Manager and HR professionals are often surprised when employee burnout begins resulting in catastrophic problems like lost-time accidents, high turnover and decreased productivity. The common refrain of we had no idea anything was wrong may be the case, but it’s rare that a few universal signs of employee burnout do not pop up as a distant early warning. Don’t let burnout catch you unaware — watch for these indicators that your employees are at their limit, and do what you can to remedy the reasons.
Absenteeism Is up – or Is It?
The relationship between absenteeism and burnout is a well-known one, but even the best managers often miss the developing pattern before absenteeism becomes a full-blown problem. Absenteeism related to burnout often begins as small infractions, such as tardiness, clocking in late from lunches and breaks, or absenteeism on the clock — e.g., employees who are supposedly working, but are missing in action. These are signs that a stressful work situation makes lingering over morning coffee or hiding out in the supply room appealing. Get to the bottom of the problem before it turns into call-ins and sick days.
Little Mistakes
Missed deadlines. Faulty reporting. Unproductive meetings. It’s easy to blame employees for little mistakes that make big headaches, but when a number of employees are all making these same errors, something is preventing them from completing their tasks on time and on point. Before little mistakes become expensive mistakes, talk to your employees to see what you as management can do to make things less stressful and make work go more smoothly.
Attitude Adjustments
Every manager knows to beware when employees are complaining long and loud. But when formerly surly employees are now sunny, or sunny employees now seem distracted or blue, you’re still in position to turn simmering burnout off before it boils over. Subtler attitude changes are your earliest warning of morale’s effect on burnout; employees may not even have realized yet that morale is slipping, so you’ve still got the opportunity to save the day.
Stretched Too Thin
The biggest contributor to burnout in most industries is understaffing that pushes employees past endurance. Stop burnout in its tracks by contacting Staffing Partners. They’ll tell you how using temp and temp-to-hire employees to fill vacancies quickly with qualified employees can prevent most common causes of burnout. Prevent burnout — call the experienced staffing professionals at Staffing Partners today!
