Have you ever heard someone say they are “at the end of their rope with work?” Maybe they say they “weren’t meant to be a social worker/teacher/(insert job here).” As much as we think such statements may be exaggerations about a bad day at work, it is likely that the person in question may be experiencing a real syndrome that can take a huge toll on their mental health: burnout. While burnout may seem like something that an individual can “snap out of,” it is more like a “downward spiral”, that can lead to a person exiting the organization or field of work altogether.
2007 research by NIOSH reports that anywhere from 26% to 40% of American workers find their job extremely stressful. In addition, one-fourth of Americans feel that their job is the number one stressor in their lives.4
Defining Burnout
Burnout is an internal, defensive response to demanding occupational situations and pressures. It contains three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy. Emotional exhaustion is the feeling of being “used up” at the end of the work day, and the most personal aspect of burnout. Cynicism is taking a distant attitude towards the people one works with—either coworkers or customers. Finally, reduced professional efficacy is the feeling the individual has about the work. An individual may feel that he/she is not good at his/her work, or not “cut out” for the line of work that he/she is in.2
Preventing Burnout
According to NIOSH, there are several reasons employees can slip into a state of burnout. It can result from factors such as heavy workload, their supervisor’s management style, lack of coworker support, uncertainty about expectations, lack of job security, and working in dangerous environments.4 Preventing burnout means ensuring that all of these factors are working optimally.
Countless articles have been published regarding potential interventions for burnout. Because burned out employees could be costly for an organization (lost work time, health-related costs, customer loss due to poor service), the best approach is prevention.
For those that work in professions highly susceptible to burnout (e.g. human service fields), one approach may be to involve the employees in a focus group discussion about ways to potentially reduce burnout. In a particular study of this kind, employees who were in a social work setting came up with some suggestions on how they could reduce their burnout. Employees came up with the following solutions, and the combination of these interventions resulted in reduced emotional exhaustion in the employees: 1
- Health Club Benefits: Health club membership was offered to employees if they agreed to use it twice a week. The goal was to promote a healthy lifestyle by improving fitness which in turn would improve wellbeing.
- Better Training: Employees were provided with incentives to attend training sessions outside of work (on paid time). To avoid the potential for these sessions “feeling like more work,” one lucky attendee would win a prize.
- Decision Making Involvement: Employees were asked to actively participate in goal-setting for the organization’s future priorities and offerings. They also had a chance to meet and speak with the decision makers at the organization.
- Constructive Feedback Sessions: Employees felt that more information about their performance would be helpful in reducing the stress they felt at their jobs. They wanted to receive both positive and critical feedback and have a chance to express their concerns with their supervisors.
- Reorganized Work Schedules: Employees expressed a desire for different work schedules to optimize their personal time. This point is relevant for employees who work part-time or short shifts: their desire was to get their hours all at once rather than having to leave and return in order to get their needed hours.
The researchers did not test each of these interventions separately, so there is no data to determine if any of the particular interventions were more effective than others. However, they did find that the intervention that contained all of the above was successful.
NIOSH offers similar suggestions for preventing or reducing burnout. Ensuring frequent rest periods/breaks, allowing employees to participate in decision making, recognizing employees for a job well done, and providing development opportunities were all cited as ways to promote a healthy workplace.4
According to research, employees can be either burned out, engaged, or somewhere in between3. We use several strategies to improve engagement, which are similar to the above burnout interventions. Thus, many firms may consider adopting burnout prevention into their engagement strategy, if they haven’t done so already.
If it seems that burnout is already affecting some of your employees, we suggest using the services of licensed clinical psychologists. Burnout is a serious issue that can lead to very negative outcomes that could require counseling. If your organization has an Employee Assistance Plan (EAP), ensure that it includes information on how employees can find help through counseling or other services.
Burnout can be a costly problem for organizations and their people. Careful attention and prevention should be considered by human resources initiatives in all organizations in order to ensure the continued health of employees and their workplaces.
Amanda Harms | Associate Consultant
References:
- Innstrand S.T., Espnes G.A., & Mykletun R. (2004). Job stress, burnout and job satisfaction: an intervention study for staff working with people with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 17, 119–26.
- Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (1997). The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Maslach, C. Schaufeli, W.B., & Leiter, M.P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397-422.
- Stress…At Work. NIOSH Publications and Products. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/
Filed under: Employee Development, Employee Retention, Executive Leadership, Leadership Development
No matter the size of your company, company leaders should be continually striving to build up a positive company culture that is consistent with the company’s mission and values. However, as businesses everywhere are growing from national organizations into global entities, building up a consistent company culture becomes much more difficult. With expanding companies, it is natural to acquire remote employees and open up new locations overseas, and the last thing you want is for those satellite employees to feel out of sync with the company’s vision and future goals. In addition, you also don’t want your overseas employees to feel like outcasts.
