Are you tired of a high turnover rate lately? Have you been posting job openings and more vacancies on social media and even on an ad marketplace, hoping more candidates will come in and apply? If you relate to these, there is a more important question in play: Why are your people leaving you?
Focusing on the exhaustion of workers
You may be spiraling down to being burnt out when it feels like every day is a bad or dull day. When it feels as if the majority of your day is spent on overwhelmingly tedious tasks, and even then, you cannot seem to unplug from work.
Something’s wrong, and you think maybe it’s just you. Even performers who pride themselves on consistently functioning at work get worked up too. Being burnt out is a psychological syndrome defined as a pent-up explosive or implosive response to too much stress and pressure magnified by external catalysts.
It is not just increased stress, and it is not something that you get overnight. It is the accumulated toll of stress on you. Stress can put too much pressure not just on the mind but also on the body. The toll sometimes radiates physical pain. “Burnout” is a state of complete and utter exhaustion that results in social apathy, job detachment, and absolute ineffectiveness.
According to a Gallup study, 23 percent of employees often and always feel burnt out at work, while 44 percent admitted feeling the same way during some days. Two-thirds of regular working individuals suffer from individual, interpersonal, and organizational burnout, and here are reasons why:
1. Unfair Treatment
The frustration this causes is too much for a human’s psyche, especially when someone is legally bound to an institution that is supposed to ensure equality for regular and home-based staff. This treatment can mean many things, such as being undermined and unrecognized, albeit being competent, and being unjustly disliked or humiliated. In all cases, one is likely to suffer from heightened work anxiety.
2. Unrealistic Workload
It includes everything unimaginable. Unrealistic deadlines, revisions, and expectations. All of which puts too much pressure on a worker. It can result in a premeditated resentment towards work. Since human beings naturally tend to pin their hopes on fulfilling what is expected of them, they get crushed when they fail. It is more likely that they feel disappointment with themselves and their situation instead of finding a way around it.
3. Lack of Managerial Support
The support system in a workplace is one of the critical factors of growth. Offering organizational or management support and collaborative tools to make a new and better working trend will launch your business to new heights.
However, in a typical work setup, this support system is still considered a significant area of concern for workers. Social support for employees is focused on meeting what workers need: to feel valued, involved, and respected. Those are still tricky to overcome, especially in regular office-based work where daily operations could be too much for employees.
4. Lack of Clear Directions
One would be sure on which way to go depending on their understanding of the directions. Hence, when employees do not have the same clear vision as the business owner, things get very confusing. Both ends would be wasting energy, time, and resources. It would not just be frustrating for employees but also for the company heads. It could be classified as a communication gap, having the message trickle down from manager to manager. The interpretation of the original vision is diluted, which then leads to a different or even wrong path.
Highly stressful work environments are often poorly structured with socially toxic regulations despite highly performing in the industry. Such company practices are the source of burnout. If ignored or unaddressed, the following reasons could have significant damage on the lives of many and damage the businesses’ momentum.
Burnout is a complex state of spiraling down. Cut your staff and yourself some slack. Your turnover rate may be higher than normal because your team feels overworked, unmotivated, or even underpaid. Working from home does not automatically mean that people have it better now. There are many challenges to this new norm, especially those who need an office to healthy boundaries between life and work.
Life is already challenging to deal with, especially during a global health crisis. So if your team is feeling a little flat or unmotivated these days, it won’t hurt to ask them what they need and how you can help them. This way, you can extend a hand and improve their wellness.
