What is Burnout?
Burnout is a unique kind of job-related stress that affects employees’ professional ability, physical and mental, causing exhaustion and cynicism. It affects employees in all industries, and can contribute to anxiety and depression in employees.
Burnout is a vital issue for employees, affecting their overall well being. According to a Zippia study, 7 out 10 employees agree that work-life balance is highly important when choosing a job.
Burnout was recognised in 2019 by the World Health Organisation, which defined it as “syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”.
This reveals that burnout is not just an employee problem but it is also an organisation problem.
It is imperative that employers create working environments that prevent and manage burnout, ensuring a healthy work-life balance and providing necessary support.
What is work-life balance?
The public discussion of “work-life balance” has grown in popularity among both employees and employers in recent years. Definitions of the phrase are quite similar.
According to Oxford languages, work-life balance refers to the division of one’s time and focus between working and family or leisure activities.
Marisa Sanfilippo, a Business News daily contributing writer, defines work-life balance as a condition of equilibrium in which a person prioritises the needs of one’s career as well as the demands of one’s personal life equally.
The HR Zone defines it as an individual’s level of prioritisation of personal and professional activities in their life, as well as the extent to which activities linked to their employment are present in their home.
It is evident in these definitions that they all point towards time balance. They emphasise the need to prioritise one’s time between business and personal life.
Is a healthy work-life balance achievable?
A healthy work-life balance can be achieved by properly prioritising time between the two. When prioritising this time, one must not think the time should be divided equally. This is just not possible.
The aim should not be having a perfect schedule; the aim should be having a realistic one. What works today may not work tomorrow.
Work-life balance varies every day and at every stage of life. Furthermore, everyone has his or her own work-life balancing routine.
Things that work for some may or may not work for others because priorities are different.
Work-life balance can help to address Burnout
Some of the common causes of burnout can easily be remedied by incorporating a balance between work and life for your employees.
Below are 5 tips that can assist organisations in creating a balanced work and life for employees.
Preventing Long work hours: Long work hours that extend into the evenings and even weekends deprive professionals of their personal time.
Neglecting it can cause burnout and this disrupts interpersonal relationships very fast.
We now know that flexible location and schedule arrangements can benefit employees’ mental health, physical health, and work-life balance from our experiences as a post-COVID world. 7 out of 10 employees believe that employers and governments can offer flexible hours to improve work-life balance. And 5 out of 10 workers believe that they should also permit remote working.
A study conducted by the National Library of Medicine revealed that there is a significance of granting employees more flexibility over their work schedules.
Based on these findings they urged lawmakers to make all necessary changes to labor legislation to limit excessive working hours and improve workplace flexibility.
Addressing understaffing in the organisation: When organisations are shorthanded, there is sometimes an expectation that teams would “band together” to complete projects.
However, it is unfair to ask employees to skip personal obligations in order to take up extra work that arises from understaffing.
According to a survey done by McKinsey & Company, 35% of workers have been resigning from their work due to unsustainable workloads and performance expectations.
Unfairly balanced workloads leave employees feeling frustrated. Employers should address understaffing so as to prevent an imbalance in work and life for employees.
Introducing Autonomy in work: Employees that lack autonomy they may feel unwilling to speak up when managers fail to adequately balance tasks and uphold unrealistic expectations during working hours.
Higher levels of burnout have been positively linked to less task autonomy at work and the inability to influence decisions that have an impact on one’s job.
One of the finest ways to inspire employees and guarantee their best performance is to give them the freedom to complete their work as they see appropriate.
However, remember to strike a balance between the requirement to maintain top-notch employee performance and this level of liberty in the workplace.
Encourage Employees to take time off: Organisations can set a leave management plan for their employees that encourage them to take their leave days. This strategy enables employers to combat burnout by making them take their time off.
Set clear boundaries between work and personal hours: In 2021, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser implemented a rule prohibiting internal Zoom calls on Fridays of the company in order to provide employees the time and space to do other crucial tasks.
Workers need breaks to recharge, and Jane Fraser emphasizes the importance of disconnecting from work-related concerns. This safeguards against burnout and enhances job satisfaction, as workers need rest and rejuvenation.
Conclusion
Burnout is a unique kind of job-related stress affecting employees’ professional ability, physical and mental health, and contributes to anxiety and depression. It is crucial for employees’ well being and work-life balance.
A healthy work-life balance requires prioritising time and aiming for a realistic schedule.
It’s important to recognise that work-life balance varies daily and at every stage of life, and everyone has his or her own work-life balancing routine.
Employers can help encourage a work life balance for their employees by introducing flexible schedule arrangements to reduce long work hours.
They can also address understaffing in their organisations to prevent overloading employees with work.
Employers may also create policies that set boundaries between work and personal hours.
Fostering a culture of a work-life balance will not only benefit employees but this will benefit organisations as well.
Natasha Chimphondah is an organisational development consultant at Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a business management and human resources consulting firm.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-chikondi-chimphondah-9b62a9159/
Phone: (0242) 481946-9/481950
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Email: natasha@ipcconsultant.com
Main website: www.ipcconsultants.com
