We cannot deny that we are facing a pandemic of Burnout. Workers feel increasingly exhausted and with less energy to deal with the daily demands of working life. In this regard, Mexico is among the first places in the world with the highest number of fatigued employees. 75% of Mexican workers live every day with Burnout. This statistic is surprising, since it surpasses countries such as China and the United States, whose fatigue rates among employees are 73% and 59% respectively.
It's clear that something has to change in the work culture. To think that workers can give 100% of their effort 100% of the time not only It's unreal, but it promotes stress and low productivity. Past generations were fully confident that giving our best effort would lead to the best results, in a mentality of type “if it doesn't hurt, it doesn't work”. However, the statistics point to a very different reality. Various studies have found that Reduce working hours, contrary to what was thought, can help improve productivity.
In an attempt to reduce worker stress, several companies have begun to relax and implement different policies. It is increasingly common to find companies that have casual dress regulations, days to take the dog to the office, hours to practice yoga or meditation during working hours, and more. However, the stress of its employees has hardly been reduced in any way. Here we share three Tips to reduce the Burnout:
When workers are not sure when their working hours end, when they are expected to continue working after their departure time, or when they are asked to be available around the clock, stress becomes a constant from which they cannot get out. On the other hand, if Respect your schedule working, they will have more time to rest and relax, which will help them to be more productive the next day.
Asking employees to always do their best is counterproductive, as it gives them a sense of inadequacy and can promote impostor syndrome. It is important to always keep in mind that Perfection doesn't exist, so we can't demand it from anyone. On the contrary, asking them to work at 85% of their capacity can help tasks to be performed better.
Language is powerful and, when we use phrases like “I need it for yesterday”, “this is urgent” or “I want this as soon as possible”, we are immediately activating stress, concern and alertness in our employees. These requests generally stem from mismanagement and can be avoided. Establish clear and feasible delivery dates is the best way to eliminate unpleasant situations for everyone.
Other effective strategies may include asking What do co-workers need to make your life less stressful, finish meetings ten minutes earlier than scheduled and let the people in charge of managing the teams control the intensity of their own pace of work. In the end, if everyone in a company conducts themselves in a calm and relaxed manner, the work environment will improve considerably. It's about find the exact point between high pressure and complete disagreement. These tips will help you if you are in charge of directing the work of more people. However, if you don't have people in your charge, you can always consider proposing.
To deal with the Burnout, both at the individual level and at the level of organizational culture, you can approach Mindsurfing. We have a lot of tools for self-care and stress management.