Photograph: Malcolm Lightbody/Unsplash
Employees are experiencing burnout at extraordinary levels. Recent data from Indeed shows that employee burnout has become increasingly severe, with 52% of respondents burned out and 67% believing that this has grown worse over the past year. Millions of people are online. They’re working longer hours, dealing with different types of stress, and anxiety levels are high. The prolonged pressure of the pandemic alongside unpleasant social media, politics and economic challenges has made the world a toxic working environment. An unsustainable environment.
Organisations need to step in and step up, providing their people with the kind of support that they really need during these challenging times. It’s time to think outside the box and give people another place to play, think, learn and grow, one that takes them away from the nine to ten hours they sit in front of their computers and gives them space to breathe.
Give people more than work: give them projects they can believe in.
One way to do this is to connect with local communities and start projects that include sports, education, culture and environmental activities. These initiatives offer people new experiences and connections in society and play no small role in personal and community-led sustainability. Give people more than work: give them projects they can believe in and that take them away from the stress and anxiety of everyday life.
Create engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility
A well-developed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme that connects communities and people has proven benefits for both business and employees.
Research has long shown that young people entering the workforce want to work with companies committed to building good practices and a good reputation. In 2007, a global workforce survey found that CSR is the third most important driver of employee engagement overall, and an organisation’s reputation for social responsibility is an important driver for both engagement and retention. More recently, a survey of young professionals found that 64% won’t take a job from a company that doesn’t have strong CSR practices.
If a person hungers for knowledge, give them opportunities for learning. If a person wants to contribute to society, create a CSR programme that makes a difference.
Moreover, IBM’s Institute for Business Value found that sustainable growth was a key benefit of CSR and that it should become a part of the organisation’s sustainable growth strategy. Now, customers, employees and investors are demanding that companies prioritise sustainability.
CSR needs to become an important part of the organisation’s strategy to create a connected and more engaged workforce and help people avoid burnout. It can be implemented on a global scale, focusing on communities and projects that are relevant to the local teams, and give people an opportunity to become involved in something more than just the daily grind, the slouched-over-the-keyboard exhaustion.
Companies need to be concerned about their employees. They need to make sure that they’re connected and that the company addresses their core values. If a person hungers for knowledge, give them learning opportunities. If a person wants to contribute to society, create a CSR programme that makes a difference.
The long-term sustainable value of people-focused leadership
Engaged and connected employees are happier and more fulfilled. They are more resilient and empathetic, and they are loyal to companies that help them feel this way – companies that give them opportunities to thrive.
By upskilling your employees, you’re opening up new opportunities for them while creating a sustainable flow of talent throughout the business. This minimises the risk of skills gaps being filled by expensive talent that is often more loyal to the salary than the company while maximising the potential of the people you already have.
If you embed a skills development programme into your business and create a culture of learning, you’re building tomorrow’s workforce. Skills are in short supply on a global scale, so by upskilling your employees, you’re opening up new opportunities for them while creating a sustainable flow of talent throughout the business. This minimises the risk of skills gaps being filled by expensive talent that is often more loyal to the salary than the company while maximising the potential of the people you already have on board. Of course, the other value add is that you’re building a workforce with agile and adaptable minds and approaches that are invaluable to business growth and long-term success.
Another important consideration that’s often addressed with CSR programmes and a culture of learning is to ensure that employees are given the right tools to manage their work-life balance. This is a difficult tightrope to walk. Engaged and committed employees want to work more and show their value, but the business needs to ensure that their wellbeing is part-and-parcel of the culture and approach to work. It’s important to promote sustainable human development that contributes to your employees’ mental health and includes healthy boundaries and balance.
While leadership from remote locations is challenging, it is the responsibility of leaders to ensure that these balances are kept and upheld. Managing burned-out people is far more complex and is not a sustainable way of holding onto your talent. There need to be synergies between all areas of life: home, family, community, personal wellbeing and health. These need to be sustainably managed across the mental, emotional, social, financial, physical, digital and environmental spheres of life. People are not automatons; they are complex ecosystems that have to be balanced and supported to achieve their full potential.
This is the right time to shine the light of sustainability on your talent. To focus on identifying, promoting and supporting talent by providing resources that resonate with their career plans and personal needs. Regardless of age, skill level or location, your people can be inspired to learn more, do more and go further without burning out and fading away.
We have succeeded in creating and sustaining innovative programmes through which people can learn practical skills. We are connected to the needs of the local community and promote development opportunities. Our wish as an organisation is to create a culture that supports a work-life balance that promotes sustainable human development and respects essential boundaries.
