- August 10, 2017
HR professionals have a lot on their plates. Wearing multiple hats and dealing with tight deadlines throughout the year can lead to a lot of built-up stress and negative energy. Without proper leadership in place, many HR professionals are susceptible to burnout.
Although American workers have been overworked for years, chances of burnout are higher than ever. Employees are working more hours per week (full-time employees report working an average of 47 hours per week) with the minimum wage increase. This leads to employees feeling discontented, stressed and burnt out.
Most employees are usually under stress for a period of time before becoming burnt out. While stress and burnout are connected, they aren’t exactly the same thing. Stress is often short-term while burnout takes place over an extended period of time. This means that too much workplace stress can lead to burnout.
According to Statistic Brain, the number one cause of stress in American adults is job pressure. This includes tensions with co-workers, bosses and work overload. While having overly-stressed employees is bad enough, when this stress is left unmanaged, burnout will start to take over the workplace – leading to turnover, loss of productivity and increased absenteeism.
Additionally, workplace stress and burnout are costly. According to an article by Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, workplace stress caused extra expenditures of anywhere from $125 to $190 billion a year in healthcare costs. Preventing HR burnout will save companies money, productivity and most importantly, hardworking employees.
Signs Of HR Burnout
It’s important for leaders to recognize employee burnout before it’s too late. Here are a few of the common signs of HR burnout:
• Working more overtime hours than usual
• Working over the weekends
• Mood swings
• Irritability
• Decrease in quality of work
• Less socializing and more isolation than usual
• Fatigue
• Increase in sick/personal days
• Disengagement
• Unusual sensitivity
How Employers Can Help Prevent HR Burnout
As an employer, you don’t want to lose your best HR talent to burnout — especially since it’s preventable. Here are a few ways to help prevent HR burnout before it’s too late:
Address Stress
Add stress education to your existing workplace wellness program. Because too much stress leads to burnout, it’s important to teach effective stress management and coping skills. Schedule “Lunch and Learns” that cover stress management, or have health professionals act as guest speakers to provide expert knowledge on the effects of stress. Helping employees deal with stress effectively will help them take care of their bodies and limit the physical and mental damages that stress can cause.
Original article can be viewed here.