Using technology to identify employee burnout

At some point, the question has to be asked: What doesn’t cause employee burnout? Even before they get to work, Americans are dealing with lingering Covid stressors, daycare shortages, loan and credit card debt, rising inflation, increased housing and commuting costs, and more. Throw in a toxic boss or two, or take away coworkers leaving for greener pastures, and the odds are high burnout is happening. But few people are willing or able to tell their employer.

Paul Rubenstein, Chief People Officer, Visier

That’s where technology might step in. We turned to Paul Rubenstein, Chief People Officer of Visier, for insights on using technology to assess employee burnout.

BenefitsPRO: What is ‘burnout tech’ and how does it work?

Paul Rubenstein: Burnout technology unlocks insights from the everyday systems where ‘work happens’ and enhances it with survey data and peer feedback to give a realistic picture of workload, connection and stress. It is the sibling of ‘collaboration tech’ and leverages the rich digital footprint of tools like G-suite, Microsoft Office, Slack and Zoom. Just like fitness technology, it helps us see insights about our own productivity, burnout and connection to others.

The responsible sharing of this data by with managers and employers can help answer questions like these:

• Where are the urgent burnout risks?
• Which teams work best together?
• What is the impact of hybrid and remote work?
• Who is left behind? Who is well connected?
• Which people have a disproportionate impact on performance and culture?

How is this different from other monitoring tech/tools companies are using?

This technology mines passive data and combines it with active data in a way that overcomes the fatigue and distortion of big survey projects. It meets employees in the digital spaces where their everyday work happens instead of interrupting work to ask ‘how are you doing’?

What is the benefit of using burnout tech for companies? What are the benefits for employees?

The best part of burnout tech is that it benefits both employee and employer. Employees get to hold up a mirror to their own productivity and understand what helps and hurts their wellbeing at work. Being able to see the patterns of conflict, connection and ups-and-downs is the first step to preventing the things that derail us and unlocking healthy behaviors.

For employers it can provide an early warning signal about things that lead to turnover and unhealthy conflict at work. It also provides a sensing mechanism to make sure managers don’t just spend time with the ‘loudest’ employee problems, but take the time to understand the ‘quiet ones’ who usually surprise you with resignation once it’s too late.

Best of all – transparent data about burnout creates mutual accountability between employee and manager. Healthy relationships require both parties to work together in the pursuit of productivity and the prevention of unwanted turnover.

What is causing the rise in burnout companies are seeing in employees?

There are several different factors that contribute to rising burnout rates. According to our own research, some of the top factors include employees being asked to take on more work (44%), a toxic work environment (33%), and being micromanaged by managers (24%). More than one-third (37%) of employees also said they’re not comfortable talking to their supervisor about their burnout. When asked why, employees’ top reason was a fear of being seen as incapable of doing their jobs.

It’s clear that while burnout is a result of increasing workloads and expectations, it’s also exacerbated by a lack of communication between employees and their managers. Data from burnout technology can help managers have conversations with their employees about their feelings of overwhelm and burnout, and help them better mitigate it before it becomes a larger issue.

How can companies use this technology for good and to support their employees, and not micro-manage them?

With burnout technology, organizations can look at their company culture and employee experience from a wider perspective, then drill into areas that they need to address while identifying where they’re succeeding in supporting and engaging employees.

This technology can answer questions such as: Which teams get along the best? Which ones are having trouble orienting themselves? Who is most at risk of burning out as a result of excessive workloads and poor work habits? At the end of the day, this helps managers build stronger teams, and offers a helping hand for those employees that are struggling.

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