How to Manage Burnout

For over 10 years, Naureen Aziz-Wani has been developing and implementing knowledge and communication strategies to drive business outcomes at the World Bank. She also has worked for the Regional Office of the World Health Organization and helped establish the virtual collaboration strategy to facilitate learning and knowledge flows across the organization.

Inclusive Bosses Can Help Curb Employee Burnout 

Remember receiving that email on a Friday evening or over the weekend and not being sure whether to respond then or wait until the next business day? It may have been about following up on a task or submitting a deliverable with an unrealistic deadline.  Either way, it left you feeling anxious and stressed. 

While earlier, you may have managed such stressful moments in your career to some extent, the ability to do so in times of crisis becomes so much harder. When repeated more often, such stressful moments turn into burnout. 

Let’s remind ourselves what burnout is. Maslach’s conception of burnout (based on the WHO definition) states “Burnout happens when we’re asked to do things we can’t do or facing more daily stress than we can manage. Burnout is more than just having a bad day at the job — it’s one bad day after another, a chronic feeling of exhaustion and stress that doesn’t go away.” 

According to a survey of 3,900 employees and business leaders across 11 nations, led by The Workforce Institute at UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) and Workplace Intelligence, burnout and fatigue are equally concerning for employees working remotely (43%) and those in the physical workplace (43%). 

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight 

Whether you are connected remotely or in the physical workplace – living alone or with a partner - you are juggling numerous tasks in so much uncertainty, and the to-do-list only gets longer. Each day has its struggles.

If you are a parent able to work from home, overseeing your child's online schooling, or caring for your aging parents could now be part of your daily routine. You might be coordinating childcare while you are at the physical workplace or worried about returning to work and how that may affect your family's safety. Not having a suitable space to set up your home office could be the biggest challenge for you. All these aspects create anxiety and stress that individuals process and handle differently.

Now add to this complexity an unmanageable workload, consistently long hours, a toxic work environment, financial concerns, or job security, and it gets even worse. 

While organizations are adopting policies and providing resources to help employees respond to distress, these benefits remain untapped for many with little or no positive impact on their well-being. Inclusive bosses can bridge the gap between policy and implementation by listening to their employees, understanding their situations, and encouraging solutions that work for them. 

Here are a few tips:

1. Understand the root-cause. Every person is unique; their situation is unique; the circumstances they are living in are unique. Take the time to understand what is causing distress for your team member. Do not assume that you know the issue. 
2. There isn’t a cookie-cutter solution. Ensure well-being programs are not missing the mark with your team members. Find solutions that work for them based on their needs, as a one size fits all approach may not be effective. In many instances, the solutions can be relatively straightforward. 
3. Create a safe space. Make sure you are setting a high standard of protecting psychological safety so that people can raise concerns they have in real-time and not let the stress and anxiety pile up to where it gets out of control. Authentically share your vulnerabilities to begin creating that trust needed in a safe space. 
4. Lead by example. Team culture plays a crucial role in what team members feel empowered to do. Share your story of how you manage your stress and anxieties. Is it joining a virtual workout session during lunch hour? Is it taking walks while you are in listening mode on audio conferences? Is it a flexible schedule on a given day? What self-care tips do you practice? Encourage others to do the same. 
5. Be explicit in your messaging. Remember, you are trying to set healthy norms and provide flexibility to those who need it in the way they need it. Reiterate statements of support and encourage team members to utilize available resources on an ongoing basis. Before you kick off your weekly meetings, set the agenda for 10 minutes to connect with team members, specifically talking about their well-being. Extend that to regular one on one interactions with team members and put on your best listening ears! 
6. Work Overload. When it comes to working on projects and assigning tasks, make sure team members have a manageable workload. If you haven’t established a shared understanding with your team members on what matters most, you may burden them with deliverables that are not of importance and high-value. Ensure deadlines and expectations are realistic and fair, and team members have the resources needed to get the work done.  
7. Tap into their creativity and interests. Let your teams bring their creativity and passion by working on projects that interest them. Assign responsibilities that leverage their skills, talent, and expertise in the best possible way or challenge them to learn something new and exciting. When team members work on projects they are passionate about, they become more engaged and happier.
8. Email etiquette. Show respect for personal boundaries that others have set. When you initiate or respond to emails during evening hours or the weekend, think about the message that sends your team members about work-life balance.  If you must send an email in these hours, try including a signature line at the end stating, “response is not expected until next business day.” Make your expectation clear. 
9. Welcoming a new team member. Try connecting with the new team member more than just once (at least in the first few weeks), and then directly connect them with a few others in the team for continued support and guidance in that initial phase. It can be a simple email, phone call, or video call, making the connection, and reiterating your commitment and availability to all. By doing so, you are setting healthy team norms. 
10.   Bridging the gap between on-site and remote team members. Make sure you are bridging the gap between those in the workplace and connected remotely. A hybrid model should not lead to inequities in inclusion and access to opportunities and career progression for those connected remotely. Ensure that communication flows are frequent, consistent, and transparent to all concerned. 

Several recent studies have shown that burnout is among the top challenges that businesses will face in the next few years. According to Harvard Business Review, Workplace stress is estimated to cost the U.S. economy more than $500 billion dollars a year, with lost productivity amounting to about 550 million workdays. 

As we continue to grapple with the unexpected in these unprecedented times, creating a healthy workplace culture that prioritizes employee well-being is critical to productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. 

Inclusive bosses bring in their employees' voices and value their insights, creating inclusive teams that help each other derive energy from the work they do. While the manager's role is critical here to set the right norms, team members should also be honest and open about their needs regarding their well-being.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other person or entity.