Employee burnout is not new. It has for long been a prevalent issue at the workplace. But as an employer, experts say, acknowledging its existence in is essential.

Failure to acknowledge this, employees suddenly show a drop in productivity. And with time, they become part of that unproductive plague. They succumb to a situation where they do not feel like working or finding difficulty to pull off an easy task.

If you have faced such situations, then you are not the only one, writes author Mrinmoy Rabha.

According to him, being unproductive, lacking composure, lacking focus, are a few symptoms of a common epidemic spreading throughout the industry.

That widespread epidemic is called burnout. "And your once energetic and productive employees, are becoming victims of burnout,” he writes.

This article discusses the reasons and solutions to solve burnout for the greater good, as shared by Rabha.

What is employee burnout?

Rabha thinks that employee burnout happens when your employees become exhausted in the workplace. It is a psychological process and occurs due to prolonged stress or excessive work hours.

Signs of burnout include the feeling of emptiness, frustration, exhaustion, among others.

Jobs with an overwhelming workload can create unwanted pressure on your employees. Despite your best intentions to make your employees more productive, somehow, you might end up on the wrong side, Rabha notes.

"Your employees might be working more than their limits, which results in an increase in their burnout levels at work. This starts to affect them mentally, which leaves them frustrated,” he adds.

Hence, he argues, impeding your employee’s work, your organisational goals, and triggering the symptoms of burnout sooner.

Unfair treatment at work is another reason that leads to burnout. Unfair treatment includes bias, favouritism, mistreatment, unjust policies, and the list goes on.

"The psychological impact is enormous of unfair treatment. It hampers relationships in an organisation as well. This often leads to a lack of satisfaction at work while employees are succumbing to burnout.”

And when such situations arise, he says, employee absenteeism increases or employees leave their job for their good.

Employees will perform if the job description is straight and clear. Without any proper direction and instruction, Rabha thinks that confusion arises among the employees.

This decreases the work rate, and your employees are not able to complete their assigned tasks, he adds.

In return, this gives rise to ambiguity in the workplace. It impedes productivity and affects employee morale. Hence, increasing the rate of burnout in your organisation.

It is imperative that an employer effectively communicates with their employer. With proper communication, experts say, it becomes easy for your employees to open up to you. Thus, allowing them to come forward with their problems without any fear.

This shows that they are confident about their manager, who will back them up no matter what happens.

In contrast, "if employees have a confronting manager, the chances are that will keep their problems contained. When this happens, employees will have nowhere to go to open up with their problems, and they might fall into depression. Thus, increasing the chances of employee burnout,” Rabha writes.

Addressing the vice

According to Rabha, employee burnout is not inevitable. You can reduce burnout in your organisation, through discussing it out, maintaining the balance, ‘commonly known as the see saw game’ as well as showing appreciation.

On the other hand, employers are also called on to provide autonomy, which allows employees to be more flexible.