When it comes to company culture I think author of Fit In! The Unofficial Guide to Corporate Culture, Mark Williams, says it best, “not everything that happens in a business is based on visible, objective, and formal rules”. Something I’m sure we’ve all experienced are those unwritten rules that lie between the lines of your company handbook. They cover those little things from where you sit in a meeting to how you should address your manager. It’s these things that help define the environment of a company. Gaining a good understand of a company’s polices and “unwritten rules” can be tough enough on its own but add another location and these challenges become amplified. But all hope is not lost, there are ways to make your employees feel more aligned with your company’s vision. After all, it’s a strong company culture that will keep turnover rates low, productivity high, and employee morale up whether it be in your corporate headquarters or half way around the world.
The Challenge
Opening multiple offices can be a logical step when facing company growth and it can also be a tremendous opportunity. One loss however in separating employees is the loss of personal interaction. A lot of company culture is built up through those conversations by the water cooler, friendly chit-chat in the hallways, or in office humor through games played among co-workers. These are all little pieces that make up what type of culture is present within your company.
These personal interactions also help set a strong foundation of good relationships and trust on which to collaborate to find solutions to work-related problems. So with multiple locations, finding ways for your employees to stay in touch can be one of your biggest challenges.
The Solution
Companies that have unified cultures, no matter how many office locations they may have, have one common trait; they are effective communicators. They value their employees’ opinions and therefore work hard to keep lines of communication constantly open. They also put effort into recognizing individual accomplishments. While the traditional company barbeque or office party may not work for those multi-location companies, there are many other methods to integrate other lines of communication and togetherness. A company blog for instance is a great way to reach your customers, but it’s also a great way to keep all of your employees in the loop about what is going on in different locations. Company reports, newsletters, or daily emails are other great ways to inform all company employees about featured company customers, a funny company story, or shine some light on what your company truly values.
At Questar, we can speak first hand on this topic having remote employees in our UK office. We work hard to make sure all of our employee feel like they’re part of a clear company mission and goal. We have found the greatest way to combat any downfalls of geographic distance is communication, communication, communication. We hold monthly, weekly, and even daily, depending on department, meetings through Skype with our satellite co-workers. This ensures that no matter what project is being worked on, everyone is aware of what has happened, what is currently being worked on, and what needs to still be accomplished in the future. Through this practice, a Questar client can call any one of our employees within that project team to get their questions answered. These meetings also help foster friendly camaraderie amongst groups. Although many of us have never met our UK colleagues in person, they are included in long-running jokes and have become close friends to employees in the US office.
Another connection between offices we make here at Questar is our company quarterly newsletter. Within this form of communication, we always showcase activities and progress made by teams in both locations. When we have companywide meetings in our US office our UK co-workers are present through our online meeting center so they are able to see and hear in real time what is being covered by our company executives.
These are just a few examples of the ways Questar is working to bridge the gap so global business doesn’t feel quite so global. We would love to hear what your company does to enhance its company culture either within one office or one hundred.
Stephanie Peterson | Strategic Communications and Marketing Coordinator
Filed under: Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Executive Leadership, Uncategorized
As the “great recession” begins to ease, many employees are poised to leave – up to 84% according to some research. And as their employees become restless, leaders in many organizations begin to shift their focus once again from cost containment to talent retention. Yet despite reemerging enthusiasm for talent retention, many organizations are basing their retention efforts on faulty assumptions. (more…)
Filed under: Employee Development, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Executive Leadership
We are excited to be exhibiting at SIOP conference once again this year. If you are heading there as well, be sure to stop by our booth (215) for your chance to win a new iPad 2 or Kindle. The SIOP conference is a three-day conference that includes the country’s top industrial-organizational psychologists for discussion on current issues and emerging trends in the workplace.
To learn more about the SIOP conference please visit http://www.siop.org/conferences/
Filed under: Employee Communication, Employee Development, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Executive Leadership
No doubt many of your employees are asking themselves this question as the new year approaches. According research by Manpower as reported in an article on CNN.com, up to 84% of all employees will be looking for a new job as they ring in the new year.
