14 April 2008
Employee burnout a deep and overlooked issue
"The engagement levels in many companies are completely unsustainable."
Creating a workforce of engaged employees is fundamentally a health issue says Ivana Crestani (pictured, right) managing director of The Ryder Self Group managing consultancy.
In light of Melcrum's forthcoming Employee Engagement Conference 2008 in Sydney, the Hub's quick poll question this week is, "How engaged are your employees?"
Aggregate aggravations
It may seem like a fairly standard question, but the problem of engagement/disengagement stems from many things and, while individual factors aren't always significant and may seem peripheral, it's the bigger issues they highlight that are important – for example, poor internal communication as a whole or exasperation from inept managers as reported on the Hub last week.
Even frustration from a version of Lotus Notes that's 8 years old, or poor support and under-staffing, horrible coffee in the canteen, no access to online banking despite working 16 hours a day at a bank (with no time for a lunch hour, either), needlessly rigid working hours and endless meetings that result in very little – these problems and many more sap the energy and productivity of employees but are easily dismissed as part and parcel of working life and costly to consider resolving.
These problems and many more sap the energy and productivity of employees but are easily dismissed as part and parcel of working life.
And yet, dealing with small problems can go a long way to making work life easier and keeping people focused on their jobs. This in turn is better for business – a 2007 survey by Norwich Union Healthcare showed that some 64% of businesses believed employee wellbeing has a direct effect on productivity levels of the workforce.
Engagement burnout
"People are engaged," says Crestani, one of the workshop leaders for the Sydney event, "but they can't keep working at the rate they are and they're at the risk of burnout. The engagement levels in many companies are completely unsustainable."
The Ryder Self Group has done plenty of research into this area, including a foundation-building survey of more than 4,000 full-time employees from building, construction, agri-business, shared services and information technology businesses.
"Ultimately," she adds, "organizations must ensure that they’re engaging a sustainable, healthy and productive workforce. For some organizations, this means getting back to basics and investing in their people, moving from treating employees as a cost to providing value."
Look after your resources
"Employee wellbeing" might be a laughable term in some companies. It may even conjure up images of a distinctly un-work-like workplace. But, when you look at it from this perspective, the careful nurturing of employees is clearly a long-term business necessity.
The engagement levels in many companies are completely unsustainable.
After all, we've all heard the metaphor of the farmer who reduces the food for his animals to the bare minimum and then, as they die, lament that he nearly had them surviving on nothing.
So, tell us – how engaged are your organization's employees? Take the poll (see right).
Have your say
Is employee burnout a problem for your organization? Let us know how you deal with it and discuss the issue with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
Further links and resources:
Companies unwilling to invest in "wellbeing" programs
Measuring internal communication to build engagement
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