Inspiring Workplaces 
The Way Work Ought to Be!

#1,046 - November 6, 2024

Today, November 6, is International Stress Awareness Day. Sadly, too many surveys suggest that leaders aren't terribly aware of just how stressed out many of their employees truly are and how many employees are just plain tired. All the time.

In 2019 the World Health Organization officially recognized the phenomenon of workplace burnout as a serious health concern, classifying it as an “occupational phenomenon” – something that only happens in conjunction with work. The WHO defines burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. 

This recognition of workplace burnout has shifted the conversation away from putting the entire onus on individual employees to “fix themselves” by learning how to manage their own stress. Instead, it places the focus for solving workplace burnout where it belongs – on workplace cultures. Research by the O.C. Tanner Institute found that a toxic workplace culture increases burnout by a whopping 157%.

One study found that when employees have one-on-one, bi-weekly check-in conversations with their boss, employee engagement scores increase by 230% and employee burnout is reduced by 84%. (If you're a boss start doing these, if you're an employee ask for them!) 

The goodr sunglasses company (yes, that's how they spell their name) takes a chill approach when it comes to managing employee burnout. In fact, they've created an initiative that I absolutely love: "Chill is the new busy."

To help prevent burnout they employ an Overwhelm Status system of red, yellow, or green at their weekly meeting updates, where people can identify where they are in both their personal and work lives. A green means all is good, a yellow means you might need support this week or a plan to get on track, and red means you're in the overwhelm zone. 

When employees are over-extended, or as they call it, in the zone of Red Reckoning, they've identified three primary causes: 20% of the time it's due to communication issues (people not speaking up about deadlines or simply not saying, "no"); 20% of the time it's due to a lack of efficiency; a whopping 60% of the time they guesstimate it's due to something they call "hustling for self-worth." Hustling for self-worth is about over-extending yourself because it feeds your ego or because you feel the need to justify your position and value. Hustling for self-worth is a byproduct of an unhealthy culture! 

This is a critical conversation to have with your team!