Don't Wait to Work on Retention: Prevention strategies for employee burnout.

• Author: Kay, Alexandra

Until Al takes over every job, humans will have a role in the workplace. Unfortunately, humans are, in fact, human and subject to the inherent challenges of humanity, such as mental funk that impedes productivity. A recent Gallup report titled "Employee Burnout: Causes and Cures" found that 76 percent of employees experience burnout on the job at least sometimes, and 28 percent say they are burned out "very often" or "always" at work. Further, mental health affected job performance for nearly half the US workforce, says the 12th annual Aflac Workforces Report.

"There are many factors that contribute to employee burnout," says Noel Gabler, vice president for corporate relations at Global Credit Union (formerly Alaska USA). "Increased workload due to high turnover or employee roles and jobs not being defined. This leads to longer hours and challenges maintaining a work/life balance."

The labor shortage can also be a factor, when more pressure is placed on existing employees to take on extra tasks because of vacancies. According to Gallup, other causes of employee burnout include unfair treatment at work, unmanageable workload, unclear communication from managers, lack of manager support, and unreasonable time pressure.

Employees experiencing burnout are 63 percent more likely to take a sick day, 23 percent more likely to visit the emergency room, 13 percent less confident in their performance, and 2.6 times more likely to be actively seeking a different job, according to the Gallup report.

Employees experiencing burnout can also make poor decisions and lose their desire to perform well. All these things can hurt businesses. Fortunately, there are several things that good managers and businesses can do to combat employee burnout-or prevent it from happening in the first place.

Improve Work Culture

"A toxic culture can lead to burnout and people not wanting to get up and go to work in the morning," says Emily Berliner, founder and COO of EBO Consulting in Anchorage, a company that provides business development services. "If you have that employee with a bad attitude... , it just seeps out and everyone thinks they can act that way."

And according to O.C. Tanner, an employee recognition company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, culture can cause a company to either thrive or suffer. The company started as a manufacturer of jewelry, trophies, and awards, and that expertise in uplifting spirits led to diversification into consulting services. Internal...