According to the Washington Post, approx. 4.5 million people quit or changed their jobs in search of better wages and benefits. It’s no secret that workplace stress is real and can seriously impact your health and well-being. And while many have tried to put a finger on the problem, the primary cause of burnout at work is often attributed to poor time management in the workplace. Today, there are many software designed to address this challenge. A job scheduling app has proved to be the ideal solution for field service managers and employees both.
When faced with consistent burnout at work, the brain switches to an essentials-only mode. This results in a loss of productivity in the work environment and a reluctance to invest time or energy in it.
As a manager, you cannot just ignore the fact that your employees are stressed out and tired. But what can you do to help your staff stay motivated and productive? Is there a way to avoid employee burnout? Some people say that smart scheduling can help you deal with the problem of burnout at work.
Smart Job Scheduling is a process that lets businesses automate their workforce and improve the productivity of the company. With the right software, the companies will have better control over the work schedule. It minimizes the chances of overworking and burnout. Furthermore, it gives businesses an insight into where the bottlenecks are, so they can fix them.
In this blog, we try and answer how to prevent burnout in the workplace, what causes burnout and how a job scheduling app can help.
How does Inefficient Work Management Result in Burnout?
Inefficient work management is a common problem faced by managers in their daily work. Just like anything else, the more time it takes you to complete your task, the less productive the effort will be. This can have a negative effect on employee morale and productivity levels.
When we say “Inefficient Work Management” what does it look like? First, there are too many items on your employee’s to-do list which leads to incomplete tasks. Second, when you don’t assign work efficiently, the result is overwhelmed workers who get frustrated and decide to leave their job. If that’s not enough then there is also the third way in which inefficient management can lead to burnout – demoralization of employees.
Dealing with workload efficiently and distributing work tasks wisely will eventually lead to better employee productivity, motivation, and overall work satisfaction. Before diving into how smart scheduling or job scheduling software can be a way out, here are some of the indications that your management style could be causing your employees to experience burnout.
Unplanned work
As a manager, you know that it’s important to consider your employees’ workload when assigning tasks. This is especially true when dealing with unplanned work.
Unplanned work is more work; that’s how professionals deal with unplanned changes in their workloads. This concept is as simple as it is hard to implement, but when done incorrectly can lead companies and individuals down a road of stress, bureaucracy, and lost productivity.
As unplanned tasks and change requests add another level of stress on top of everything else that employees are already dealing with, it only makes their jobs harder. The most effective way for managers to avoid unplanned work for their employees is by setting the task priority in the first place and being able to assign it to the employees as per their skills and availability.
The average workweek for employees in the USA is 41.5 hours. However, a significant number of employees report working more than 40 hours per week – with 11% of employees saying they frequently work overtime.
In some other countries, the average workweek stretches even further to 49.8 hours on average. This alarming statistic means that workers are at risk of burnout and other negative consequences associated with working excessive hours.
Unclear expectations
According to researchers, nearly half of all work-related stress is caused by an overwhelming workload – often due to a lack of clarity regarding the initial task at hand. This can result in numerous revisions and employees feeling as if they’re constantly playing catch-up.
When there is no clear message about what needs to be done, people can feel lost and stressed out of their minds. This will not help people enjoy their work and it will ultimately cause individuals to lose passion for their work.
If a manager’s workflow isn’t clear and employees’ job assignment is not communicated clearly, it could lead to a decline in performance due to negative emotions from frustration and exhaustion at having to keep scrambling around for specific tasks.
Whether you’re a manager or an employee, clear work expectations can help inform the team of your expectations and set the right tone. It helps employees find out what is expected, as well as define their roles on the job. It eliminates confusion when working together and provides a more efficient flow of communication.
Mismanagement of workflow
Mismanagement of workflow is the main reason for employee burnout and a significant drop in employee productivity. When someone is not able to assign their work properly he or she will get confused with the activities of his department which as a result would delay the entire project. Overburdening to a great extent; becomes the major reason behind increasing non-performing employees.
Managers are often riddled with the question- how to prevent burnout in the workplace?
