The focus of every for-profit organization often rests on customer satisfaction and a good brand image. But if you don’t build from the ground up, first paying attention to your organizational culture, your bottom line will suffer. Non-profit and not-for-profit organizations are not exempt. After all, human resource is the fuel that drives an establishment.
Firms that uphold a healthy culture place employees’ well-being at the forefront. This, in turn, yields greater turnover. Your firm risks facing an increased rate of resignations and negative publicity when employee welfare is taken for granted.
In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon, describing it as a syndrome that results from mismanaged, chronic workplace stress. This has effectively shifted the focus, making burnout prevention and management more of an organizational responsibility than an individual’s responsibility.
What are the effects of burnout on a company’s bottom line?
A sustained occurrence of employee burnout should be a clear indication that your organization is in dire need of a thorough systemic change.
This is what happens when employees always or often experience burnout:
- There’s a greater chance of losing your best talents as a good number of workers start actively seeking new jobs with better working conditions.
- Employees fail to meet expectations, thus lowering your quarterly performance.
- Workers take more sick days. This negatively impacts the smooth running of your establishment.
- Productivity and innovation dwindle as employees lose confidence and can’t maximize their potential.
- Employees worry more about their day-to-day survival and stop caring about the success of the company.
- Your company’s reputation is at risk when word gets out concerning the poor welfare of your employees. Such negative publicity colors the public’s opinion of you and can subsequently lower your patronage. Your stock prices could crash.
- You may find it very difficult to make new hires, especially after a sudden exodus.
- Burnout has severe mental and physical health impacts. A distraught worker, former employee, or even a bereaved family could sue you and claim compensation.
How the management can combat burnout
Every organization should take proactive measures to counteract systemic imbalances that could negatively impact the mental health and well-being of their employees. Here’s how:
Leave room for employee growth
A prevalent cause of burnout, especially in remote work, is when employees take on job offers from different companies. They do this not only for income but also because they don’t feel that they are making full use of their talents by working for just one firm. After some time, they may then decide which position provides them with the best opportunities for their career development.
If you hope to retain and engage employees, while at the same time safeguarding their mental health, you should offer learning, growth, and development opportunities.
Discourage toxic workplace behavior
A toxic workplace quickens burnout and, ultimately, attrition as workers try to escape emotional and psychological abuse. As an employer, you cannot effectively mitigate burnout without first addressing toxic workplace behaviors. Once you succeed at this, it would increase the potency of other burnout control measures that you can think to implement.
Establish an inclusive work environment
An inclusive workplace is one that does its best to minimize or eliminate any form of bias that prevents employees from expressing themselves and connecting with one another and with the management. Inclusion encourages rapport and teamwork, thereby making it easier to surmount challenges.
People’s opinions and ideas should be given due consideration, and more importantly, be actively solicited. When employees believe that their thoughts and feelings are taken into account, they tend to feel valued.
Not only do team spirit, a sense of community, and strong self-worth go a long way in preventing burnout, but they also encourage innovation and creativity, which directly improve a company’s standing.
Ensure that well-being is a key part of your culture
Employee well-being is not only about assigning manageable workloads, working reasonable hours, allowing sufficient time for breaks, and encouraging proper work-life balance, but it also includes other aspects that some managers often take for granted, such as listening to employee complaints and paying attention to their work-related problems, avoiding micromanaging employees and giving them the flexibility to control how their work is done, and making work purposeful.
