Burned Out? You'Re Not Alone

I didn't have to read The Truth About Burnout, by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter, to learn that burnout has reached epidemic proportions in American business. In my hometown of Charlotte, NC, Presbyterian Healthcare Chief Executive Paul Betzold resigned the top spot to take a less stressful position in the health-care industry. Erskine Bowles, President Clinton's Chief of Staff, returned to North Carolina after a few nonstop years at the White House.

Every day, men and women of all ages and experience are burning out ¾ that is, becojing emotionally exhausted because of work stress. While all too many employers would like to blame the individual worker's inability to cope, our rapidly changing workplace is the main culprit.

Technology is heralded as a time-, effort-, and cost-saving invention, but in fact it can create additional demands on the employees. E-mail and fax are examples of technologies that create demands for faster responses, speeding up the expectations for getting work accomplished. When computers crash, work must be redone, so firms sometimes must do twice the work.

Compensation systems that are perceived to be unfair create severe stress. Eliminating personnel and reassigning workloads to already-busy workers, with little or no salary adjustment, creates cynicism and negativity. The large disparity between executive salaries and front-line employees' compensation causes workers to lose confidence in their employers. Cost cutting in areas such as salaries and benefits, or even restructuring the resources that enable people to do their jobs, contribute to worker strain and pressure.

The ultimate effects of burnout are exhaustion, negativity, and feelings of being overwhelmed. What follows is higher absenteeism, aggressive behavior, inefficient work habits, and a general loss of enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, this problem has no quick solutions. Instead, the transformation from burnout to happy productivity requires the individual and the organization to commit to, and work toward, changing the work environment. The following steps will get you and your organization on the track to recovery.

Reconfirm the organization's vision and values. The firm's managers and leaders need to revisit the mission statement and goals of the organization to be certain that the processes and system support the overall vision. If customer satisfaction is the priority but the staff no longer has the resources or time to accomplish it, something needs to change.

Involve the people. Systems, processes, and procedures should all be evaluated and perhaps changed to support the company's mission in the changing workplace. Give the employees an opportunity to present their suggestions without passing judgment. This can be done in writing or through an interactive, facilitated workshop.

Create action plans to implement the changes. Keep in mind that some of the suggested changes may not work ¾ and that's OK. Working toward the acceptable solutions brings people together and helps everyone decide what will work.

Keep on top of the situation. Continually seek feedback on how things are progressing from individuals at all levels. Keep asking, 'What can we do to make this a better place to work or help us serve our customers better?' The answers exist but may take time and extra effort to uncover.

Remain an upbeat and positive role model and team player. If you haven't done a particular job in your business for several years and your staff continues to doubt that you understand their issues, it's time to roll up your sleeves and dig in. Every year at Hyatt Hotels, all the executives take on the jobs of the hotel workers to maintain touch with the real world. From housekeeping to cooking in the kitchen, these acts are appreciated by the staff ¾ and are a reality check for management, which is normally removed from the day-to-day activity.

We all know that the pace and demands of the workplace will not change. What needs to change is management and staff commitment to addressing these changes proactively to prevent individual and organizational burnout. If burnout is occurring in your workplace, act on these ideas to begin the recovery process.