Occupational burnout
lastmod 2022-05-06created 2022-05-061 edits
Exhaustion syndrome or burnout syndrome (occupational burnout) is a psychological term, used mainly in work settings, for long-term fatigue and loss of enthusiasm (depersonalization, cynicism). Burnout (hereafter exhaustion syndrome) can also mean the result of expending too much effort on work with only short recovery periods, but workers with certain personal tendencies, such as neurosis, tend to experience exhaustion syndrome.
12 strategies for managers to prevent team member burnout
12 strategies for managers to prevent team member burnout, compiled by GitLab's executives themselves
- Encourage rest: even a half day off helps. Encourage people to plan vacations
- Lower the pressure: for people at risk of burnout, reduce pressure on goals and OKRs, and even reduce asking about goals
- Be more positive: honestly, a manager can be a big source of stress, so try to have a more positive attitude toward team members and their reports
- Add headcount: in most cases there is too much work for too few people, so managers should find ways to add headcount. Temporarily borrowing from other teams or hiring consultants is also possible
- Offer external coaching to team members: they can talk about what they are struggling with (including their manager)
- Remind employees that the company provides mental health services: GitLab provides them through Modern Health
- Show appreciation: send gifts to members' homes and invest in building personal relationships
- Celebrate progress: burnout often comes from a sense of stagnation. Daily progress is hard to notice. Managers should celebrate small wins and reflect on the mountains already climbed (add to past successes)
- Empathize: work is hard. Have a conversation
- Lead by example (starting with the manager):
- Set working hours and stick to them
- Don't respond to Slack messages after 6 o'clock; hold off until the next morning
- Find things that can be done asynchronously
- Talk about work in progress and help identify which tasks are not important
- Find tasks that can be delegated to other members and give them the authority for that delegation