The mistakes that lead to burnout at work are pretty easy to make if you are not watching out for them.  Some burnout happens because of specific behaviours of employees. Even more burnout is caused by the mistakes of managers. 

I share 5 mistakes employees make and 5 mistakes managers make that lead to burnout at work.
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To avoid the mistakes that lead to burnout at work, I share the common mistakes individuals make and the signs of burnout that are often ignored. Avoiding burnout is important for our mental health and physical health as individuals. It is just as important from the company perspective – burnt out individual can’t contribute to the company’s success.

There are a lot of actions that managers can take to reduce burnout risk in their teams. These are mainly within the manager’s control which I will cover in a bit.

Some common burnout symptoms include mental and physical exhaustion, lack of motivation and energy, difficulty thinking and more. Spotting the early warning signs are key to avoiding burnout in the workplace.

In terms of definition, burnout is the mental and physical exhaustion a person feels when demands being put on them are consistently more than they can deliver. Burnout is usually caused by prolonged periods of high stress levels.

A key mistake individuals make that leads to being burned out from work, is remaining poor at saying no. Saying no professionally is a mental state and a skill to develop. 

Another action for avoiding stress and burnout at work is to learn how to manage the expectations of others carefully and realistically. Managing expectations is learning ask questions, negotiate, challenge, and say no. 

Managers make all the same mistake individuals do plus they can contribute to workplace stress, anxiety and burnout by making another set of mistakes. Good management practices avoid all of these mistakes so learning how to avoid these mistakes is good from many different perspectives. The mistakes are:

1.      Managers ask for and expect too much 

2.      A lack of goals, expectation and direction creates stress and reduces output

3.      Managers don’t provide enough recognition or rewards

4.      Not providing enough support for team members 

5.      A lack of fairness across the team

For each, I explain what causes these mistakes to happen and give tips on how to avoid making them. 

If you have any questions on “10 Mistakes That Lead to Burnout at Work”, please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you.

Jess Coles

Enhance.training