary actions against individuals who demonstrate excessive aggression or anger towards colleagues. However, consider how you can assist them in tackling the underlying cause of their action by addressing employee burnout.
Decreased performance and productivity
Burnout can affect everybody, including your most competent and hardworking employees. You will notice a decline in performance and productivity when employees lose their desire to give their best. As a result, they experience a loss of purpose for their work. Unfortunately, this can lead to carelessness with their work, and they become more prone to making unusual mistakes. However, research has shown that employees are more motivated to deliver in an innovative working environment where work is less stressful and more engaging. Consider acquiring the right services and tools to make staff jobs easier and more manageable. For instance, the merchant account available here can offer a hassle-free way to accept payments and run your business more efficiently. This eliminates the manual process your staff will usually have to go through, saving them some stress.
Employers usually misunderstand burnt-out employees as uncooperative lower performers. This means that such individuals may not get the needed help. Ensure to provide your staff with the needed support when you notice any of these signs to enable them to reengage and return to their previous performance levels.
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