Burnout

The phrase burnout was coined by Herbert Freudenberger[1] and is currently being studied by Dr. Geri Puleo [2].

Signs of Employee Burnout

The following is quoted from Signs of an Overloaded Employee by Luanne Kelchner

Lower Productivity

Overloaded workers suffering from burnout may fail to perform at their best, which can reduce productivity. While companies may increase workloads to meet production goals, workers feeling overburdened may fail to produce at the higher rate. Decreases in productivity rates may be a sign that workers are overburdened and under too much pressure on the job.

Decreased Quality

Workers under the stress of heavy workloads may take less care to produce quality work. Increasing production demands may cause employees to rush or cut corners when performing the duties of their job, which results in quality degradation. Workplace overwhelm can have an effect on the efficiency and effectiveness of employees, resulting in a lack of care taken to produce the best work. An increase in quality defects or errors can be a symptom of overworked employees.

Absenteeism and Tardiness

Burnout caused by an excessive workload can cause an increase in absenteeism and tardiness. Employers may notice an increased use of sick time or vacation hours as workers become overloaded. When a growing number of employees begin to exhibit absenteeism, employers should examine the workload balance among workers to determine the cause of the problem. Workers with no history of absenteeism or tardiness problems who begin to call in sick or arrive late may be suffering from an excessive workload.

Negativity

Employers may notice a change in the attitude of overloaded workers. Attitude changes include a lack of motivation, emotional outbursts, negativity, irritability, and a change in work habits. Burnout occurs when workers are consistently under the stress of high production demands. Redistributing workloads or providing resources to overloaded workers may help alleviate negative attitudes.

Health Problems

Some employees suffering from an overloaded work schedule may experience health problems. Work stress can cause sleep disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, migraines, depression, eating disorders and substance abuse. Increased health problems may also contribute to an increase in absenteeism. [3]

In the studies of burnout by Dr. Geri Puleo, over 10% of her research participants developed cancer.

Causes

Quoted from Harvard Business Review, April 2017

"Excessive collaboration - Excessive collaboration is a common ailment in organizations with too many decision makers and too many decision-making nodes.

Weak time-management disciplines - In most large organizations today, the demand for collaboration has significantly outpaced the development of tools, disciplines and organizational norms to manage it.

Overloading of the most capable - Employee workloads have increased in many organizations in which hiring has not matched growth; companies overestimate how much can be accomplished with digital productivity tools and rarely check to see if their assumptions are correct."

From observations, burnout can also occur when:

Time estimates to complete tasks successfully are consistently underestimated.

Expectations need to be re-orientated.

Impact

Budget - According to Harvard Business Review from April 2017, Employee burnout issues cost companies $125 Billion to $190 Billion dollars per year[4].

Staffing - From observations, burnout impacts talent retention.