Employees Are People, Too
We’re hearing a lot about the “new normal” at work and in our lives, but what that looks like hasn’t been defined. We do know that the workplace will not be the same as it was prior to the global pandemic, and if you haven’t figured that out yet, it’s time to catch up.
For leaders, it’s time to view their employees as human beings with human challenges and lives. Of course, there are great employers who understood this fact a long time ago, but we’re talking about employers who still see their staff members only as workers.
To put it mildly, it has been a difficult year. When the pandemic hit, non-essential office workers were sent home to work. In many cases, they were not given any assistance. They rearranged their lives and continued to produce quality work while balancing their personal needs.
As C. Nicole Mason, CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, put it recently, “Covid-19 may force corporations to see employees as humans, not just workers. …it may have provided us with an opportunity to imagine a workplace that is more reflective of our lives.”
One thing increasingly obvious to savvy leaders is the need to address the high burnout rate facing us today and recognize that today’s burnout is slightly different from the past, requiring some different actions.
According to Patricia Grabarek, a workplace wellness expert at USC, the new kind of burnout encompasses not only the emotional or physical exhaustion, but feelings of being disconnected from work, family, or both as well as being less effective everywhere.
To get to the heart of the matter, it is difficult to be engaged at work when you’re exhausted.
Some organizations are trying to get ahead of this and help employees by implementing no meeting Fridays, or the more radical action taken by Bumble, LinkedIn, and others to shut down their business for a week so staff can rest and relax.
Why the drastic “close down” action? Health experts say that giving individual employees an extra day off occasionally doesn’t allow them to relax because they are anticipating what is waiting for them when they get back.
If the business is shut down, nothing is happening so there shouldn’t be extra work to catch up on. Of course, we know in our 24/7 world, nothing really shuts down, but this an interesting idea for some businesses to consider. An alternative version not quite so drastic is scheduling “mental health days” where everyone is given the same day off.
Leaders today need to be more empathetic. Schedule some focus groups that are representative of your organization and include all levels and dimensions of your organization’s diversity. Get input from your teams. Put yourself in their shoes.
We will continue to study these issues and share ideas in future blogs. We’d love to hear what you’re doing to head burnout off before it impacts your organization. Let’s all try for a workplace where employees are engaged and energized. I know we can get through this together.