John Eades* cites the example of a leader who realised her workers were heading for burnout and made an extraordinary and courageous decision.
Ever wonder when most executives and managers will stop talking about employee burnout and instead do something about it?
Take Chief Executive of social media company Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd for instance.
In light of a hectic year, with her company navigating remote work, a global pandemic and immense user growth, Wolfe Herd was done talking about employee burnout and decided to do something about it.
She gave all the company’s 700 workers a week of paid vacation to help them with burnout.
In a statement, Bumble said: “Our global team has had a very challenging time during the pandemic.
“As vaccination rates have increased and restrictions have begun to ease, we wanted to give our teams around the world an opportunity to shut off and focus on themselves for a week.”
I don’t pretend making a decision like this is an easy one.
To go a step further, just because it was the right decision for Wolfe Herd doesn’t mean it’s the right decision for another organisation.
However, it proves she found the courage to make a tough decision, especially when it came to taking care of her people.
Burnout is a term thrown around so much it feels like it’s lost its meaning.
It’s defined as a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
It typically occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.
The Mayo Clinic goes a step further, saying: “Burnout isn’t a medical diagnosis. Some experts think that other conditions, such as depression, are behind burnout.
“Individual factors, such as personality traits and family life, influence who experiences job burnout.”
If you or a team member is burned out, here are a few warning signs.
Inability to think or focus on anything other than work; loss of passion for completing work you previously loved; constant negativity about the future where once positive.
It can also mean excessive weight gain or weight loss without a significant change in diet or exercise, and inordinate satisfaction about achievement or positive results.
Now that we’re clear on what it is and some of the signs, the natural question is, are workers burned out?
According to a recent survey, 52 per cent of all workers are feeling burned out, and more than two-thirds (67 per cent) believe the feeling has worsened over the course of the pandemic.
So not only is burnout real, but it’s still uncertain how it will affect professionals in the future.
Here are a few strategies to implement in order to lead effectively in this period of increased burnout.
Don’t ignore it, talk about it
The first step to identifying any problem is to open up lines of communication about how people are feeling and what burnout is.
There is a decent chance your team might be experiencing signs of burnout without knowing what it is.
A couple of good ideas to consider include running a pulse survey to get insight into how people are feeling and their engagement level.
You should then share the results of the survey with the team as well as sharing the definition of burnout and the signs I previously outlined.
Then you can collaborate on ideas to prevent burnout specific to your team.
Turn down demands but don’t lower the standards
One of the leading causes of burnout is the excessive demands of a job.
Here is where many managers get leadership wrong. They confuse demands with standards.
A leader who makes demands gives insistent requests made as if by right.
A leader who leverages standards defines what great looks like and helps their team meet or exceed it.
An excellent way to think about this is the quality of work that’s required.
For example, if a leader of an engineering team that designs bridges or buildings were to lower the standards of her team, it would put people in danger.
So instead of lowering the standard, this leader should extend project timelines or limit the number of projects her team takes on.
This maintains the design standards while putting her people and their wellbeing over short-term profit.
Give more recognition than usual
Recognition matters to people, and it works.
According to research, when asked what leaders could do more of to improve engagement, 58 per cent of respondents replied: “Give recognition.”
There is no doubt that each professional, team, or organisation could be affected differently by burnout, so to assume there is just one way for every leader to respond would be foolish.
So whether you want to take a page out of the Wolfe Herd book of leadership and give your people a paid week off or not, the key is that you don’t ignore burnout.
It’s your job to elevate others, and being proactive in overcoming burnout will be a sign you are doing just that.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft a leadership development company. He is also the host of the Follow My Lead podcast. He can be contacted at johneades.com.
This article first appeared at johneades.com.
