Chronic stress is nothing new for corporate life but the statistics paint a different picture: According to Gallop’s burnout data, the percentage of people who always worked from home before and after COVID-19 are inclined to feel burnout 11 percent more than their peers. Those who used to work in an office but now work from home experience 4 percent less burnout. Particularly hard hit are front-line professions like healthcare where people are required to juggle children, ageing parents, and work with increasing responsibilities have reported high levels of stress. In segments like retail, delivery, factories, and public safety: Workers have had to adapt to difficult new routines.
A part of the reason for being overworked is the uncertainty, technological disruption, and new business paradigms that are impacting businesses today. Another reason, as highlighted by an article from Forbes is that managers across the world are worried about the productivity of their remote work force. From their perspective, a plethora of distractions in the remote environment such as entertainment, laundry, pets, and cooking may disrupt work during business hours. Which is why, increased pressure is placed to maintain efficiency. Many businesses are also undergoing a transition and this has also put additional pressure on employees. The irony is that it is not under-performance but the zealous focus on over-performance that is affecting the output of work-from-home teams.
Based on insights, let’s take a closer look at some of the actions that employees and entrepreneurs can take.
Accept uncertainty
Dealing with market uncertainty is something that any entrepreneur worth his salt has embraced. However, employees too are required to cope with additional layers of uncertainty. With job roles changing and the advent of hybrid offices, many are uncertain about how these will work. Whereas some fear losing their jobs amidst the market downturn. Many are not used to being in an environment where working with other employees in-person is not the norm.
The very DNA of work is changing. Many job roles are being taken over by automation and AI, as technology has become a shield for businesses against market uncertainty. There are no one size fits all solutions that will work. Employees today would be required to take up new skill sets, based on current business needs, and adapt to changing norms.
Entrepreneurs and business leaders too must use this time to create a tenable vision for the future. This vision will be the foundation for the DNA and organizational values in the years to come. It is also critical to re-frame the current uncertainty as an opportunity to build greater resilience and agility. Research by McKinsey highlights that building an effective post pandemic vision as well as a policy framework for remote-work can have a trenchant impact on employee productivity.
Being empathetic
Leading by example is critical towards influencing others. By sharing your own experiences and examples as a business leader can empower employees to express their concerns. Revealing your trials and tribulations can help employees understand that their leaders too realize what they are going through. Listening to their stories can also help give business leaders holistic insights about helping address critical work-related problems and bottlenecks. Empathy today is more than just a buzzword and has become a necessary leadership trait.
Working in a remote environment has also brought about a sense of perennial solitude. Today, sans empathetic leaders, businesses will struggle to attract and retain top talent. Recognizing contributions and expressing appreciation is the hallmark of a good leader and will help establish solidarity among employees, without making them feel left-out. As per McKinsey, myriad studies have shown that compassionate leaders can foster more engagement and loyalty among their teams. This can go a long way towards preventing burnout if employees feel that they are understood by their leaders and the overall business approach is more humane.
The road ahead
Grief, as well as feelings of shock, denial, frustration, and depression, may be triggered by the loss of a sense of security and normalcy. These can contribute towards employee burnout. Business leaders today are thus required to exercise more empathy, establish sensible remote-working policies, and have a more humane approach to mitigate the impact of an employee burnout.
