For most companies, the prospect of improving productivity is always an alluring one, and they’ll typically look to their internal processes to see how this can be achieved. What’s vital to remember is that this is primarily a matter of people, not just processes. You can find all kinds of creative ways to organize your workload and improve customer communications, find smarter sales processes, or implement monitoring solutions. The bottom line is, your employees need to feel happy, valued, and engaged to be truly productive and not burn out.
With the help of a few innovative tools that simplify time management and a few changes in how you run your daily operations, you can help your employees significantly. Preventing burnout is more than a practical issue: it’s vital for employee retention and for your business reputation, too. Here are a few ideas for you to boost productivity while reducing employee stress and burnout in the process.
Encourage Regular Breaks
Burnout is often caused by a lack of self-care. If some of your employees have a tendency to spend more hours at their desk than with their loved ones, they regularly spend extra hours on projects even when it’s not necessary, and they are anxious about work more than anything else – it’s up to you to make sure they take regular breaks, take up a healthy activity, and that they don’t work outside of their work hours.
Achieving some level of work-life balance can enhance employee happiness and thus make them more productive. When they are encouraged to take better care of themselves, they’ll be even more productive and inspired during their work hours.
Simplify Schedule Management
Sometimes the most complex of issues can be prevented by making the simplest changes happen in the workplace. For example, different tech tools can be of great help when you need to improve attendance tracking, scheduling, and overall calendar management. Both large and small companies often implement time and attendance software solutions that help organizations track their workload, calendars, and keep their agenda in check.
The software can increase automation and give your employees an overview of their work hours and responsibilities, with the added perk of notifications and alerts. Automated processes are a great way to reduce the stress among your staff, keep them accountable sans the hassle, but also make sure that the workload is distributed fairly and that you don’t have overworked employees at the office.
Ask For Feedback
Communication is the most essential component that will empower your business to prevent burnout, create a positive atmosphere at the office, and ensure transparency as the foundation of your employee relationships. Sometimes, however, your individual employees might be struggling, but reluctant to share their worries during team meetings or video conferences. To ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and taken into consideration, organize regular one-on-one meetings or video calls.
Prepare a set of questions to ask about their well-being, their work process, and their own insights if they have something to share about their productivity and collaboration with other employees. What matters most is that you act on their feedback when there’s an opportunity to introduce smarter work processes and help your teams thrive.
Create a Healthy Workplace
If your office is chaotic and poorly structured, your employees are likely going to feel the negative impact of their workplace fairly quickly. For starters, you need to make sure your office has ample natural light, and that the layout itself is beneficial for collaboration and distraction-free individual work.
Ergonomic chairs as well as greenery, a well-chosen color palette, and other details can create the right atmosphere to make your employees feel more relaxed and comfortable. Design your office environment in such a way that your teams can work, but also unwind and not feel overwhelmed.
Consider Adding Flexibility
The definition of flexibility will vary from one company to another, and it all depends on what your business model allows. If you’ve managed to switch to remote work at least partially and send some of your employees home, you’re already on the right track. Flexibility can help prevent burnout to a great extent. By giving them the autonomy to regulate their hours, eat and sleep properly, and spend quality time with their family, you will reduce their levels of stress.
Working from home helps many people avoid distractions, wasting time on the commute, and once again, more time with their loved ones. During your one-on-one sessions with your employees, you can ask them about what kind of flexibility options would help them work more efficiently and feel more comfortable.
Final Thoughts
Now that we’re still coming to terms with what we’ll call the new normal, and trying our best to adjust to the still changing circumstances due to the pandemic, preventing burnout becomes more vital than ever. Consider this an investment in your employees’ long-term wellbeing, as well as an investment in your business and its reputation. Strive to come up with new ways to make your employees happy, and let them strike that fine balance between life and work to stay healthy and productive for the long haul.
Featured image credit: Rawpixel.com
My name is Raul, editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. You can reach me out on Twitter.
