All of us are struggling with feelings of burnout at some level. Please read our most recent post ‘Burnout – There Is An Escape Route‘ where we talk about this very thing.
A study by Forbes found that 75% of us are experiencing burnout and 40% of us attribute it directly to COVID-19. As employers, it’s important to help our employees cope with the extra stress and burnout many of our people may be feeling.
- Frequent Check-ins – Be sure managers and supervisors initiate frequent check-ins with your people. Working from home can make people feel isolated and uncertain about their role in the organization. Frequent check-ins create strong, trusting relationships.
- Be Honest About Personal Challenges – It’s important for people to be able to be honest about what’s going on with them. Managers need to take the lead by expressing their own struggles. Open a conversation with “I’m feeling a little stressed about…do you ever feel that way?” This makes it okay for the employees to also be honest about their challenges.
- Be a mental health role model – We want our people to take care of themselves. Managers and leaders need to demonstrate the behavior that will help people avoid burn-out by managing meeting schedules and times; not contacting employees at all hours; taking time to rest and regenerate.
- Show gratitude and kindness – Saying thank you and expressing gratitude for the hard work people are doing makes all the difference in how people feel. Once you start, it’s a mindset that is catching and can change the culture for the better, now and in the future.
- Promote the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – Make it easy for people to get access to the EAP. This is almost an invisible benefit in most companies. Now is the time to be sure everyone knows what the plan offers and how to connect.
Richard Branson was right on point when he said, “Take care of your people and they’ll take care of your business.” The extra care we take now will pay enormous benefits in the health, productivity, and loyalty of our people as we go through these tough times and into the future.
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REVOLUTIONARY CONVERSATIONS
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