Burnout prevention

The Workforce Institute at UKG found that 51% of UK workers have been regularly working more hours since the start of the pandemic. As a result, reducing burnout and improving retention have become core focus points for employers. Understanding employees’ needs can help reduce the risk of burnout.

1Stay connected In the FM sector, where employees work in a variety of environments, staying connected with staff helps to drive safety, wellbeing, and compliance.

Workforce management and HR service delivery tools create a multidirectional exchange of information: ● Employees are able to share information about their health and wellbeing. A feature called ‘attestation’ in workforce management applications delivers customisable surveys to employees when they clock-in or out of their shifts – capturing information about their physical and mental health status or whether they experienced any difficult incidents at work. The data enables managers to address the issues affecting burnout and retention. ● Employers can share organisational news and information with employees through their mobile devices, remaining connected no matter where they work. A mobile-first approach to communication is inclusive of all ages. And being able to stay in touch with employees with or without company email addresses boosts trust, respect, and transparency with all colleagues. UKG data shows that employees who feel their voice is heard through effective communication channels feel more engaged at work, more effective at their job and confident to share ideas and feedback in the future.

EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

Employers need to reduce employee burnout by using tech solutions, says Neil Pickering

2Build high-quality schedules An overworked, unhappy and disengaged employee is not as productive and will leave your business sooner. Organisations need to be flexible to accommodate an individual’s needs.

It’s essential, then, to build schedules that align with customer demand, workforce skills, certifications and availability, labour budgets, labour rules and regulations, and employee contracts. Schedules must factor in the likelihood of burnout. For example, consideration should be given to the physical demands of the role, length of shifts and physicality of the worker. These schedules must also consider the individual needs and preferences of employees where possible; namely, where and when an employee is able to work.

Using workforce management solutions that are powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning can simplify the scheduling processes by forecasting customer demand and the likely cumulative toll on workers. Take the example of a cleaner working for a facilities services provider. Sharing staff resources to fill gaps and maximise support is essential. Forecasting customer demand ensures cleaners aren’t spread too thinly and overstretched, and are placed where they’re needed.

3Empower employees to take control Employees are demanding greater autonomy and flexibility – and they’re happy to change employers to find it. Giving workers self-service access to HR and workforce management tools that empower them to take control improves their experience and reduces the administrative burden on managers, giving them more time to spend with employees and customers. According to our data, more than a third (36%) of employees surveyed started using mobile applications to complete some work activities and nearly a quarter (24%) were empowered to leverage more selfservice solutions. In addition to recording hours worked and attesting to health and wellbeing, mobile workforce management apps enable employees to self-service actions such as: ● Booking leave; ● Swapping shifts with colleagues; ● Requesting additional shifts; ● Viewing time cards and balances; and ● Viewing payslips. Using manual methods would require HR, payroll or line managers to handle this, wasting time and money. Instead, HR and workforce management technologies enable employees NEIL PICKERING is industry to take greater control of their work, helping them to feel manager, more valued, productive EMEA at UKG and engaged.