Burnout leads to absentee employees: What can leaders do to reduce rising absenteeism
The term ‘burnout’ has become a buzzword in business, even being recognized as an ‘occupational phenomenon’ by the World Health Organization in 2019. While ‘burnout’ is not a medical diagnosis it can be thought of as a syndrome usually brought about by chronic workplace stress. It is often associated with exhaustion, cynicism towards one’s job, a reduced feeling of worth and a sense of hopelessness and if left unchecked, the likely outcome is one of presenteeism – working while being unfit to work, and absenteeism – failing to attend work without an official cause. On an organisational level, this can trigger a lack of engagement in team-building initiatives, high turnover rates of employees, low morale and motivation across the company, and difficulty attracting and retaining good staff and top talent.
In response, there is a growing expectation for leaders to prioritise workplace wellbeing in order to tackle rising burnout levels, and in turn, reduce absenteeism, increase productivity, and cultivate a psychologically safe culture. The fundamental aspect surrounding burnout-related absence is that spotting signs earlier is key. Once a team member is showing symptoms, it may be a problem that has been festering for a number of months or even years. Importantly, businesses not only need to recognize the behavioural signs of employees approaching burnout, but they also need to identify and address organisational behaviours that contribute to burnout.
What can business leaders do to tackle rising absenteeism?
So, what steps can leaders take to beat staff burnout, reduce absenteeism and cultivate company wellbeing?
- Spot signs – Leaders must become clear on burnout signs and symptoms and recognise when they are pushing their team to the brink of exhaustion. Of course, there are times when a company workload may suddenly rise, but becoming more sensitive and looking out for each other at an earlier stage is likely to be a fundamental way to reduce the likelihood of a team member ‘burning out’. Here are some signs of burnout to watch out for in your employees:
- Decreased creativity and innovation
- Decreased quality of work
- Decreased productivity and taking longer to complete tasks
- Missing deadlines and asking to move deadlines
- Absenteeism (extended time off)
- Presenteeism (continuing to work while sick)
- Leavism (catching up when on holiday or over weekends)
- Have an open door policy – Enhance feelings of psychological safety by stating that people should tell their team leaders when they are feeling overwhelmed, overworked or unable to complete a task. Ensure that the workforce knows that they won’t be reprimanded for bringing this to their attention and that it is better to know earlier rather than later.
- Set boundaries and encourage self-care – Leaders must set clear boundaries and promote a healthy work-life balance, especially with the rise of hybrid working. This means no emails or calls after working hours, turning off IT during lunchtime, or introducing daily “permission to pause” slots in their calendar where they can step away from work without feeling guilty.
- Help with organisation and time management – Ensure that teams know their priorities for each week and split their workload into essential and non-essential tasks. Timeboxing can be introduced to their schedules to block out allocated slots for set tasks, or “do not disturb” spaces in the office or online alerts for concentrated periods of working.
- Allow staff to say no to tasks if they are too much – Assess an employee’s workload before asking them to complete an additional task, and do not reprimand them if they are honest about not having the capacity.
- Introduce mindfulness – Mindfulness practices can calm the mind, ease stress, and help to prevent burnout. Transform an old meeting room into a space for mindfulness meditation or provide online workshops on mindful breathing or yoga practices to give employees a break from fast-paced work that may be threatening burnout.
- Educate around wellbeing and its benefits – provide educational workshops on the benefits of wellbeing. Having a focus on employee wellbeing can help people be more efficient and more productive with their time – ultimately getting more done in a shorter space of time. This effectively enhances capacity and reduces the chance of people feeling overwhelmed. Consider creating a mini-campaign that aims to touch on various aspects of exercise, nutrition, health habits, positive mindsets etc. and hopefully some of the team will engage and strive to make some positive changes in their lives.
It is clear that burnout is an ever-increasing problem in the workplace and, if left unchecked, can dramatically affect the capabilities of a company to perform. As stress levels and workloads rise in the workplace, leaders have an opportunity to implement various strategies to support the workforce. Hopefully, with enough will and determination, a company can tackle the long-term problems with absenteeism related to burnout.
Oliver Henry is a workplace wellbeing expert and the co-founder of WorkLifeWell
Featured Photo by Christian Erfurt on Unsplash
