How to Overcome Workplace Burnout

What Is Burnout?

The World Health Organization defines it as a syndrome created from chronic workplace stress. Numerous things, including heavy workload, lack of support, unfair treatment at work, unclear employee expectations and unreasonable time restrictions on tasks can cause burnout.

How can you recognize it? When people start to feel burned out, they usually withdraw from work, look or feel depleted or exhausted, have negative feelings about work and become more ineffective and inefficient. You can look for signs and symptoms in yourself and from co-workers. People experiencing burnout are often tired, distracted and less productive. They might also call in sick or skip work more regularly. These nuances are bad for business and affect customers and other employees alike.

How do you overcome burnout and prevent it from happening again? Burnout isn’t something to sweep under the table — for yourself or anyone else. It needs to be addressed, managed and ultimately prevented through regular check-ins, good communication and a positive environment. Ignoring burnout might cause employees to leave, make careless mistakes, badmouth your business or close themselves off to workplace communications. To combat and prevent burnout, use these five tips.

1. Take a Vacation: Take time off and encourage employees to take time off, too. Going on vacation provides the opportunity to rest, relax and reset. Regardless of whether someone stays home or goes someplace new, the break from work allows them to decompress and focus on their mental and physical health, and then return to work refreshed and revived.

2. Balance Your Work-Home Life: If you’re in the office late, missing family dinners or your child’s sporting event, you might start to resent work. Likewise, if you’re away from the office too much, you might fail to see workplace drama, issues or problems that must be addressed. It’s important to find a good work-home balance. Don’t ask too much of yourself or your employees. If possible, ask your employees which hours they prefer to work and provide a flexible work schedule. Also, consider letting them go home an hour early if they had a rough, stressful day. These things create balance by easing workplace tension or frustration, therefore creating more loyal, appreciative employees.

3. Mentor Someone New: Becoming a mentor or hosting a mentoring program can be extremely beneficial for you because you get to see archery and hunting through fresh eyes, which is empowering and enriching. As you’re helping a beginner feel more comfortable and confident with hunting, you’re also reigniting your own spark for archery and bowhunting. Mentoring also creates new customers for your business and helps the outdoor industry as hunting license and equipment purchases generate funds for conservation. Read ATA’s article “How Mentoring Can Boost Your Business” for more details.