Your business thrives on employee enthusiasm and energy. When they work hard, say “yes” to new opportunities, and willingly help each other out, your organization often reaps the rewards. Still, these very same “go-getter” behaviors can undermine productivity and motivation and ultimately lead to employee burnout. In valuing employees, it’s important that you encourage your people to find the right balance.
The importance of truly valuing employees can never be understated. Discussions of balance often focus on work-life balance, and for good reason. It is important for the well-being of your employees. Research in the Harvard Business Review tells us “Corporate programs that support work/life balance promote productivity, reduce turnover, and improve employees’ mental and physical health.” They also found, since women and people of color tend to need this support more, these initiatives “can also boost your organization’s diversity.”
Yet there’s another kind of balance to consider. It’s the balance needed between an employees desire to achieve success and their productivity and effectiveness. An overachiever who grapples with perfectionism or wants to be involved in everything and/or build a reputation for cooperation and helpfulness can overdo it.
They may try so hard that they actually do themselves in. They miss deadlines because they set unrealistic goals. They can’t perform their own role effectively because they are stretched too thin. They might come to resent the people they help for not appreciating them enough.
We discussed recently how the individual can work to combat their overachieving impulse. At the same time, employers have a role to play too. You can establish a culture that doesn’t take advantage of individual employees who can’t say “no”, a work culture that doesn’t encourage people to push so hard that they end up unmotivated and unhappy.
Wondering how you can create a better balance for productivity?
As the employer, take steps to help your people feel safe setting boundaries and speaking up for themselves. The following strategies can help your employees find a more manageable middle ground between their passionate drive and productivity.
1. Encourage healthy boundaries
Your employees need to make and maintain their own boundaries. Still, your business can invest in its teams by establishing expectations for individuals to set realistic goals and create healthy boundaries.
Boundaries at work can promote clear communication, boost morale, and decrease burnout, ultimately increasing retention rates.
Managers can encourage healthy boundaries by demonstrating that they have them too. This means leaving work on time at the end of every day and turning off your email notifications at night or on weekends where possible.
Avoiding contacting your people outside of work hours to ask for assistance also shows that you value your employees’ time.
2. Manage workflow
Yours may be a cyclical business. You know that certain months will be busier than others. Plan accordingly and provide people with more opportunities for reduced hours or paid time off during slow seasons.
If you’re in an industry that has a quick turnaround on deadlines, try to find ways to standardize processes. By being able to streamline the work required on a tight timeline, you can cut back on the added stress your people would otherwise face.
Workflow management software can also help you identify who is responsible for what and what deadlines they are working against. Reviewing the data can help supervisors see who is doing too much and find ways to redistribute some of the work more equitably.
3. Trust your employees
Before mindlessly delegating one more task to that person who can’t say “no,” ask them to honestly assess whether they have capacity for that task. Be willing to let them refuse. Then, ensure that they don’t see negative consequences for identifying their workload is too great at that moment to commit to more work.
Respecting their assessments of their workload and bandwidth may feel risky, but it can benefit your business in the long-term.
4. Reward outcomes
You don’t want to discount effort entirely. Still, rather than focusing on the amount of time someone spends at the office or how hard they appear to be working, recognize people who achieve business objectives. A busy employee isn’t always a productive or efficient one.
To create a workplace that recognizes results:
- Set specific and clearly defined metrics
- Keep communication lines open
- Avoid micromanaging your people
- Provide feedback related to output
5. Ask your employees what they think
Sage research found that “almost half of workers (47%) have never been asked by their employer what will improve their experiences.” Plus, “Only 12% are asked on a regular basis.”
Yet you can’t know what would help your employees better balance their need to be included and achieve with what’s realistic for their role. By asking your people how they feel about their workload and their boundaries at work, you can better understand how to help support them.
Ready to get started?
Sogolytics can help you better understand the pulse of your organization. Set up surveys that specifically ask for feedback on workloads and whether people are feeling burnt out. Use the responses to identify trends and take action to improve the situation. Actively seeking feedback shows your employees that you value them and welcome opportunities for improvement.
