People are understandably exhausted
One in four intend to leave their job in the next 12 months
It’s been a tough couple of years, and we’ve seen more of our people in their natural environment than ever. It’s meant we’ve learned more about their identity, their motivation, the impact they have and how purpose-driven they are. It’s led to more dynamic workplaces, but being more authentic has also come at a cost for many:
- 91% of employees have experienced negative physical effects as a result of work at least once in the last 3 months
- 87% of people have experienced negative emotional impacts as a result of work
- 48% experienced adverse physical impacts more than half of the time
- 26% experienced adverse social impacts more than half of the time
- 36% experienced adverse emotional impacts more than half the time
- 28% experienced adverse behavioural impacts more than half of the time
This is as a result of various factors from understaffing to unachievable deadlines and targets, poor work/life balance and long hours. All of these factors are likely to have an impact on absenteeism, productivity, conflict-related communication, sick leave and retention rates.
Feeling it in particular are:
- Those in middle management who are being affected by the continued gap between Strategy and Operations
- Females
- Those in the early stages of working life 16 – 30
- Those in the LGBTQ+ community
- Those who work for companies that are reactive rather than proactive around employee wellbeing.
What can you do?
There are a number of different ways you can do things and questions you can ask yourself to help address your people feeling this way. A few suggestions include:
- Define your early Burnout Warning Indicators
- Are you/how do you monitor wellbeing in your business?
- Foster a culture of listening, being present, a process for escalation and reporting loop
- Do you/how could you measure or monitor productivity?
- How often do you have one-on-ones with people?
Practical Solutions and Resources
FREE Resources for EMA Members
To access these resources, login using your EMA Member account.
FREE Digital Library with First Steps
Through First Steps, and available to members and non-members, you have free access to the small to medium business-focused Workplace Wellbeing Risk Diagnostic Tool, and a range of e-Learning and resources.
Assess how your organisation is coping with their wellbeing and to identify key areas to develop as an organisation.
Free Digital Learning:
Building capabilities
Role or Job Analysis is the process of identifying the activities and processes to complete tasks within a role. This enables businesses to pinpoint the specific knowledge and skills required to complete those activities. Through this analysis, a business can select, develop, and measure the success of people in roles. This enables a business to recruit the best staff, design learning materials, and improve processes. Thorough and robust job analysis also helps businesses maximise employee performance.
If this is something you would like to hear more about, please email pxp@ema.co.nz.
Resources:
Digital Learning
Webinar
Burnout can seriously affect employee wellbeing and result in high worker absenteeism, impacting company productivity. BusinessNZ estimates that worker absence costs businesses around $1.79 billion.