Many employers are making New Year’s resolutions of their own – hoping to avert this impending mass exodus of employees. If you’re doing the same, there are some things you can do to help retain your employees in 2011. Based on research that Questar has done on drivers of employee loyalty, here are some steps you can (more…)
Filed under: Customer Experience, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership
That may be one of the most cliché phrases in the English language. Every time I feel forced to say it I cringe and think “here we go again”. In addition, how does it feel to be the powerless employee that has to admit that they do not have the training or authority to help the customer? A recent experience of mine got me thinking more about how this ties into what Questar does to help employees and customers with this type of situation.
Going paperless when managing household bills is a good thing, right? Online statements are convenient and online bill pay has become easier. Not to mention we all want to do our part to help the environment. Why wouldn’t a person want to “do the right thing” while at the same time making their life easier to manage? I found out a few days ago there is a little more to think about when you choose to discard the “old way’ of doing things for a “better”, more progressive approach. (more…)
Filed under: Employee Communication, Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership
Nurses in Duluth, Minnesota, may be striking soon. Earlier this week they voted by a nearly 9 to 1 margin to reject their new labor contract. Like so many others in this “do more with less” economy, tight staffing levels have taken a toll, and the Minnesota Nurses Association cites “patient safety” as the primary concern prompting the strike.
Employees decide to strike for many reasons. But at the end of the day, most just want to be heard. In that regard, they’re not alone. At Questar we track tens of thousands of employees’ opinions about their workplace. This research shows that many employees believe no one is listening.
- Only about half (54%) of all employees indicate that their company’s senior management values employees’ ideas and opinions.
- Those on the front lines are least likely to feel heard: While 77% of (more…)
Filed under: Employee Communication, Employee Development, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, Executive Leadership, Uncategorized
New jobs require new skills. And it’s through new challenges that we build those skills. So it should come as no surprise that the way most leaders learn to lead is by jumping in the deep end.
One of my stories related to this is from a client I worked with years ago. The main character in this story is an up and coming young executive – we’ll call her Sarah (not her real name). Sarah was a go getter, recognized by corporate leadership for her achievements, her performance and her potential. She was just 33 years old when she got her first chance to truly lead. She was named president of a small division within the large global corporation for which she worked. And boy was she ready – this was her chance to really prove herself.
This part of the business was new to her. But Sarah was a quick study and knew just what to do. She wasted no time evaluating the competitive landscape and identified some “quick hits” to gain market share. She worked hard developing plans, securing resources, contacting clients, and informing key stakeholders. She found places to cut costs, introduced efficiencies, and pushed ahead with some innovative product development. (more…)
Customer satisfaction survey results are often a key component of a multi-unit organization’s corporate bonus structure. Such programs ensure that customer satisfaction remains top of mind for managers at all levels within a company. While the decision to link survey results and employee rewards must ultimately be made by each individual organization, it is certainly worth investigating. If your company decides that such a bonus program is right for you, it is important to give serious consideration to the approach you will take and to be mindful of the possible risks and complications.
What Works
Quarterly bonus payments work well for many organizations. They offer a nice compromise in that they occur often enough to maintain interest but are spaced far enough apart to give managers an opportunity to impact their scores. Compensation plans with a tiered pay out are often very effective. With a tiered pay out, most participants can achieve the lowest level of compensation, while the very highest level of compensation is reserved for only the best performers. These payments work well when they are based on two criteria:
1. Progress towards a corporate goal- Managers at or above their goal should be motivated to stay at that level. It’s easy for customer satisfaction to slip without continuous effort.
2. Demonstrated improvement over last quarter- This is also a good time to identify strong performers and set them up as mentors for those who missed the mark.
Inherent Risks
While data integrity is always of great importance in any research effort, the connection of compensation to customer satisfaction survey results on this sort of program heightens the potential for fraudulent activity. However, there are ways to establish customer feedback systems that reduce the risk of this occurring.
Take, for instance, the data integrity associated with using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) as a means of collecting customer feedback. This is a commonly used method for collecting feedback among organizations with multiple locations. Customers call a toll-free number and use their telephone keypad to input answers to questions about their experience with a product or service. Unfair survey practices using IVR data collection are noticeable in some fairly common ways:
Filed under: Employee Engagement, Executive Leadership, Leadership Development
According to research just released from the Pew Research Center, trust in the US government is at an all time low. In fact, just 22% of study participants said that they “trust the government in Washington almost always or most of the time.” With mid-term elections just a few months away, this news is creating quite a buzz.
To say I’m a political junky would be an exaggeration. But I do find the tracking of political opinions fascinating. Our public leaders live in a fish bowl. So many things within and outside of their control impact public support and their “job approval ratings.” And that support in turn impacts their political clout and their ability to get things done. At the end of the day, this lack of trust could cost elected officials their jobs. And so the panic begins. (more…)
