5 Strategies to Cope with Employee Burnout

Employee burnout is felt by everyone in the company.Employee burnout is a serious issue that can easily trickle down from management. In the case of startup companies, if you are the sole founder and live with constant anxiety, your employees will feel it, too.

With so many small business leaders focusing on looking good, it’s easy to be deceived into thinking a startup should be effortless and free of stress. The truth is that every business venture includes some level of burnout. The best way to overcome both owner and employee burnout is by having open communication (transparency) and a support structure. No single person in the business is alone!

If you feel that your own stress is leading to employee burnout, try and share a few of these strategies to help your team cope:

  1. Acknowledge – Accept that there is no business without stress and that anxiety is NOT a weakness. In fact, acknowledging it can be a huge strength when building your ideal team. Let your employees know that you are human and that you are all in this venture together. Worries can also be transformed into useful changes in business structure.
  2. Journal Your Feelings – Encourage journaling and practice the habit yourself. Free-writing may churn up thoughts that you didn’t know existed. If nothing else, you’ve expelled the volume of your emotions onto the page rather than unloading onto any single person such as a business partner.
  3. Trust in Your Community – When pesky doubts and burdens just won’t go away, gather a small community of those you trust to resolve employer and employee burnout. This doesn’t have to be a formal meeting. It might be something as simple as catching drinks together on a Friday night or going bowling once each month. Relaxing together will help communication in all things, including anxiety.
  4. Accept What You Can’t Control – Employee burnout often happens because of an inability to let things go. Perhaps someone on your team made a mistake. Help them through the acceptance process by allowing them to help you rectify it and then moving on. If employees see you move on from these let-downs with positivity, they will follow.
  5. Leave the Office – Whether physical or theoretical, being stuck in the “office” is a real concern among business professionals. Make an effort to plan activities that will take your mind away from work. Everyone needs a reprieve, and breaks are actually useful to allow your mind a way to drum up new ideas, develop insights, or refocus later.

Ultimately, feelings of being overwhelmed or fearful about decisions will happen on occasion in the growth of your business, but they don’t have to grip the entire team or become a constant struggle. These 5 tips are the path to breaking the employer and employee burnout cycle and enjoying your entrepreneurial success!

If you are ready for a new business venture, consider utilizing the Sunbelt Network to buy a business or franchise.

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