Employment Law Update

diagnosis: burnout

By Ruth Gladwell

HR Business Partner, Navigator Employment Law

We may be looking forward to hearing less about restrictions, but unfortunately we can expect to continue hearing more about stress, isolation and mental health. In the latest Navigator employment law update, Ruth Gladwell highlights the duty of care for employers and to ensure they signpost employees towards mental health resources.

Burnout is now a medical diagnosis recognised by the World Health Organisation, so be prepared to understand more about this occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workrelated stress. Surveys by Gallup during 2020 and 2021 indicate that Managers are reporting more stress, burnout, worse physical wellbeing and work-life balance than the people they manage, and whilst a slightly higher percentage was noted in 2020 the gap widened considerably in 2021. A report from the Health and Safety Executive identifies that workplace absences related to stress, depression or anxiety, accounted for 50% of all work-related ill health in 2020/21 . Burnout shows up in a variety of manners within an employees’ interaction and output and it prevents a positive view of the future. A burned out employee is focused only on short-term survival: future opportunities and success are not on their agenda and an employer is unlikely to see engagement on longer-term objectives. Email response timescales may provide an indication of unmanageable workloads. There may also be irritation over small problems, displayed in agitated communications and/or absences, and at the opposite end overemphasised presenteeism – all which ultimately leads to reduced professional efficacy. A variety of issues contribute to burnout. These can include a dysfunctional team environment, extremely lean teams surviving after various rounds of restructures, tedious long-term projects, a continuum of tight and last-minute deadlines, a lack of interaction with peers and a lack of recognition from managers, all set against the background of continued uncertainty about when the Covid-19 pandemic will officially end.

Whilst these issues aren’t new, build in the external influences of a continuous stream of magnified bad news stories, challenges in staff’s personal lives and concerns about their job security, and it can create a hot bed of anxiety, increasing the propensity of burnout in the workplace. Your employer brand, offering and benefits may be defined and packaged in a well designed Employer Value Proposition to display at Recruitment campaigns, but ultimately it’s delivered by people managers. When those people managers, as well as their staff are disengaged and burnt out, this will be picked up on quickly by their reports and more so from newly placed team members. Employers will have a challenge retaining and then recruiting in replacement staff, and it may take some time to correct the pattern, particularly in the longer term and this will in turn impact on talent management and succession plans as well as causing a wobble in employee relations. The next decade is going to be exemplified by organisations trying to stem the increase of mental illness and to do that effectively they will need to get to the root cause. What can be done? Employers have been identifying the need to signpost employees to mental health resources and while that will assist, it’s not sufficient to end the support journey there. Keeping the employee focused on a positive and productive journey and resilient to the bumps on the road does take investment, resource and energy. Meaningful action that can be taken include developing a management style that incorporates empathy at its core. Taking the time to listen, connect with employees, investing in employees through awareness, time and attention are also fundamental.

Knowing their employees as individuals can help to demonstrate a managers’ active interest in their team member, leading to an increase in trust and improving the overall bond between them. and interest to perform well in their job. Having a good foundation to the relationship ultimately supports open communications when things get difficult. Whilst we all have a natural tendency to move on to the next thing very quickly, when objectives are achieved, managers should always ensure there’s time for team reflection as to how to improve work going forward, evaluating and agreeing on action items that can reduce burnout factors going forward – what was underestimated, why was the deadline not communicated earlier, how could contingency be built in and how can the overall environment be more conducive to success.

Various project management practices, for example agile methodology, operate with the concept that estimating the workload on a specific task or project is conducted by those who ultimately produce the work. This approach goes some way to increase accountability whilst reducing unrealistic timeframes.

Having a manager who builds committed highly cohesive teams by initiating effective frequent communications can help emphasise to employees that they have a voice, are trusted, and are accountable in identifying what they can achieve. Various tools & technology can ease people management processes, for example a HR Management Information System (HRMiS) that incorporates the compliance checklist for the short-term induction process and headlines the objectives associated with the longer-term onboarding processes. Such systems can demonstrate a tangible investment an employer makes in their people and allows Managers to have a supportive dynamic tool to enable their employees to thrive and obtain success. Reducing ambiguity of work is a key function of managers. Operating project management, workflow software applications, along with providing the necessary training, is likely to be another positive step to reduce interruption of focus and sustain pace when all staff are managing conflicting priorities or multi-tasking. A tuned Risk Assessment along with a Wellness Plan supports employers in their ‘duty of care’ and aids the process of treating mental and physical health as equally important. For employees the assessment can heighten their own awareness of issues and employers can signpost to additional, voluntary measures that promote mental wellbeing and assure that workplace risks are adequately assessed and controlled. How and when these are landed with an employee depends on the situation and again the relationship with the manager can facilitate and encourage a positive engagement with the process. Where team dynamics are impacting on workplace relationships, Mediation as opposed to formal routes can become a ‘go-to’ route to unpeel and unpack the situation and progress towards more positive communications and solutions.

