If you’re feeling frustrated, tired or even angry at work, there might be a good reason for it.
More and more, and especially since the pandemic, people are getting burnout in the workplace. Emotional exhaustion is on the rise. As is just a general displeasure with being at work. And while this may not seem like a big deal, especially from the management’s perspective, it actually is.
Surveys have shown that an increasing number of employers are blaming their employees for their burnout. Saying they’re just not resilient enough to do the work asked of them. These same employers are often the ones guilty of what causes burnout, rather than it being on the fault of the employee’s side.
The result is high employee turnover or a less-productive employee. Either of which hurts the bottom line. Plain and simple. When an employer doesn’t take care of those that are making money for them, they’re hurting themselves in the process. It’s not rocket science. Yet it seems to evade many at the executive level, according to this article from forbes.com.
So what should be done?
Greater Good Magazine provides “science-based insights” in their articles. They published a story about things that cause burnout in the workplace. In the article, it was stated that three basic things should be provided in the workplace for people to thrive: a sense of mental and physical safety, proper tools and resources to do their job, and a pay reflecting what they are worth.
If one or more of these elements are missing in your workplace, you have legitimate reason to feel frustrated. There are things you and your employer can do to work together to avoid burnout. If there are higher-up people you can safely talk to about it, you should. If you don’t feel like you can, or if you’ve tried to no avail, it might be time to start looking for another job.
Here are 5 things many employers do that lead to employee burnout. – Wendy Rush
Unrealistic Workload
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Studies have shown that if an employee feels overwhelmed with their workload, they start to feel hopeless and stop performing altogether. This is especially true if there’s no one in a management position who is advocating for the employee and how they are feeling.
A workload can feel unrealistic and overwhelming to an employee for many reasons. One of the most common are that an employer is suddenly demanding more work for the same (or less) pay. Another common reason is that an employer has started demanding work for which the employee isn’t best suited or wasn’t hired for.
2. Unfair Treatment
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Whether it be unfair bias toward another employee or unequal pay for the same work, when a worker feels they’re not being treated fairly, they’re more than twice as likely to burnout.
3. Unclear Expectations
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Gallup.com says that when expectations from employers are moving targets, employees can quickly become exhausted. Good managers provide a clear understanding to their employees regarding what is expected of them. And those expectations don’t keep changing.
4. Lack of recognition
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It’s no secret that positive reinforcement leads to happier people. That’s true for employees too. If someone doesn’t feel appreciated in the workplace, or if they see others being praised for doing the same thing they’re not being recognized for, it leads to animosity. And according to Greater Good, the recognition needs to be genuine and not manipulative.
5. Lack of Autonomy
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This is a big one. When employees feel like they’re not trusted at work, especially when they’ve given no reason to be, it’s incredibly demotivating. This is especially true if an employee was trusted and suddenly becomes more micromanaged than they were.
