Human Resources : A Critical Player in Preventing Organizational Burnout

Preventing burnout is a collaborative effort. It requires management, human resources, and employees themselves to work together in building a healthy and safe work environment. With managers acting as a frontline to their employees, it’s imperative that HR works closely with managers on essential tactics and programs to identify and alleviate workplace burnout. 

Some root causes of burnout at work may include an excessive workload or job demands that exceed available resources, unorganized organizational culture, lack of support and recognition, unclear job expectations, making promises the company cannot deliver and workplace conflict.

Knowing the signs of burnout is the first step in ensuring your organization has a pulse on overall stress levels, health, and employee experience. It may surprise you to know that mitigating these signs of burnout starts with something as simple as listening. According to a Gallup study, employees with a manager who is willing to listen to work-related problems are 62% less likely to be burned out. 

Preventing Workplace Burnout Lies in Managers & HR 

If managers are burnt out, however, they will have a much smaller capacity to sufficiently support their employees. Therefore, burnout education for managers, themselves, is a necessary step in overall organizational initiatives, and will look slightly different than support for employees. Proper training for managers should include both identifying burnout and responding to burnout (and the signs that lead to it) in an empathetic manner. Continuous education on this topic should be considered in order to truly hold managers accountable and better ensure support for all employees within the organization. 

While managers play a critical role, human resources departments set the tone and establish the ground rules for effectively preventing burnout. Interventions such as company-wide initiatives focusing on recognition and mental health training/support have a positive long-term impact on an organization. When determining where to place a majority of your focus, consider reviewing employee exit interviews (and if this is not a common practice, begin to establish the protocol). The reasons that employees leave an organization will differ, and turnover can’t always be avoided, but a group of exit interviews over the past few months or years can provide a clear vision into where changes need to be made, and which elements of burnout have your organization most at risk. 

Mental Health in the Workplace 

Studies have proven that mental health is still a taboo topic in the workplace, but it has become increasingly important that employees receive mental health support while at work.

Human resources departments have the opportunity to not only de-stigmatize mental health resources, but also provide initiatives where employees may not feel so isolated in this aspect of their health. A tactic as simple as building a mental health resource page on your internal website that employees can anonymously access when going through a difficult time, can go a long way. Providing additional resources such as mindfulness tips, access to free meditation services through an app (such as InsightTimer or Calm), or monthly yoga sessions can help to create not just clear minds, but opportunities for bonding through relaxation and stress reduction.

Additionally, evaluating health insurance benefits, and ensuring psychological services are covered - and making employees aware of this - is an excellent way to provide easier access for mental health support. 

Beyond Mental Health

It is no secret that employees want to feel valued and appreciated within their organization, and there is a direct correlation between a perceived lack of value and employee burnout. Consider implementing a recognition program, which can take on many forms and does not have to be overly costly or complicated. Celebrating work milestones/anniversaries, peer-to-peer recognition, value/project recognition, lunches, and experiential rewards not tied to a specific agenda, are all ways to showcase an employee or team's value to the organization.

Ultimately, these activities should be ones that help to boost morale, retain talent, and create a bond between employees and the organization. And who doesn’t get excited about a free lunch?

All of the above initiatives revolve around employees who are already established within the organization, but human resources' role in preventing burnout actually begins during the initial job interview phase.

Effectively communicating clear and concise job responsibilities for each role, organizational transparency (as much as possible), and workload expectations set the tone and help a potential employee determine whether or not the position is a fit for them as an individual. Which also leads to the point that burnout cannot be solely prevented by human resources departments and managers alone. Employees must be responsible for their part in their own burnout and levels of stress in the workplace. HR and managers must work together to create an open and supportive environment, yes, but each employee then must take it upon themselves to communicate how they are feeling, their levels of stress, and asking for help when needed. 

Human resources departments can play a critical role in eliminating unnecessary stressors, providing resources for well-being, and creating organizational transparency and support across all levels. Taking thoughtful and meaningful action in these areas are crucial when preventing organizational burnout.