Fire up or burning out … or both?
Last week I attended a CIPD event at which Sarah Beaumont MCIPD talked about the 2022 HR outlook – 5 key areas:
· Hybrid working
· The new week demand (shorter and flexible)
· Burnout (a possible new pandemic)
· Leadership skills development – reconnecting the disconnected
· The great re-evaluation
Approaching the end of 2021 I hoped burnout is levelling off. Yet, both anecdotal and research-based evidence (HBR, The Adecco Group, SHRM), suggest burnout affects a major proportion of us. Often programmes aimed at addressing the matter take the employee as the starting point. Employee Burnout: Causes and Cures (gallup.com) research shifts the perspective from the individual to the working environment. Contrary to my assumption, burnout is not caused solely by overwork. Burnout risk does increase when employees exceed 50-60 hours/week. However, how you experience your workload has a stronger influence on burnout than the number of hours you work per week. You may work part-time and get burned out. Vacation or day off may bring temporary relief, but not a long-lasting solution. Highly engaged team member can become burned out too.
According to the Gallup study, the top 5 causes of burnout are:
1. Unfair treatment at work – bias, favouritism, mistreatment, inconsistent company policy application
2. Unmanageable workload – for some this means long hours, but for others high number of tasks, burdensome or endless list of tasks
3. Unclear communication from managers – too little, too much, unclear expectations which lead to confusion and exhaustion
4. Lack of manager support – a negligent, absent or condescending manager leaves employees feeling uninformed, alone and defensive
5. Unreasonable time pressure – competing priorities, ad-hoc new tasks, unrealistic deadlines
To get to the root cause of the problem, we should focus on selecting the right people into the people management positions, developing and resourcing them and keeping them accountable for their team’s engagement and performance… The question remains, how do we keep people managers from burning out, recognising the last two years put additional demands on them too!?
If we agree that everyone can be a leader and that culture is built through behavioural patterns, how do you want to behave – lead yourself and your team? What can you do, to truly care about your employees’ #wellbeing?
-Where do demonstrate bias (in recruitment, reward, task allocation, feedback giving/withholding) – we all do, the question is how and when?
– Do you know what your team is working on and how much time that takes?
– What causes work to become unmanageable for your team and what can be done about it?
– Do you delegate clearly? Do you set clear direction and expectations?
-How frequently do you appreciate and praise good work?
-Do you have the right people in the right place? What do you do to help them flourish?