How to avoid employee burnout and boost productivity

One of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it exposed a crisis facing companies around the world: employees struggling with burnout, which negatively impacts their productivity. More than ever, prioritizing personal energy is critical for employees to be more productive and thrive at work.

These are some of the observations Michael Christian, professor of organizational behavior and Bell Distinguished Scholar at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, developed when studying how human energy affects performance.

Michael Christian

In his white paper, “3 Employee Energy Challenges that Leaders Should Be Aware of,” he breaks down his insights into three main categories:

How mindfulness impacts our ability to bounce back from negative events.
How sleep deprivation leads to reduced self-control and misconduct.
How working through an illness instead of taking time off impacts an employee’s output.

As the fall semester gets into full swing, Christian’s insights can help Carolina managers and team members find a healthy and balanced work environment. Here’s a deeper look into Christian’s findings:

The importance of mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness helps improve mental health in the workplace and improves employee productivity, as workers who feel exhausted, sad or overwhelmed are often less effective, even when they try to press on and meet professional obligations.

What managers can do:

Try not to rush into judgment. Establish a baseline for your employees’ behavior and work ethic. If someone completes work below expectations, take time to find out why rather than jumping directly into correcting the behavior. When someone goes above and beyond, figure out what positive force is driving their productivity and try to replicate that.
Encourage mindfulness. Help team members focus on the moment, especially during breaks and off work. Model mindful transitions that allow employees to detach from their tasks during breaks, and encourage them to find focus in their work, free from distractions. Don’t wait until you see employees struggling; provide resources and try to open communication channels to stay ahead of mental exhaustion in the workplace. Create a culture of support by asking employees about how to reduce interruptions and distractions.
Model home and work separation by only emailing during work hours or using the “send later” feature.

What team members can do:

Practice mindfulness. Employees who practice simple exercises manage their emotions better than their peers, are more in touch with their personal values and often make decisions that are more aligned with their long-term interests. Take advantage of the resources available to you. Mindfulness is not a skill that comes naturally to everyone, but anyone can do it with the help of simple focused breathing.
Take transition time between tasks to be in the moment and center yourself. Even two minutes of calm can result in rejuvenation.

The impact of sleep deprivation

Sleep can be a difficult subject for leaders to address with their employees, but sleep deprivation can have serious implications, from poor self-control and being more likely to succumb to temptations to hostility to being more susceptible to unethical influences and making decisions that compromise core values.

Acute sleep deprivation is when someone gets fewer than six hours of sleep in a 24-hour period. Chronic sleep deprivation is when someone has three or more nights in a row of acute sleep deprivation.

What managers can do:

Encourage team members to prioritize sleep. Ways to do this include wellness programs and other health resources to encourage work-life balance.
Learn the signs of sleep deprivation and keep an eye on your employees. Maintain a culture of communication and openness about health concerns where leaders and employees can work together to identify the sources of stress and performance issues.
Make sure that employees are not staying up late to complete work tasks or playing “catch up” on work projects at home.
Provide resources for sleep counseling or sleep apnea treatment.

What team members can do:

Prioritize sleep by being intentional. Sleep is connected to your next-day productivity and mood.
Avoid working overtime or working extra hours from home.
Unwind before bed. Having a consistent routine before sleep — with dim lights, no screens and low energy activity — helps the body develop a reliable pattern of melatonin production and leads to better sleep.

Working through illness

Illnesses — both short-term and chronic — can have a serious impact on energy and ability to work, especially when pain is a factor. Role-related tasks may not receive the full attention of an ill employee, and results can suffer. Additionally, employees may not step out of their role to help others in need if they have low energy, which affects the team as a whole.

What managers can do:

Try not to assume that your employees are disengaged. Instead, talk to them and ask what is going on. Let them know that your primary concern is their well-being.
Talk to employees about their specific needs. Do they need more breaks or other accommodations during the workday? Is there a certain task that is difficult to complete because of a chronic illness? Accommodate your employees whenever possible.
Go to human resources with policies that may add value to employees who are struggling. Many people keep their mental and physical health conditions private because they cannot afford the care they need or cannot take time off to care for themselves. Others do not know how to take the first step to get help.
Offer comprehensive insurance policies with a wide range of coverage options.
Introduce wellness programs aimed at providing regular resources to employees.
Design sick leave policies that are flexible for individual needs.

What team members can do:

Think long-term. Give yourself permission to take time off now to help avoid eventual burnout.
Remember that your team depends on you being at your best. By staying home or not logging in when ill, you help reduce unintentional errors and interpersonal missteps.
Communicate with your employer about your needs as they change.

Both managers and team members need to understand that work and personal lives intersect. Leaders can improve work culture for employees by learning to recognize signs that their employees are struggling with illness, sleep or mindfulness.

Christian finds that addressing and preventing those three concerns will improve employee well-being as well as increase performance. He encourages employees to recognize that their energy is a priority — not only to them, but also to their team and colleagues.