Burnout can happen to even the best employee. While burnout is hard enough for the worker experiencing it, it’s just as concerning for the employer. As a company owner or manager, there are several symptoms of burnout that you should watch for in members of your staff, including:

• A decrease in overall productivity on the part of the employee
• A lower quality of work produced by the employee
• Any obvious change in the worker’s personality – becoming short-tempered, for example
• An increase in how much time the employee spends on his/her smartphone and not on work-related tasks
• An increase in the number of sick days taken by the employee and/or getting to work late, taking long lunches, etc.
• An employee begins to show a lack of interest in the job, coworkers, and work-related activities (i.e., disengagement)

Employee burnout can result in less productivity, lower quality of work and higher turnover. What’s even worse is that burnout seems to be contagious. When the attitude of one employee is negative, that can spread to other employees as well. And that can spiral into a situation where an entire team or department experiences burnout.

Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to effectively reverse employee burnout before it reaches that point. The first step is to really pay attention – not only to the amount and quality of work that each employee is producing, but also to the attitude of each employee. If you see symptoms of burnout, schedule a one-on-one meeting with the employee to voice your concerns. Once you find out a little more information, make changes to alleviate burnout and reinvigorate the employee and the rest of your team. Here are some proven remedies:

• Make sure that no one is overloaded. Workloads should be appropriate for each individual. If a person is carrying more than they are capable of handling in a 40-hour workweek, burnout is inevitable.
• Remind employees how important it is to take time off. Everyone needs a vacation from time to time, and even just a few days off on occasion can make a world of difference.
• Make sure that each employee is fairly compensated for the job they do. Working long hours is bad enough, but working hard and still not making enough money to live comfortably is a sure recipe for employee burnout.
• Improve your own management skills. The first step in treating employee burnout is to realize that it exists, and no manager can do that without being observant and in touch with the employees. Take time to talk to each team member often. Express an interest not only in how they are performing on the job, but also how each person is doing in a general sense on an individual basis. Encourage your staff members to come to you if they have concerns or need anything. Be supportive and maintain an “open-door” policy so that your employees know they can come to you whenever they feel the need.
• Provide clear direction with regard to goals, expectations, and work performance. Workers who don’t understand how to do their jobs and/or what is expected of them will become frustrated, and that can quickly lead to burnout.
• Provide some variety in work duties. If an employee is bored with his or her job, consider moving that worker to another position, or changing his/her job description to allow the employee more variety.
• Encourage a healthy work-life balance for team members. Allow those who have expressed an interest to work remotely for at least a day or two a week, or more if possible. Burnout can sometimes be the result of stress that comes from not being able to devote enough time to people outside of work, such as family members. Giving the employee the flexibility to work from home can alleviate that stress and improve the worker’s attitude by leaps and bounds.

MySammy can help you overcome employee burnout. Our cloud-based solution provides an easy way to measure the productivity of your workers no matter where they do their jobs, making it easy to allow them to work from home periodically or even on a consistent basis. And MySammy is intended to benefit employees as well, by helping them to achieve the goals you set for them and giving them the ability to measure their own progress as time goes by. Start reducing burnout today with MySammy! Contact us now to find out more.