By knowing proper work management you can increase your team’s productivity and employee retention issues. You may have heard that being a manager you are not only responsible for managing the employees but also other things such as budget, project planning, software deployment, etc.
Thus, with proper management, it will not only keep your employees satisfied but they will be able to meet the deadline with high efficiency.
How a job scheduling app helps in increasing productivity?
Smart Job scheduling can be considered a perfect solution to avoid unnecessary work and stop employees from being stressed out. With smart scheduling, you’ll be able to recognize the employee’s skills and workload, assign tasks according to their availability and take appropriate measures to maximize their time.
The job scheduling app is equipped with an efficient workflow which is much more suitable for business owners and managers who have a manual job scheduling system. It helps in improving productivity which in turn will help in increasing the profitability of the company.
Since the workloads keep changing, it is necessary to update our schedule each day so that we can prepare for unexpected changes & needs. A smart job scheduler can help identify employees’ work hours as well as skills best suited for each specific task. Furthermore, with a job scheduling app, you can have the freedom to give notifications and workflow status updates to your employees.
These are a few areas where a job scheduling app can help increase productivity and reduce employee burnout at work.
1. Tracking Work Hours
As a manager, you want to know how employees spend their time at work. While you may have a good grasp on how much time your employees are spending at work, it is important to understand if these hours are being used productively.
If your company is tracking and monitoring the number of hours employees work on a specific project, then you will be able to identify their workload. The reliable way to understand if employees can accommodate assigned workloads productively is by tracking logged-in hours and holding daily debriefs.
With the right job scheduling app, you will be able to overcome these challenges. Automated reports will help you get meaningful insights into employee productivity patterns and identify dissatisfied employees easily.
2. Breaks are important too!
A manager is responsible for their employees’ health in more ways than one. Not only should you ensure that your employees get enough rest and work, but you also need to keep an eye on their in-between work breaks.
As you need to ensure that your workforce doesn’t burn out from too much stress and pressure. Take an example from this brilliant article written by David Taylor. He suggests that every employee takes a mini-nap every 90 minutes as part of their productivity routine.
Eventually, your employees are likely to be exhausted, leading to straining their patience, losing focus, and giving up on their work. A scheduling app with smart notifications will remind employees of taking their work breaks and thus help them refresh themselves after every 90 minutes of work time. By doing so, they will feel both satisfied and balanced at the end of each day and will not experience the negative effects brought forth by burnout.
3. Better Communication
The role of a manager is not restricted to just managing a team or individuals but also the entire project. In order to assign tasks and deadlines, you have to make sure each employee is aware of their responsibilities. Even discuss the upcoming task with your employees and work with them on a priority list.
When it comes to managing a task priority, scheduling software is the best choice. It not only allows managers to schedule employees’ tasks but also keeps a check on their scheduled tasks. When employees are assigned the task and required deadlines, they can be informed about the priority task and due dates so that they are aware of it before they drift away from it.
4. Streamline Your Workflow
Imagine an assembly line, where each link requires an individual piece of work before it can be passed on to the next. If one step is incomplete, it will take a long time to finish the entire sequence. This is how most tasks flow in the workplace.
When each task in your project had to be done manually – any change in the schedule would result in complex adjustments. Instead, you can leverage the job scheduling app to level up your project operations and automate your workflow using a customizable IFTTT (if-this-then-that) rules engine.
For instance, every time an employee takes a sudden leave, the software will notify you and help you reassign tasks to the other employees. In this manner, there would not be any backlogs in your project operations.
Conclusion
The workplace can be pretty hectic, to the point that it can push you over the edge. If you don’t avoid burnout, it does not only affect you; your workplace, and even your business.
Burnout is a serious issue that requires therapeutic intervention. The shorter and easier – the better. Job scheduling app can help to avoid the above and contribute to reducing the likelihood of burnout.
It would not only help you prioritize your tasks but also help you track their progress. An important part of it is making sure that you’re getting enough breaks to keep your team motivated.
The key is to communicate the priorities and understand your employees’ workload. As long as you can do it with discipline, the right job scheduling app will add to your efficiency at work, rather than hinder it.
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