How to Prevent Employee Burnout

The year was 2019. I was a year-and-a-half into my third job since college, and I was burned out. And not the kind of burnout that could be cured by a relaxing vacation or meditation app. I couldn’t sleep. The office bathroom now served a dual purpose as my hyperventilating room. And I was officially that person you see sitting at a red light on the drive home from work sobbing in complete silence. 

It wasn’t just that my current work environment was toxic (which it was). It was that every job I had worked in my adult life was toxic in all the same ways. It was years of struggling to make ends meet while having a “good job”, having to take work calls on holidays and vacations, never being able to put my phone away outside of business hours just in case I needed to “put out a fire”, and exceeding expectations for my role only to be denied a clear path for advancement. 

It was years of happy hours and ping pong tables that haphazardly masked a much deeper issue that I felt in my core: I was dispensable to my employer. 

And it wasn’t just me. It seemed like all of my friends and colleagues felt burned out too, often to a debilitating extent. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Deloitte found that 77 percent of respondents had experienced burnout at their current job, with more than half citing multiple occurrences of burnout throughout their careers. 

Millennials: The Me Me Me Dispensable Generation

Too often, the dialogue around burnout places the onus on employees. How can you avoid feeling burned out at work? The problem with this lens is that it ignores the systemic nature of burnout.

So who is responsible? Is it mid-level managers? C-suite executives? Corporations? Technology? Society as a whole?? In order to understand the burnout problem, I think it’s helpful to look at the millennial work experience thus far, since millennials account for roughly 35% of the U.S. workforce.

The year I entered the workforce (2015), every major publication was printing the same trope: millennials are lazy, entitled, and live with their parents. We were nicknamed “The Me Me Generation.” To say it wasn’t the warmest welcome to corporate America would be an understatement. 

Keep in mind the millennial adolescent experience was defined by one of the greatest economic recessions in U.S. history. Our college experience was defined by one of the worst job markets in history, coupled with the highest student debt accumulation ever. And, as we all know, our initial plunge into the workforce was interrupted by *checks notes* one of the biggest global health and economic crises in history. 

We were underpaid, overworked, and drowning in student debt. All the while, the generations that should have been our mentors mocked us. And now? Those same people are asking, “Why is my employee turnover so high?” The answer is simple: burnout. The solution is a little more complicated. 

How to Treat Your Employees Better

If you want to retain great employees, you have to treat them better. Employees are real people, with needs and feelings and hopes. (I know, it’s a crazy thought. Stay with me.) 

Your employees deserve respect, support, and downtime regardless of how that affects your bottom line. And while I choose to believe that most employers agree with these concepts on an intellectual level, cultivating a work environment that treats employees like humans seems to be easier said than done. 

So here are a few thoughts and prayers from a former burnout employee of a long string of bad bosses. 

Diversify Your Advancement Tracks

Not all high-level employees are people managers. Let’s say that again for the people in the back: not all high-level employees are people managers!

Managing teams is a skillset that requires leadership, strong communication, empathy, and a passion for people. Many companies make the mistake of offering management-only advancement tracks. This means that your most skilled employees must choose between doing the job they are great at and making more money.

You wouldn’t ask a chef to manage the front of the restaurant. You wouldn’t ask your star quarterback to run ticket sales. You wouldn’t ask your brightest surgeon to handle inventory for your entire hospital. Not because one of these jobs is more skilled than the other, but because each requires distinct skill sets. 

Your best web developers, content writers, graphic designers (ie. the people who expertly execute your services) should have a clear path for advancement that does not require people management or administrative responsibilities. This communicates that you value their expertise, while allowing them to advance in the role they are best suited for.

Cultivate and Respect Downtime

Remember when we mentioned that employees are human? Well, the human brain is not designed to be “on” all the time. And being “on” doesn’t just mean being at work. This can look like reaching out to employees when they are out sick, on vacation, or taking parental leave. * Sidenote: If you do this, you are the villain. Full stop. * It can also look like requiring that your employees are available 24/7 in case of “fires”. 

I interrupt this program for a brief tangent on “fires”: Unless you are an honest-to-god fire department, please for the love of life itself stop saying that you’re “putting out fires” and ask yourself is this a real emergency? Is somebody dying? If the answer is no, take a deep breath and wait until normal business hours to contact your employees. 

Respect your employees’ downtime outside of business hours and allow for downtime during the work day. Not only does this prevent burnout in the long run, it will likely cultivate more productivity, creativity, and (yes!) even joy in your day-to-day business operations. 

Set Realistic Expectations and Boundaries

Setting boundaries and expectations with clients is critical to giving your employees downtime. Too often, clients have direct access to employees via email, text, and phone call 24/7. If you set this precedent, there are no boundaries between work life and home life. Be clear with your clients that you operate within business hours and provide a singular avenue of communication in case of a * real * emergency. 

It’s also important to set clear and realistic expectations with clients and employees for project timelines, meeting bandwidth, and time tracking. Yes, there are eight hours in a typical work day, but even your most productive employee will not work eight billable hours in a day. Why? Internal meetings, bathroom breaks, weekly planning, continued education, eating, stretching, getting some fresh air, and yeah, being a human.

Avoid unnecessary meetings that could have been emails or back-to-back meeting marathons that leave no time to do actual work. Instead, provide an easy way for your team to collaborate, communicate, and give feedback sans meetings, and encourage time each day dedicated to non-billable, but still very important, activities like learning, supporting mental health, or getting to know one another. 

Pay Your Employees Well

It’s true, money can’t buy happiness. And it certainly will not be enough to retain an employee suffering from burnout. But you know what money will buy? The college education that your entry-level position requires. The astronomical cost of living near your trendy downtown office location. The cost of commuting, affording business-casual clothing, and daycare for the 40+ hours per week that your employees choose to be with you over their families. 

Be transparent with your payscale so that your employees can hold you accountable to fair pay. If you present a path for pay increases, honor that path as a contract with your employees. Listen to your employees if they ask for higher pay—this is often a clear sign that they are feeling undervalued or struggling to make ends meet. Instead of asking how little you can get away with paying your staff, ask how much you can afford to give everyone. And if there’s no room in the budget, take a hard look at your own income and superfluous expenses before making cuts elsewhere. 

Support Diverse Working Styles and Needs

You, The Boss, love your open workspace. It’s cool, it encourages collaboration, and you can easily keep an eye on things. But ask yourself: do you offer a work environment appropriate for someone with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, or a physical disability? What about introverts who might prefer a quiet, secluded workspace to be their most productive?

At my last job, I worked in a completely open office and shared a work pod with our sales team. They made client calls all day at the desk next to me, because they didn’t have access to a private office or reservable room. It was distracting to the entire team, to the point that sales people would go into our storage closet to make calls. Where was our boss, you may be wondering? In their private office, of course! 

Office design might seem all about aesthetics, but it can have a significant impact on your employees’ abilities to do their jobs. Of course every office has its limitations, but try to provide quiet working spaces, meeting rooms, and open spaces for collaboration. Give employees the option to control their lighting, noise, and surroundings when needed. Offer adjustable sit-stand workspaces with the option to customize for comfort and ergonomics. Be flexible if employees would prefer to work from home or offsite. 

Remember that everyone has different working styles, preferences, and needs. Design your workspace to support everyone, not just everyone who works like you. 

Okay, go forth and treat your people like… well, people. And if you’re a burned out employee—and I can’t stress this enough—there is a job out there that will treat you better. No job is worth compromising your mental, physical, or emotional health.