"Many -young people are not happy in their jobs, have burnouts on a large scale. They feel insecure and depressed. They are overworked in their work and do not feel seen". This is evident from several surveys conducted by occupational health and safety services. A very undesirable situation that is bad not only for individuals but also for organizations. Fortunately, things are already changing. There is less and less hierarchy and people are working in self-managing teams, but even this requires some knowledge and adaptation. How do you prevent your employees from getting burnout in these turbulent times? Because prevention is better than cure...
1. Organizational Goals
Healthy organizations have clear, but above all common goals and values to which you can conform. In which employees can recognize themselves, which you work towards together and which ensure that employees really belong. It is clear what the organization stands for and employees can identify with it and develop fully. An organization is a living thing. That means it continuously adapts to what is occurring. Energy goes into it, goals are adjusted and you can catch up. It is motivating for employees when they feel they are part of the whole. Because they enjoy going to work more, they are less likely to end up in burnout.
2. Talent
Conversely, it is vital for an organization that employees come up with the best of themselves and stay continually up-to-date. You can already feel it: pressure to be the best you can be. Therefore, it is good to understand that if an organization needs to constantly adapt, or even be ahead of the curve, it can only do so with people who can perform at their best and feel good about themselves. And so it is of utmost importance that an organization also knows what your intentions are and what you can bring. This interaction (also called alignment) takes everyone a step further, and because employees are in the right place, they experience more job happiness, and thus a lower burnout rate.
3. Organizational structure
In the future, many organizations will be much less top-down managed. The old hierarchy is disappearing and making way for vibrant, " self-managing" teams and people who wholeheartedly want to contribute to the bigger picture. And also feel an active part of it. Because they are heard and seen. Employees who are committed to their own goals and thus to the goals of the organization . So that bringing together of intentions has great significance for you, your organization and the health of both. Actively communicating the strategy, involving your all people in it is vital.
4. The survival mode
How understandable it is that young people who have no basic security in their income, because they keep getting flex contracts, are not -can't- be concerned with this at all. They are busy surviving in the jungle of flex jobs. They have to perform better than their colleague or they will lose their job again. For you 100 others gives a lot of stress! In my opinion, a whole generation of well-qualified people is lost like this because they go into burnout. But that is also disastrous for organizations because young people can no longer commit to their goals.
In a nutshell
Dear CEOs, to prevent your employees from falling into burnout, make sure she is honored in her basic need for security! This can take various forms, such as explicit recognition, feedback and rewards, or of course the security of longer contracts. It is important for employees to know where they stand, but more importantly that they have a perspective they can work toward.
For example: if you work on these goals over the next six months, we will deliver you as project manager X or you will have completed a learning process in which you will have learned X. If the contracts are shorter, then precisely this kind of attention is even more important. For the good of people, but also of organizations. Otherwise there will be little talent to develop in the future. You record all this very easily in the software of Treams. Our personal development module gives you insight into who is where, where your employees want to go and what they still have to do to get there.
Yolande van der Veer - Expert