Going hybrid: How can your employees avoid a digital burnout?

Every CEO wants employees who are dedicated and passionate about their work. However, in a period of a digital transition where every business is on a journey to become digitally native, digital fatigue can set in quickly.

While your business may have employees who are extremely productive and willing to put in overtime, such employees may also be risking burnout even if they actually love their job. Since talent is the lifeblood of any business, how can you keep an eye on the signs for burnout and ensure a sustainable business? Let’s take a closer look based on insights from Entrepreneur.com

A great work culture isn’t enough

The great resignation has been a wake call for businesses. Post the great resignation, the job market has been more competitive than ever before. In the Indian context, even though the country has not borne the brunt of the great resignation, it too has been facing a highly competitive job market. The lure of changing job roles, more ambitious job profiles, and higher salaries has meant that a great resignation is just around the corner.

While your organization have an engaging work culture and congenial work environment, it may not be enough. Now, more than ever before, businesses must keep an eye on a digital burnout. The fatigue can espouse various forms for employees such as a slack fatigue, email fatigue, or even a zoom fatigue. The sheer number of working hours for even passionate employees can at times get daunting.

Here are some strategies can use to mitigate potential burnouts:

Encourage breaks

Technology has enabled seamless productivity, but it has also meant spending several hours of screen on time with digital devices. There is little doubt spending long working hours in front of the screen can be detrimental to one’s health. Businesses can choose to implement specific measures to remedy this such as taking frequent breaks, minimum distance from the screen, and the importance of certain postures. While most employees are aware, it can be difficult to put into practice amidst strenuous workloads unless it becomes a workplace mandate.

Employees who take breaks at least once every 90 minutes are more focused and productive, according to research from the Workplace Productivity Report.

Leverage digital tools better

Digital tools are critical for business continuity, especially in times of turbulence as we have witnessed in the past few years. However, like all things in life, there can’t be too much of a good thing; which is why using digital tools in the right manner is pertinent for our business and very lives.

There is little doubt that businesses need to use digital tools in a smarter manner, but how can they go about it? For instance, introduce a digital solution for managing projects and tasks that will assist your staff in allocating time in their days to certain tasks. By doing this, they can protect the time and focus they dedicate to that particular task and lessen their workload.It may also help to have employees to turn off notifications to reduce distractions and have a more focussed approach for the task at hand. A focussed approach would also enable employees to work in a calmer manner.  Encourage people to use the calendar to limit the workday by offering incentives. Employees cannot and should not be invited to meetings if they are on vacation or have completed their shift because doing so would be an invasion of their privacy.

Finally, it’s true that all work and no play turns Jack into a dull boy.  It is healthy and imperative to set boundaries by employees and employers to establish a healthy work-life balance.