Burnout is everywhere these days. Executive burnout. Employee burnout. Almost two years into the pandemic and burnout is hitting record levels, according to recent research from McKinsey and Lean In.
We've been traumatized. For the last two years, we’ve been through so much unexpected, shocking change. We changed the way we worked on a fundamental level with the sudden shift to remote working. After we learned how to effectively work remotely, we’re called back into the office and re-learning how to work in an office with COVID safety measures in place.
With all of this uncertainty, change, and burnout, there are two questions that managers are asking themselves at the end of their long day:
What can I do about it?
How can I do it without adding to my level of burnout?
You’re in a Marathon, Not A Sprint.
When you’ve run a marathon, you need more than just water to recover. You need Gatorade; you need Vitamin Water; you need coconut water; you need electrolytes. Your body is depleted and you need more than just plain H2O to refresh it.
You and your employees are in the middle of a marathon and need more than just an evening or weekend off here and there to combat the levels of employee and executive burnout that are being experienced.
Self-Care
One of the worst trends that have come out of this remote working shift is the blurring of boundaries between work and home. Employees and executives feel pressure to show they’re performing by responding to emails or taking meetings outside of the traditional 9-5 workday. They’re working more hours to try and prove how dedicated they are in the absence of face time.
The best way to fight burnout is to take more time for self-care. It’s essential that you and your employees are able to have time in their lives where they can completely turn work off and walk away without consequences.
Talk About It
As uncomfortable as it may be, it’s important to start talking about the burnout everyone is experiencing. By sharing your experiences, you encourage your employees to share theirs. Starting the conversation around burnout is the first step to helping everyone fight it!
Let people know that they are not being judged or evaluated based on when they answer emails. Let people know that they can turn off their devices at the end of the traditional workday, no matter where they are. Let people know that their evenings and weekends are theirs to do with as they please and work will wait until Monday morning.
Build Trust
These conversations aren’t going to go anywhere unless there is a culture of trust between you and your employees. When you say, “you’re not being judged on when you respond to an email,” you need to be able to articulate to your employees what, exactly, they will be judged or evaluated on.
Giving employees the opportunity to tell you what they are getting done is a good way to build trust both ways: the employee trusts that you’re not just giving lip service to work hours and you’re able to verify that employees are hitting their work goals.
Model the Behavior
This can be the hardest part for some executives. Help your employees fight their burnout by showing them how you’re fighting your burnout. Tell them about the hike you’re taking over the weekend. Tell them about how nice it is to turn your work devices off at 6PM. Say goodbye on the group chat when you log off for the evening. Employees need to see you walking the walk in order to trust that they can as well.
Now Is The Time
It’s time to start rebuilding opportunities for renewal in our daily lives. This is not a problem with a one-and-done solution. This is a problem that requires changing our mindsets and changing our behaviors so that we can make a permanent shift. But don’t worry. You will find the spark come back for you, and the spark starts to come back for your employees.