These feelings matter. Employees who report feeling burned out say they have “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from [their] job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to [their] reduced professional efficacy.” They are 2.6 times more likely to be actively looking for a new job, 63% more likely to take a sick day, and, strikingly, 23% more likely to visit an emergency room.
Gallup identifies several strategies companies can use to reduce burnout:
Listen to work-related problems. Managers and supervisors need to set aside time to discuss how things are going with employees in a nonjudgmental way. A good example of this practice comes from ESOP-owned Radian Research. In an article in the June 2021 issue, Tim Everidge, the CEO of Radian, talked about why his company ditched the annual performance review and replaced it with regular check-ins to see how employees are doing and help them navigate a career path at Radian. Conversation topics for these check-ins are being developed by an employee committee. It’s a process aimed at listening — and then taking the steps to make things better.
Encourage teamwork. The report notes that “coworkers provide an essentialItline of emotional support for employees who are struggling. Coworkers often understand the stress of a job better than managers do. But this doesn’t mean managers should sit on the sidelines. Just the opposite — it’s the manager’s responsibility to create an environment where teamwork thrives, people help one another and everyone has someone at work who is willing to listen.”
Employee ownership companies often have leaders focused on team-based management, as detailed in our book Beyond Engagement: How to Make Your Business an Idea Factory. Team-based management works. Employees have a structure they can use to identify and solve problems, take ownership of work, feel more involved in the job, and generate more good ideas. But the value of team-based management goes beyond getting better ideas. People like working together. The team provides feedback, support, and common purpose.
Make everyone’s opinions count. In most companies, managers encourage suggestions and say they will listen. But the process is ambiguous and often more lip-service than practice. Making sure people have a say involves creating specific structures that not only give employees the opportunity to speak up, but also create the expectation they will do so. When employees voice their opinions, managers need to take their ideas seriously and take risks to go along with ideas they might not agree with. At employee-owned W.L. Gore and Associates, any employee can pursue a project if they can get enough colleagues to join them — they don’t need approval from anyone else. That’s the ultimate strategy to make sure that employee opinions count. You may not get that far, but going down that road will create a better company. Another approach is to periodically use an action-oriented employee survey, such as the NCEO’s Ownership Culture Survey.
Make work purposeful. One of the great benefits of being employee owned is that success is shared. Your work matters not just to you, but to all of your colleagues. This can provide a deep sense of purpose, which you can reinforce by having employees who leave with nice account balances come back and talk about the difference employee ownership made in their lives. If you are a newer ESOP, you could invite employees from a mature ESOP company to tell their stories.
No matter what your company does, it makes sense to talk about its purpose. Every company that provides a useful product or service has an important purpose in its customers’ lives. It’s worth talking about this.
Help people do what they do best. Employee-owned SRC Holdings includes every employee in decisions about career planning at SRC. What do employees need to do to move up or to move laterally to a job they’d prefer? What kinds of skills do they need to acquire, and how can the company help them acquire these skills? Research shows the most stressful aspect of work is not necessarily having a lot to do or finding work challenging, but rather feeling you do not have the tools, skills, information, and decision-making authority to deal with it. In other words, you end up feeling like you do not have a sense of control, or like your work is controlling you, rather than you controlling your work.
Share performance metrics. This recommendation from Gallup is about individual employee metrics, and these can be useful, but ESOP companies can and usually do take it a step further and talk about group and company metrics. Knowing how you and the company are doing is another way to have more control and feel respected at work.
Finally, the report emphasizes creating a culture of wellness. That can include opportunities for having fun at work, employee assistance programs, financial counseling, physical wellness programs, and other efforts that focus on the whole person.
All of us will feel burned out from time to time. None of us needs to feel that way chronically. As businesses, and as colleagues, it is worth the effort to address this issue.