What to do if your employee is experiencing burnout

Even though burnout is a common experience for many people, it’s only recently been defined as a concept. This is great news because it removes its misdiagnoses as anxiety, depression, and mental health breakdowns.

For you as a manager, burnout should be easier to discuss compared to other mental health issues because it’s less stigmatised.

Let’s get into what burnout means, the signs employees might be suffering burnout, and how to provide effective support.

What is ‘burnout’?

The World Health Organisation defines burnout as “an occupational phenomenon…not classified as a medical condition”.

Burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been managed successfully. It is characterised by three things:

1. Feelings of exhaustion
2. An increased mental distance and negativity towards work
3. Reduced professional efficacy

Burnout is often confused with mental illnesses like anxiety and depression because they may cause similar feelings and symptoms. However, burnout is specifically related to the workplace and is not considered a mental illness.

In contrast, depression and anxiety have varying causes, pervade all areas of life, and need professional treatment. It’s worth bearing in mind that individuals can be suffering from burnout and mental illness simultaneously.

Look for these common signs of burnout in employees

Employees may exhibit some or all of these common signs of burnout. It’s important for you to be aware of these signs, so you can recognise when employees need support.

Decreased productivity

The usual level of performance takes a nosedive, with employees struggling to complete previously manageable tasks and meet deadlines.

Chronic fatigue

Constant tiredness is a hallmark sign of burnout. Even after a full night’s sleep, someone suffering from burnout is always tired. To you, this may come across as sluggish energy or disinterest in their work.

Emotional detachment

Another telltale sign of burnout is a withdrawal from the social aspects of work. Employees may be less willing to involve themselves in conversations with colleagues, are increasingly reserved in teamwork activities and simply don’t attend work social events.

This is because burnout can result in feelings of emotional detachment from all areas of work, even from people they’ve been close to.

Irritability and mood swings

When you know people well, it’s easy to pick up on when their moods are substantially different to their usual demeanour. People with burnout often exhibit frequent mood changes, are more easily frustrated, or are unusually short-tempered.

Decreased creativity and problem-solving ability

Burnout hampers both decision-making and creative thinking. Look out for employees who are struggling to apply their usual creativity and make a decision on work problems.

Increased absenteeism

Watch out for more frequent sick days, especially if it becomes a recognisable pattern. People with burnout often hope a short break will make things better and take time off in an attempt to ‘sort themselves out’.

Physical Symptoms

Our bodies and minds are one whole unit of being. Many people are surprised to learn that burnout can have physical symptoms like headaches, gastrointestinal issues, increased susceptibility to germs because of a weakened immune system, and the consequences of sleep deprivation.

Pay attention to staff that mention assorted ailments that increase in volume over a period of time. Physical and mental health are inextricably linked, so we need to consider employees holistically.

Lack of motivation

It’s likely that you’ll see employees lose their previous enthusiasm for work, possibly to the point where the motivation for even the most routine tasks disappears. This symptom can be misinterpreted as laziness and care needs to be taken to discuss it with compassion. Burnt-out employees are not deliberately trying to shirk their work onto someone else.

Cynicism or negative attitude

Someone who’s burnt out may express this through a generally negative attitude or cynical comments towards their specific job, their colleagues, management, or the organisation as a whole.

Feelings of inadequacy

Burnt-out employees may lose self-confidence in their work and abilities. They can continually feel that, regardless of the amount of effort they put in, they’re not achieving anything worthwhile.

How to support burnt-out employees as a manager

As a manager, your response to burnt-out employees needs to operate on two levels:

1. Immediate actions against burnout

If burnout triggers an incident at work, you need to be able to provide immediate support.

For example, an employee abandons their work and comes to you to express their difficulties. What are you going to do and say in the moment? It’s important to think this through and discuss it with senior leaders, hopefully, before it ever happens.

Consider what this person needs from you in this vulnerable position of exposing their difficulties. Firstly, they need to feel heard by someone who’s not sitting in judgement.

Secondly, they need reassurance that they don’t have to tackle this workplace burnout alone. That you’ll help them and there’s a range of support available.

2. Long-term actions against burnout

That initial interaction is important. And help like ‘take the rest of the week off’ is most likely welcome, but it’s not the whole answer employees with burnout need. It’s like using a plaster to cover a wound that needs stitches. It covers things up, but it's not going to heal properly.

Organisations are increasingly looking at the range of support they can offer employees who suffer from burnout. If you recognise the signs of burnout in an employee, it’s time to think about and discuss what you can do together to dig out the root causes for that individual.

This includes things like:

Encourage open communication

Actively create a safe environment where employees like them can discuss their stress levels, workload and concerns – without fear of negative consequences. They need to know they can discuss feelings of burnout in the workplace with the people who can help change things for the better.

Promote work-life balance

Take notice of how much work-life balance your employees achieve and:

• Enforce taking breaks
• Ensure all vacation days are booked and taken
• Don’t pile on additional work, if the expected workload has been achieved. This behaviour from management leads to overworking and the uncertainty of ever-changing parameters.

