Here’s What Your Employees Want You To Know About Burnout
Do leaders have what it takes to help teams deal with burnout?
There's no doubt that burnout is real. Leaders and managers sometimes struggle to understand and empathise with employee burnout. Some might perceive burnout as an excuse to get out of work or as a sign of weakness that they are not up for the job. But burnout – defined as a state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion caused by chronic stress – cannot be neglected.
My years of experience in executive coaching have given me the “inside scoop” on organisational challenges and the common relational conflicts within the team. This has given me insight into everything that leaders need to know to help their teams deal with burnout. Apart from understanding the negative impact of burnout on your employees and organisation, I will share proven methods that I cover in my leadership coaching on how to respond effectively when dealing with employee burnout.
As a leader, knowing how to deal with burnout at work is crucial. But before you jump straight into “response mode,” here’s a list of what every employee wants their leaders to know about dealing with burnout:
They want you to know that burnout is real.
Burnout in Singapore is at an all-time high.
What being an executive coach in Singapore has shown me, is that there remain several leaders who are dismissive of employee burnout and believe it is a “generation gap issue.” In fact, some classify burnout as a sign of weakness, alluding that it’s simply a matter of the mind.
But the statistics show otherwise.
According to Ceridian's 2022 Pulse of Talent report, a whopping 9 out of 10 – 92% to be exact – Singaporean employees cited that they are experiencing burnout, 40% of whom reportedly suffer from high or extreme levels of exhaustion. This result is significantly higher than the global statistic which stands at 61%.
Clearly, burnout is a real problem in Singapore. Leaders who adopt a passive or dismissive approach are going to experience the effects of it much more significantly than leaders who proactively start addressing it now.
They want you to know that you can catch it early.
We all know the saying: prevention is better than cure. When you catch it early, you can intervene early.
The best tell-tale signs are decreased productivity and poorer engagement. This can look like them taking a significantly longer amount of time to complete a task than usual or delivering tasks with more mistakes than their normal standard. You might catch them being extra silent during meetings and contribute to a lesser extent than their norm.
Another warning sign can manifest in the form of lower motivation. This can take the form of not wanting to come to work, appearing spaced out or distant during meetings, and feeling apathetic about work.
A burnt-out employee is a low-performing employee. A team of low-performing employees threatens the performance of the entire organisation. As a leader, it’s vital to take action the moment you spot any early signs instead of letting them brew.
They want you to know that it pays to show you care.
One leadership principle I stand for as an executive coach is that showing empathy goes a long way.
Helping your team deal with burnout looks like taking the time to understand what is causing these extreme feelings of stress. Make the effort to be interested in them as people instead of approaching them only to have work-related conversations.
Having interacted with many leaders as a leadership coach, I’ve come to realise that it is highly unlikely for your team members to initiate the conversation of feeling burnt-out. The responsibility then falls on the leaders to initiate the conversation, regardless of how uncomfortable it makes the leader feel.
In fact, many leaders whom I’ve coached ask for my advice on how to bring up such conversations. This is why a segment of my executive coaching sessions is dedicated to developing leaders who can create an environment of openness, where they can be a safe space for their team members to share their challenges without fear of judgement.
Here’s How To Help Your Team Deal With Burnout
If your team is already in the pangs of burnout, it’s never too late to intervene. Here are the top 2 tips that I can offer to leaders – tips that I’ve seen to be effective as a leadership coach:
Set aside time to check-in with your team
One way is to choose a day and time that works best for you and your employee. Let them know that you intend to use that time to listen to any struggles they might be facing. That consistent effort builds their trust that you are a leader who is available and a leader who cares.
If you are a true blue Singaporean, you’d know that the way to a Singaporean’s heart is through the stomach. So, being the foodies that we are, a light-hearted way to “check-in” with your team could be to buy breakfast and enjoy it together. Those are the moments where your team members might open up more.
Burnout is not something that happens overnight. There could be many factors that induce such chronic stress in your team, be it their personal lives or their workload.
Making the effort, one small act at a time, will go a long way in establishing trust and creating an open environment for such sensitive conversations to take place.
Make it a habit to do a “workload review”
Often, employees experience burnout because they feel overwhelmed by their workload. This could be due to unclear expectations, inadequate manpower, or the lack of the right tools and training.
The more often you assess how much is on their plate, it allows for open communication about what defines a manageable workload for each team member.
One root cause of burnout we often uncover during my executive coaching sessions is that it’s not just about the workload, but whether or not your team members enjoy or feel energised by the tasks that are on their plate.
This ties into another principle I uphold as a leadership coach. That is, to commit myself to know my team. What I mean by knowing my team is to be fully aware of what energises or drains my team members. This is key in deploying them into positions that they will thrive in and guides me in how I delegate tasks within the team.
I cover this in my article where I address the myths about burnout. When your team members are doing things that energise them, the likelihood of burnout significantly decreases, and motivation as well as engagement naturally follow. Following this, performance and productivity are by-products as well.
Do You Need Help?
Here’s another bonus tip for readers who have read this far. What I always share as an executive coach is to be a leader who is quick to show empathy. The last thing you’d want to do is to create an environment where your employees feel like they can’t take time off when they need it without feeling guilty or like they're letting their team down.
In my years of experience as a leadership coach, I have helped hundreds of C-Suite leaders employ transformational leadership principles that beat burnout in their workplaces. If you are having to deal with employee burnout, connect with me when you’re ready, and let’s exchange burnt-out teams for teams who have the tools to keep their fire burning.
