Employee satisfaction surveys and other studies are showing that employees are feeling burned out and disengaged from the workplace. Burnout can increase health care costs due to stress related illnesses, decrease production, increase turnover and decrease innovation. That is a pretty heavy toll for American business. Let’s take a look at some of the possible causes of employee dissatisfaction and burnout.
Employees say that they have been doing more with less until the less is no more.
For almost a decade, employers have been implementing staffing cuts and increasing the workload for existing employees. Nothing causes stress and kills morale like doing the job of two people for the same money. Budget cuts have decreased access to materials, support and other tools needed for the job.
Employers lack the resources and skills to develop employee engagement.
Many employers acknowledge that they struggle with employee morale issues and burnout. Very few report that they know what to do about it and even fewer report that they have the right people and resources to resolve the problem. Many companies have poor performance management systems. Employees have reported that their performance appraisals are like blindfolded executions. Many supervisors and employees complain that the appraisal process is arduous, unfair and not valued by any employee. There is a real need for an overhaul to the performance management process to bring it out of the industrial era.
Companies fail to define their culture and make it engaging to employees.
Believe it or not, both managers and employees want employee engagement. Without a plan to create such a culture, it just doesn’t happen. Leadership must define intent and lead the way in order to create a great place to work.
Fixing these problems requires a strategic, complex, committed and continuous approach. Having an employee luncheon or bringing in a speaker once in while may highlight the shortcomings instead of bringing about change.
Company culture must empower, nurture, and support employees.
This culture is developed by leadership that becomes involved with employees, is inclusive in nature and understanding of individual needs and issues. Some of the potential components may be things like work life balance programs, self-directed team approaches and recognition structures that go beyond the “atta boy.”
Without employee empowerment, employees will surely develop habits of under performers. Empower employees to be a part of the solution. Top down management does nothing for morale, quality or innovation.
Learn how to engage employees in solutions to the problems closest to them.
Involve employees in innovation at every level of the organization. This approach is supported by tons of data out there. This task requires the example of good leaders. It makes sense to get input from employees on strategic plans and goals because those plans and goals involve employees on a daily basis.
Create a new performance management approach across the board.
There are some common denominators in the literature about burnout and there are a few components that seem common to preventing and treating the problem. Use this list as a way of assessing your own company’s performance in this area.
- Leading by example, defining culture, and having an employee “brand”
- Innovation in performance management, moving more toward a coaching model
- Addressing work life balance
- Using creative ways to manage workload and stressors at work
Talent management starts with recruitment and continues through employment. It is important to create meaningful goals that employees have given their input too. Add a measure of coaching or mentoring to help achieve goals and give constructive, helpful feedback along the way. Finally, appraise performance in meaningful terms. Employees know when appraisals measure things that can’t be measured and they feel discouraged by it. Whatever system or structure is designed, it must be valued by the employees and the supervisors or go back to the drawing board. Late appraisals is a definite sign that the performance management system isn’t valued.