If you don’t step in when their work-life balance is off-kilter, it’s a tacit agreement that work should be prioritised over all else.

For example, if you see someone consistently working late, ask them why. Tackle the issues that make them feel they can’t leave things until the next day. Maybe offer help to prioritise their tasks.

This demonstrates to staff that you don’t expect them to behave this way – that you’d prefer them to have a healthy balance.

Offer flexibility

As much as possible, offer flexible working hours or remote work options. Of course, this isn’t possible for lots of businesses, simply because of how they operate. But sometimes just flexible start and finish times to the working day can make a huge difference to your employees.

For example, reducing stress for those doing the school run by saving them money on breakfast and after-school clubs, and decreasing the rising tension of ‘getting there on time’ during the daily commute.

Showing empathy and giving a practical solution in this way helps bring stress levels down and helps prevent burnout. Really the question should be, ‘Is there any reason not to offer flexible or remote working?’

Redistribute workloads

Keep an eye on how workloads are distributed across and within teams. Be particularly vigilant for individuals who are taking on too much. Tasks need to be delegated fairly and with realistic expectations of outcomes.

If workloads are consistently too much for the number of employees, either reduce the workload or take on more staff.

Set clear expectations

You can’t know you're being successful at work if you’re not sure what you’re aiming at. Make sure employees are crystal clear on their roles, responsibilities and the outcomes you expect from them. Clarify priorities within their task list. This helps them understand where to direct their focus, especially if things get overly busy.

Provide resources for stress management

It’s a great idea to include a resources section within your Mental Health Policy. Some companies provide internal support, like:

• Counselling services
• Wellness programme
• Stress management workshops
• Meditation classes
• Gym memberships

It’s also a good idea to include external sources of support that are available, that you don’t pay for. Things like: wellness apps, online learning, local classes, and numbers for various helplines that tackle specific issues.

Different people have different ways of managing stress. So it makes sense to curate the broadest range of available resources possible. That way all employees will find something useful.

Encourage professional development

Do your employees often stay in the same role, doing the same job for long periods of time? Some people are totally happy with that position. Others begin to feel like they’re stagnating, which is often the start of burnout.

To make sure everyone has a sense of purpose and feels like they’re growing at work, facilitate professional development. Training and mentorship are obvious options, but also ask them if they’ve seen anything they’d like to pursue that you can help make happen.

Foster a positive work culture

No, this isn’t as easy as it sounds, we know. But the culture of an organisation starts at the top. Promoting a positive work culture means you:

• Celebrate achievements
• Thank people for their effort, as well as their work product
• Value people’s individual skills and personalities by openly acknowledging their ‘soft skills’ contributions
• Always use respectful language and appropriate tones of voice
• Collaborate with other colleagues and recognise the part teamwork plays in the organisation's successes

You are the example to everyone else in your organisation. If you regularly do these things, others will take your lead and you’re more likely to create a positive work environment that keeps workplace stress and burnout at bay.

Lead by example

One way to bolster honest communication is to talk about your struggles with work-life balance, previous colleagues, clients, your mental health, or recurring physical health issues. You also need to model healthy work habits, like taking breaks and leaving at a reasonable time.

This is not the time for ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ Show the importance of balance by sticking to the same rules as everyone else, maintaining your own boundaries, and truly leading by example. If you’re leaving when you said you would, it’s OK for them to leave at the appointed time, too.

Provide time for recovery

Have a recovery plan specifically for burnout. Encourage the individual to recharge during some time off, then perhaps have a staggered return.

This might look like part-time hours for the first couple of weeks before they go back to full-time hours. Or perhaps they return to full-time hours, but you adjust their workload to avoid instant overwhelm.

Regularly check-in

Make sure you regularly check in with employees who have returned after being burnt out. Things rarely resolve immediately, overnight. Keep the dialogue open and make any necessary changes for long-term support.

Professional burnout and mental health training for employees

You’re not on your own. Managers everywhere are implementing strategies to prevent burnout and support systems for employees who are suffering from the syndrome.

Resilient People can help with various training packages and continued support that’s specific to your organisation's needs.

These are just some of the options you can choose from:

• Aware: Half a day, for all staff, to raise awareness of mental health issues in the workplace
• Thrive: Half a day, for all staff, equip everyone with the knowledge to spot the signs of potential mental health problems and know what steps to take
• Respond: Full day, for managers and team leaders, delivers a foundation of mental health, psychology and well-being knowledge for you to take back and apply in a holistic approach to mental health in the workplace.
• Mental Health First Aid: 2 days, accredited, trains designated people to be mental health first aiders
• Trauma Risk Management: 2 different courses, 1 for practitioners that lasts 2 days. 1 for managers that takes 3 days. Specific training on how to deal with trauma in the workplace.

Give us a call today and we’ll figure out what’s best for your team.