What is burnout and absenteeism, how to detect them and take action?
“It is not a question of adding every day, but of subtracting, of eliminating little by little everything that is not essential”. The phrase was uttered by a martial arts master and it has stuck in our memory, because he did not say it as a warning, but as a call for help.
Transferring this reflection to the business environment, stress and absenteeism are two unknowns that we must clear up. They do not add, they only subtract. Businesses are starting to look at the real value of their companies: their employees. When they invest in the development of their skills, they gain an important competitive advantage. If self-esteem is increased, stress is reduced. If stress is reduced, absenteeism, talent drain and burnout decrease. And this leads to increased productivity at work.
In this article, we explain what burnout is and how to identify and prevent it with Coaching Tech. Join us!
What is burnout?
Maybe at some point you or your employees have felt tired during or after a working day. And we’re not just talking about physical fatigue, but also mental fatigue, the same fatigue that makes you feel like you don’t want to go on and that ends up having an impact on your work performance.
If this sounds familiar, you may be suffering from burnout. It is a type of work-related stress that involves mental, physical or emotional exhaustion and has consequences on self-esteem. It is characterised by a loss of responsibility and interest in tasks.
What if your employees were suffering from this syndrome? Don’t worry, because in the following section we will help you to find out.
How to identify burnout?
As you know, this syndrome is associated with the context of work and can have serious consequences on quality of life. Very few people are able to identify it without professional help, especially because the symptoms are so normalised in work behaviour that many people ignore it.
Don’t worry if this is your case, at ChVmpionMind we have summarised the keys to identify it.
- Symptoms of burnout:
- You feel more exhausted than usual outside and inside work.
- Professional effectiveness starts to decrease.
- Lack of personal fulfilment, frustration of work expectations.
- Feelings of negativity towards work.
- Physical and mental exhaustion from having to perform job functions.
- Depersonalisation, negative attitudes towards colleagues and clients.
- Apathy, pessimism, anxiety and irritability.
- Questionnaire to identify burnout:
- Do you have problems getting started at work?
- Have you developed cynical behaviour in the company?
- Are you impatient with colleagues and customers?
- Do you overeat to make yourself feel better?
- Do you feel that your productivity at work has decreased?
- Is work affecting your sleep habits?
- Do you notice a lack of satisfaction in your achievements?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be experiencing burnout syndrome, but you’re not alone – read on!
Work absenteeism
Absenteeism from work has become a major problem for companies. Deliberate absence from the workplace implies neglecting the duties of a specific position, but behind this problem there are some psychological causes: demotivation and low self-esteem, work stress, etc.
However, absenteeism is not only about being away from the workplace, but also about other practices such as: checking private e-mail or talking on the phone with friends. Therefore, this problem affects more people than you think.
“More than 1 million people are absent from work on average every day, according to Randstad. Among them, 73.6% were absent due to temporary incapacity, while the remaining 26.4% (276,968 people) were absent even though they were not on sick leave”. (epdata)
The data don’t lie!
15 tips to prevent burnout syndrome in your teams
Pay attention to the recommendations to prevent burnout in the workplace:
Pay attention to the recommendations to prevent burnout in the company:
- Know the triggers. The first step to prevent burnout syndrome at work is to know the causes that provoke it.
- Encourage a change of habits. Create the right environment for the behavioural changes you need, acquire new habits and leave behind obsolete or unhelpful behaviours.
- Provide the necessary resources. Make sure your employees have the tools they need to do their jobs effectively.
- Improve the working environment. Detecting burnout is fundamental to maintaining a healthy and stable work environment in the company.
- Be realistic when assigning tasks. Make sure that the amount of tasks and responsibilities delegated is stimulating, but never excessive.
- Offer flexible working hours. Encourage family reconciliation, offer teleworking whenever possible and respect rest days.
- Give feedback. Meet with your employees from time to time, make their work easier, identify areas for improvement and let them know.
- Work on the personal. Offer your teams the possibility to improve the development of new skills related to talent and leadership.
- Train your teams constantly. Updating knowledge motivates employees, so consider some online courses that allow them to reconcile their professional and personal lives effortlessly.
- Support dreams. Make sure that each team member is in the position he or she enjoys the most, as well as their motivation and commitment to it.
- Be flexible with objectives. Be realistic with the goals you set, change the deadlines or the people in charge if you think it is in everyone’s best interest.
- Educate your employees about burnout and absenteeism. It will help you to prevent these problems or to identify them more easily.
- Propose team building. Planning fun activities between members of the company will encourage team bonding.
- Don’t demand too much. Reduce parallel tasks in your teams whenever possible.
- Offer breaks. Encourage your employees to take at least fifteen minutes to rest and one hour for lunch during the day.
What if we told you that you could put these tips into practice through an online Tech Coaching platform? ChVmpionMind offers the benefits of a coaching process in a single tool, generating healthy habits through physical exercise, mindfulness and professional goals.
Science, technology and coaching (without a coach) join forces to help you gain wellness, learn new skills and improve performance.
