Battling Burnout with Dialogue
FYI, Juno Search Partners is a part of NFP’s Human Capital Consulting division. For this blog post, we tapped our colleagues at NFP for their insights into employer tips and tricks to avoid burnout.
People are the most important determining factor in an organization’s success, and anything that affects their health and well-being directly impacts productivity, engagement and motivation. When demands at work and home exceed a person’s capacity to respond, stress can quickly compound, causing problems. As symptoms like exhaustion and irritability start to weigh down an employee, their risk for burnout dramatically increases. Without relief, these conditions can lead to turnover.
Managers Can Help
The first line of defense against this outcome? Managers. If managers are not paying attention and the employees cannot communicate what they’re experiencing, employees will feel trapped, and the prospect of quitting becomes inevitable. Conversely, training managers to prioritize communication can help prevent burnout and turnover.
Managers can help by creating a culture with frequent touchpoints and routine dialogue to help identify when an employee is struggling. Consistent dialogue allows employees to share their struggles naturally and provides a valuable forum for employers to listen and collaborate to find tangible solutions.
Establishing a Communication Cadence
Investing in this type of communication is a win-win for both parties. Employees who feel that their employers care about their well-being and familial responsibilities tend to appreciate their employer and stay in their roles longer. Once a proper communication cadence is established, managers can focus on balancing the employee’s needs with organizational expectations and work on ways to improve their overall well-being.
One way to help maintain this balance is to allow for appropriate and efficient flexible work schedules. Flexible work arrangements allow employees greater control over their schedule, permitting them to work when they’re at their best while still meeting deadlines and servicing clients. It further allows them to commit to responsibilities at home as caregivers or heads of household while better managing their responsibilities at work. Therefore, instead of reflexively decreasing the workload or offloading expectations at the first sign of burnout, collaboratively exploring potential schedule and workflow timing changes may alleviate the problem by giving the employee more flexibility.
Keeping the Team Together
With rising burnout threatening engagement, retention and well-being, consistent manager-employee communication is critical for early intervention. By investing time and effort into building better manager-employee relationships and communication practices, companies can demonstrate a tangible commitment to their workforce. In addition, by acknowledging employee challenges through open dialogue and providing flexible solutions, employers can champion workforce health, productivity and longevity, conveying genuine care for each person's overall well-being.
Ultimately, through open conversations and creative problem-solving, smart managers can curb turnover risk and sustain engaged, thriving teams.
The Ultimate Connectors and Benefit Advisors
Juno Search Partners is part of NFP’s Human Capital Solutions practice. NFP is a leading property and casualty broker, benefits consultant, wealth manager, and retirement plan advisor that provides solutions enabling client success through the expertise of over 8,000 global employees, investments in innovative technologies, and enduring relationships with highly rated insurers, vendors, and financial institutions.