Just when you thought things were tricky enough right now – there is yet another consideration you need to be aware of. Staff who have been suddenly working from home are susceptible to burn out due to new factors that have not been seen in traditional offices. Your high performers are likely feeling this pressure the most. Here is how to identify burnout in your staff and help them with burnout from working from home.
According to CNBC, more and more people are burned out from working at home It turns out that while we are having vacation from commutes, the realities of intermingling our personal space with our professional space has its drawbacks.
It mentions that 71% of survey respondents who work from home said that they take time away from their computer to spend time with family or go for walks. Which means that 29% are plowing through work, and not taking care of themselves.
It’s essential that you take the time as a leader to monitor for changes in your staff. Burnout effects everyone. Not only will you have a stressed out and cynical employee, but your organization will get lower quality of work and a potentially great employee who decides work is too stressful and quits.
Want some additional tips to manage your virtual team? Read more on the tips ad tricks to have a stellar virtual team!
How to identify burnout in your staff
You can’t help as a leader if you are not aware of what to look for. Here are the most common signs to look out for. Ideally you can identify burnout in your staff as early as possible. If you get the sense that someone just isn’t themselves lately, read through to see if any of these signs of burnout apply.
Changes to work quality
You know your employees better than anyone. You have seen their work countless times – and it just doesn’t seem to be the same. The quality seems a bit off: there are small (or large) errors, it touches on surface issues only and doesn’t go in to depth. Overall, it feels like a rush job.
Sending late emails
An employee may be struggling to shut their work brain off because they never left their new work space. Moving several feet from their kitchen table to their couch is not the same as a commute where they can decompress.
People feel more accessible now, so we are tempted to just send a quick email. If this is not typical practice for them to send late emails before working from home, you should be on the lookout additional signs that could signal burnout from working from home.
If they are working longer hours by not unplugging , they are prime candidates for burning out.
Late work
Things just don’t seem to arrive on time. You have to prompt to get deliverables or ask a second time for “could you send me a copy of X?”. This could be a signal that they are unable to focus on their tasks.
Comments about how tired they are
A hallmark sign of burnout is the inability to sleep. Since you are not in their bedroom to witness the tossing and turning, watch out for hints that there may be a sleep issue:
Comments on how much more coffee they are drinking these days, comments on how tired they are, that they need to start napping on their lunch break, etc… It may be a joke to them right now, but this should get your senses tingling.
Decreased engagement
They are slower to respond to emails, less participation in group meetings, and just seem tuned out. If there is a decreased enthusiasm for projects, you could have a burned out employee on your hands.
Negativity/Apathy
I’m guilty of becoming more negative as I become overly stressed and burned out at work. It’s actually a good indicator for me that its time for a vacation. Fortunately that negativity stays in my head – but its vacation time before it comes out!
It’s more difficult to keep a positive outlook when things have become way too stressful for way too long.
If a staff member starts to make comments or remarks about assignments, other coworkers, or clients you need to ensure that the negativity doesn’t spread to the rest of the team. Another sign is that the staff member just doesn’t seem to care. They seem to have lost focus on what your team is trying to achieve.
What makes high performers more susceptible to burnout?
Well, times are different, but they still feel the need (and pressure) to get everything done in the same time frame as before. Essentially, they have seen it as a challenge to try and keep everything the same as before – but its not.
This leads to prolonged periods of panic working, which is detrimental to this high performer. The idea of an “end of work day” is also a loose concept now since everything is so accessible.
For some, they feel the need to control their environment. When they cannot control what is happening outside their front door, they turn to work productivity as a sense of comfort.
Others on your team may be parents who believe that they can “do it all!” Home school, take care of children, and stay on top of work? This is a sustained recipe for burnout.
What can you do to support staff with burnout from working from home?
When you can identify burnout in your staff early, you can hopefully use less of these approaches to support staff. Here are some ways to give some time off and reduce stress for your whole team and individual employees.
Encourage them to take a break – a real break
It’s not really a break if you are “off” that day, but still keeping your phone in your hand checking emails. Those are banned during vacation time!
Actively encourage time off. Pick out your slower time at work and make sure people get their rest so that they can perform when you really need them during crazy times.
Be as transparent as possible
Sometimes the lack of information or clarity from leadership can manifest and cause lots of stressful speculation. Reduce stress wherever you can! Be as transparent with your staff as possible to reduce job change or job loss with your team.
Let the whole team know the expectations
Don’t forget to support the whole team. Ensure that you support the differentiation between work and home by making it clear that there is an end of the day. Emails that are sent after that time get a delay send until the next day. Alternatively, communicate to your team that there is no expectation to answer email after the defined end of day.
Try to encourage socialization among the whole team
One of the things that I miss is the quick chats you have with another team member while you are waiting for a meeting to start. Passing someone in the corridor and asking how their birthday went.
Chances are if you miss it, others do too. Those are the moments that add to the positive culture of a work, and they could be missing from the video meetings now.
Set up a time once a week where everyone has a coffee or tea and socializes. You could also integrate a bit of time before your daily huddle for chit chat. Have some virtual birthday parties for staff members. Don’t lose this important piece of your team building and maintenance.
Encourage staff to divide their space
Working from home is a transition. This is not a new concept and previous to the mass work from home requirement, employers often asked for proof of reliable childcare because they knew what a distraction it would be for an employee. It’s hard to be productive with Frozen on in the background all day! You start responding to email chains with, “we should just let it go”.
As described above, there is little divide between a work space and a leisure space now. Encourage the employee to find some ways to divide up their environment. I have found some useful tips here.
Change their workload
It’s all too easy to slip in to burnout from working from home. Your employee may be struggling with so many unprecedented demands – childcare, home school, health worries AND work on top of that.
Expectations will need to change and new work goals should be developed in collaboration with the employee. Read more on adjusting work/performance goals when working from home so that you can get an idea of adjustments that can be made.
Have a supportive conversation
Have a one-on-one with the staff member. Ask how they are doing and what you can do to support them.
Let them know that you care about them and want them to do well. They are not robots and they need to recharge. Encourage taking a break, separating themselves from the office, and adjusting their workload for now to meet any additional needs that are happening in their life. Let them tell you what they need.
When you identify burnout in your staff, make sure that you take steps to change it. Quick transitions are hard, but with your support, your team can handle it.
When its time to get the staff back to the office, here is how to prepare and support staff for transitioning back to the office.