Are Your Company’s Norms Leading to Burnout?

Executives tend to think of employee burnout as an individual issue rather than a broader organizational challenge.

That’s a mistake. Instead of just trying to help individuals handle stress, focus on the unchecked organizational norms that may be causing the stress — things like heavy workloads, an always-on culture, and spending too much time in meetings.

Measure how employee time is spent across the organization. Using that data, map the places in your organization where too much time is being used or where certain teams or people are carrying more than their share of work.

Encourage managers to make targeted changes like introducing meeting-free days, redesigning workflows, establishing new cultural norms around time, and making clear that everyone’s time is a precious resource.

By tackling the conditions that lead to burnout, you can head it off before it happens.

Adapted from “Employee Burnout Is a Problem with the Company, Not the Person,” by Eric Garton