Burnout: Burnout:

Burnout: Burnout:

Ensuring employees are distinguished, not extinguished

Many employees have gone above and beyond the call of duty in Scottish workplaces during the pandemic. So what can HR do to address burnout? Andy Moore examines how practitioners can help colleagues to be distinguished in their roles, and not extinguished with burnout.

The treadmill effect of employee burnout can happen to anyone at any time in organisations. Heavy workloads, longer hours, higher expectations from managers and work repetition can add up to a melting pot of fatigue, stress, mental health problems and higher staff turnover.

Despite many employees drastically changing their work patterns since March 2020, the apparent nose to the grindstone work ethic in some organisations has taking its toll on employees.

Workplace consultancy, Catalyst, discovered in global research that 92% of workers report burnout from the stress in their workplace, their COVID-19 work experiences and/or their personal lives.

Its survey of nearly 7,500 employees defines burnout as “the physical and psychological exhaustion that comes from prolonged stress with negative consequences, including mental distance from one’s job and feelings of professional inefficacy.”

“Burnout leads to turnover, but that can be mitigated by remote work policies and inclusive, empathic leadership,” says Catalyst President and CEO, Lorraine Hariton. “When implemented effectively, flexible work options can help organisations access more talent and less turnover, as well as increased innovation and productivity.”

The survey identified types of burnout that included both work and personal burnout, claiming that new ways of working can help to address them, regardless of group differences such as gender or child-caregiving status.

For HR in Scotland, practitioners are not exempt from the consequences of burnout, with Hr NETWORK reporting in recent issues the trend towards employees looking to change jobs (The Great Resignation) and flexible work options such as four-day weeks.

More than half of Scottish workers admit that their job regularly eats into their personal life, while burnout is on the rise again, according to research published last October by job and company insight specialist, Glassdoor.

It discovered that 44% of Scottish workers took action to improve the blend of job and personal life during the past two years, with 54% admitting their work often merges into the latter.

As a result of these findings, the research suggested that HR might want to update its policies: with 63% of people in full-time employment in Scotland saying their expectations for balance between work and home have changed since March 2020.

So what can HR do to address staff burnout? Catalyst believes that HR must address employee wellbeing as well as productivity, innovation, retention and inclusion.

Its research found that the current “always-on” expectations at work are unsustainable, recommending the following measures to help combat burnout: upskill managers on managing remote teams; invest in programmes and stipends for employees who need additional childcare options; normalise empathic listening through regular check-ins and other opportunities to share life and work experiences.

“Employees are re-evaluating what they really want from their roles. We know that they need and want more when it comes to wellbeing support at work,” says Gautam Sahgal, CEO at Perkbox, a benefits and reward company. “Alongside a better work-life balance, giving people a choice of health-focused activities and tools can help them prioritise their daily mental health.”

He believes that such HR practices can range from access to mindfulness apps and yoga sessions, to money management training and more effective recognitions of achievement.

Together, he advises, they can help create a culture of genuine wellbeing and support and have a huge positive impact on employee’s work experience.

Employers are being called upon to take greater responsibility in supporting their employees. These experiences can make a significant impact on workers’ lives, believes Perkbox. Surveying 2,000 full-time employees in the UK, it found that one in two agree their sleep (54%) and diet (51%) were disrupted by workrelated stress, while nearly one in three report an increase in alcohol consumption.

Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology at the University of Manchester added: “Pre-pandemic stress at work was the leading cause of long-term sickness absence. The HSE reported that 57% of long-term absence was due to stress, anxiety and depression.”

He believes that people are worrying about their job and financial security, returning to work and the prospect of fewer people in the workplace (due to downsizing), meaning heavier and unmanageable workloads.

But while it may be incumbent on HR to address employee burnout, practitioners must also take steps to help stop themselves becoming burnt out too. Kelly Swingler, an executive coach for professional women, stresses: “HR is always looking after everyone else, but who is looking after HR? Recent times have added greater pressure and complexity to the role of HR professionals. The already enormous workload was then added to with home-working arrangements and other working practices.” Banishing burnout

• Burnout is the physical and psychological exhaustion from prolonged stress with negative consequences

• It can lead to fatigue, stress, mental health problems and higher staff turnover

• More than half of Scottish workers admit that their job regularly eats into their personal life

• Upskill managers to manage remote teams inclusively

• Invest in programmes and stipends for employees who need additional childcare options

• Alongside a better work-life balance, give people a choice of health-focused activities

• HR is always looking after everyone else, but who is looking after HR?