How can government agencies and state courts ensure their employees avoid job burnout in the post-pandemic era? There are steps that can be taken
Burnout has become a household term in the post-pandemic era, with two major national assessments from Deloitte and Indeed estimating the impact of burnout at between 50% and 75% of workers surveyed.
Burnout is a form of chronic job-specific stress, and its effects are increased rates of fatigue, stress, absenteeism, loss of motivation, and decreased productivity.
Causes of Workplace Burnout for Government Employees
Of the six leading causes of workplace burnout cited by the Mayo Clinic, four in particular may be more relevant to local government organizations in the post-pandemic era. These four include:
lack of control — Local governments have seen record employee attrition since 2020, with retirements and job openings at all-time highs. As a result, managers and frontline employees alike are likely to experience higher volumes of work with fewer resources to manage it. This lack of control over deadlines, workload, or even routine functions like scheduling can contribute to burnout. This is compounded by rising global economic vulnerabilities, rapidly changing government and international regulations, and sanctions regimes, all of which add to the stress levels of government employees.
Unclear job expectations — Due to the volume of employee attrition, job expectations have been confused in the post-pandemic era. Employees may be filling the responsibilities of a vacant position while struggling to fulfill their own responsibilities. Understretched managers are also experiencing increases in workload and may not realize the level of stress placed on their subordinates.
work-life imbalance — The global COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a double-edged sword of rapid technology adoption (as a necessity) and the ability to work remotely more easily than ever. The downside to that, of course, is that many employees may find that they are using time outside of business hours to catch up on work from home or may find it difficult to disengage from the responsibilities and workload of their place. of work, even when they are not working.
lack of social support — Health officials recommended isolation in 2020 and 2021 to prevent viral spread, negatively affecting employees’ mental well-being. Even as the world moves toward a new “normal” in 2022, there are a number of restrictions that limit social interactions and continue to increase feelings of isolation and loneliness.
5 tips to tackle burnout
Fortunately, there are ways that government agency managers can address the potential burnout of their employees. These practices include:
1. Increase registrations — Effective managers find and prioritize the time to engage with their subordinates. For example, tenure interviews are an increasingly common mechanism for measuring employee satisfaction and motivation and for preventing further attrition. Regular management interaction is key to identifying symptoms of emerging burnout, such as a noticeable change in engagement, productivity, or motivation.
Frame interactions around employee support, with questions like: What can I do to support you in your tasks this week? — can help foster a stronger sense of collaboration and trust within teams and managerial relationships.
Communication checks can be as simple as asking subordinates to rate their stress levels or job satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 5 each week. Managers who have more information about their team members can interact with them more effectively.
2. Provide autonomy to employees — Effective managers give team members flexibility in how and when they complete their tasks and meet deadlines.
The level of trust that employees use to decide how they will distribute work tasks throughout the day (whenever possible) is critical. Organizations can also consider flexible scheduling concepts, to allow employees to feel a greater sense of control over their work and home responsibilities.
Managers who use regular communication check-ins for employees to share feedback on the results of their personal decision-making and project management open up a vital avenue of communication that can ease feelings of burnout.
3. Prioritize focus time — Managers should encourage their employees to set aside time for uninterrupted work. With the convenience that technology brings comes perpetual distraction. Email or chat notifications, phone calls, or customer visits are distractions that can disrupt the work of concentration for the average employee.
As a manager, it would be important to:
schedule meetings only when necessary; don’t hold “meetings that could have been an email”; use an agenda and make sure you start and end on time when holding meetings; schedule in a way that allows for cross-employee coverage to provide uninterrupted focus time for team members; encourage employees to block focus time on their calendar when possible; and encourage employees to intentionally open their email inboxes several times a day, instead of leaving their email inboxes open all day (with notifications often interrupting their work).
4. Promote best practices around work-life balance. — Good managers should ensure that employees feel empowered to take their earned time off each year, and should model this by example by following this practice themselves. Employees should be encouraged not to check their email or phone messages during paid time off, and managers should model this by example as well.
Normalize and encourage the use of deferred send features within email platforms to ensure team members do not receive notifications outside of business hours. This sends a message of respect to colleagues while allowing employees to work the hours that work best for them.
5. Create and support opportunities for meaningful social interactions within teams. — Finally, managers today must look for creative ways to build team camaraderie in the post-pandemic era. Team building within a government agency can be a group volunteer project or an office potluck style function. This could also include connecting with professional organizations, both in person and virtually.
Whatever activity is chosen, gatherings that allow government employees to express their creativity, passions outside of work, or connect with colleagues on issues outside of their work can build stronger networks of trust and strengthen important social connections that can reduce burnout while increasing employee retention and job satisfaction.
Source: news.google.com