Editorial
Work is not working. In "Dying For A Paycheck," Jeffrey Pfeffer revealed a stark reality: job-related stress caused 120,000 deaths annually, making work a contributing factor to the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S. With 89% of professionals suffering from burnout, leaders must rethink their organizations’ impact on employee well-being.
When Did We Start Equating Being Productive With Being 'Always On'?
Ariana Huffington traces this mindset to the Industrial Revolution when machines were revered, and reducing machine downtime was crucial. In the human operating system, however, downtime “is a feature, not a bug,” argues Huffington.
The mainstream adoption of laptops in the late 1990s and early 2000s significantly altered workplace dynamics. The portability of laptops meant the physical separation between work and life diminished, and these lines were blurred further with the introduction of smartphones. Productivity gains from technological advances didn’t create more leisure time; instead, they led to longer hours.
The 2020 global pandemic further eroded work-life boundaries by turning homes into offices. Add on the waves of post-pandemic layoffs — many of which took place abruptly over email or Slack — and employees feel more stressed and less trusting than ever, said Ben Granger, chief workplace psychologist at Qualtrics. Moreover, out-of-touch CEOs glorifying “996” work culture, urging people to eat cereal for dinner and mandating return-to-office without data and empathy are exacerbating the burnout problem.
Related Article: Burnout Is the New Normal
Why Should We Care?
Employee well-being and organizational performance are inextricably linked. Consider these compelling reasons to address burnout:
- Cost: Employee healthcare costs, often one of the largest items in any P&L, can skyrocket when work-related stress increases. The American Institute of Stress estimates the economic impact of stress on U.S. employers at $300 billion.
- Productivity: Burnout-induced absenteeism negatively impacts productivity whereas investing in employee well-being and satisfaction can yield 36 additional days of productivity annually.
- Retention: In 2023, 42% of U.S. employees who quit their jobs cited burnout as a reason for leaving. The significant costs associated with hiring, onboarding, and training new employees should prompt CEOs to take burnout seriously.
- Competition: With 58% of workers rethinking work-life balance post-pandemic, work is no longer central to people’s identities. Half the global workforce would take a 20% pay cut to prioritize their desired quality of life. Companies that fail to adapt to these changing worker expectations risk getting left behind.
Related Article: Redefine the Social Contract to Improve Engagement and Productivity
Break the Burnout Cycle
The onus of addressing burnout has too long rested on employees’ shoulders. While yoga and meditation classes can be a part of a comprehensive wellness strategy, they are mere Band-Aids for systemic issues that require systemic solutions. Expecting workers to self-care their way out of burnout is like expecting your customers to develop their own solutions. Here are progressive strategies to tackle burnout at the enterprise level:
Prioritize Ruthlessly
Failing to prioritize is a failure of leadership. Wanting to “do it all” under the guise of a bias for action can leave employees feeling exhausted and cause productivity to plummet.
With 45% of HR leaders reporting change fatigue in their organizations, leaders must help their organizations be great at a few things, not mediocre at everything. Steve Jobs, who built one of the most valuable companies in history, insisted on focus and saying no to a hundred good ideas so that he could say yes to the ones that really mattered.
Author Stephen Covey shares this mindset. “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities,” advises Covey. If you let your team’s calendars dictate the shape of their day, consider this: Asana reports that 60% of a person’s time at work is spent on “work about work.” This includes activities like communicating about work, searching for information, managing shifting priorities, and chasing the status of work. By eliminating unnecessary meetings and burdensome processes, leaders can unlock hundreds of hours of productivity and drastically reduce the chances of staff burnout.
Related Podcast: Christine Maslach on What Organizations Can Do About Workplace Burnout
Develop Supportive Leaders
Organizations that claim to prioritize well-being but fail to develop supportive leaders can appear to be “carewashing” or engaging in performative wellness. Managers have a greater impact on our mental health than doctors, so tap your leaders to serve as stewards of employee well-being by encouraging the following behaviors:
- Empathy: Leading with empathy pays dividends. Employees who feel their employers care about them are 60% more likely to stay at their organization for the next year and 55% more likely to be productive. Empathetic leadership doesn’t mean shying away from tough decisions. Empathetic managers lead with transparency by clearly laying out the decision, the rationale, any alternatives considered and the impact on employees. They treat people like humans first, employees second.
- Role modeling: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responsible for a population of 40 million, sleeps 8 to 9 hours a day, exercises regularly and prioritizes connections with loved ones. Trudeau understands that these habits make him effective in his role and that great leaders must model well-being. Executive jobs entail making decisions that impact the bottom line and people’s lives. The quality of these decisions hinges largely on the mental state of the executive at the time of the decision. Thus, leaders who value employee well-being and high-quality decisions must lead by example. The data clearly show that employees are more likely to be healthy if their executives are healthy.
- Recognition: The importance of recognition is clear. Employees who receive fulfilling recognition are 90% less likely to burn out. Frequent recognition is a powerful tool to make people feel seen and appreciated, help them calibrate what good looks like, and celebrate wins.
Lead With Flexibility and Trust
The employer-employee trust deficit is a defining characteristic of today’s workplace as evidenced by return-to-office mandates and surveillance tactics including tracking badge swipes, keyboard and mouse activity. Consequently, 89% of remote workers and 79% of in-office employees feel the need to prove they’re actively working. You get what you measure, so no wonder mouse jiggler sales are up. Employee trust in employers is also at an all-time low with only a third saying they trust their management.
Trust is a significant predictor of employee retention and burnout, and it can be repaired:
- Manage outcomes, not facetime: While machines are assessed on output, human performance should be assessed on outcomes. Set clear goals and afford employees the autonomy and flexibility to achieve them. Leading with flexibility does not mean sacrificing connection; instead, leaders must scrap draconian policies and thoughtfully curate moments of collaboration to maximize team potential. In an era of quiet quitting, it is worth noting that employees who can choose where they work are three times more likely to want to stay with their employer and 14 times less likely to “quit and stay.”
- Match words with actions: Organizations that declared a “remote-first” model during the pandemic only to walk back their stance months later demonstrated how quickly trust is lost when promises are not kept. Other organizations adopted a “do as I say, not as I do” return-to-office mandate for employees while their senior executives continued to work remotely. Keeping your word and showing up are key to building organizational trust.
- Hold bad actors accountable: Organizational culture is shaped by the worst behaviors leadership is willing to tolerate, and toxic cultures are a top driver of attrition. Leaders must act swiftly in addressing brilliant jerks and other bad actors whose behaviors are inconsistent with company values. In failing to do so, leaders risk perpetuating perceived unfairness and undermining the culture. A lack of fairness can lead to cynicism and anger, both of which amplify burnout.
Related Article: Workplace Well-Being Efforts Are a Band-Aid, Not a Cure
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Life Is Taking Precedence Over Work
Post-pandemic, people are aware that there is a lot more life to be lived beyond work, and organizations must adapt to the changing tide. Gone are the days of “check-the-box” performative wellness. It’s time to embrace wellness by design.
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