Preventing Burnout Versus Addressing Burnout
The corporate challenges associated with total employee health and well-being are nothing new, they have just been brought into a new light in recent years.
That is why it is no surprise that an estimated 9 out of 10 organizations around the world offer a wellness program to their employees. However, what is surprising is the fact that despite this increased commitment to and investment in well-being, employees still report struggling at work.
So why are we still seeing these trends?
Well, it’s a direct result of employers viewing employee health, well-being, and burnout as personal problems and thereby focusing on individual-level remedial interventions rather than prevention strategies. These remedial interventions are often seen through the misuse of wellness programs (read as: simply offering wellness programs after the fact and not following through with any action to take advantage of these resources).
In turn, we see that real employees are struggling:
“I remember when I was a corporate employee cobbling together my own wellness action plan to keep me sane at work. Having support from within the office/company would have made a world of difference in terms of morale and productivity.”
- Kit Bihun (former corporate employee and current Spark This Day Nourish Pathway Coach)
The following are two major ways companies can work to prevent burnout rather than simply address it:
Integrate well-being into workplace culture from the beginning
This means going beyond simply stating that employee well-being is a priority and providing wellness resources to employees. It involves employers and employees normalizing participation in wellness practices and encouraging one another to prioritize their well-being.
Equip managers to recognize early signs of burnout
This involves allowing managers to reflect on how their management styles could be contributing to burnout.
It also means providing managers with the tools and resources to better understand their own relationship with wellness since HR and People professionals are only able to build a work environment rooted in wellness if they too are supported.
Here at Spark This Day we offer anonymous data on how employees are doing and notify HR and People professionals when their employees are starting to show signs of burnout. That’s our primary goal: to prevent burnout from occurring in the first place.
Spark This Day also offers support to HR and People professionals so they can be confident in supporting their employees on their individual wellness journeys. Since toxic behavior and practices in the workplace are some root causes of burnout, Spark This Day helps both employers and employees practice total wellness and encourages the integration of wellness into workplace culture from the start.