“So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health”. ~ A. J. Reb Materi
This is going to be a long article, still, it might be worth reading. It could literally save you loads of energy and money.
Some time ago I went to a lecture, and it was surprising to see that compared to other similar events, which would normally have around 60-100 participants, this topic attracted a crowd of at least 250.
I was surprised, because the topic is not one that we talk about too often and definitely not something we admit to being affected by.
So, what is this thing, that got so many people excited?
It was the subject of burnout.
In Germany, this phenomenon had already been officially recognized as an illness which endangers the whole population. If we consider Gallup’s estimates, that at least 24% of employees are affected, it means burnout costs German workplaces 9 billion euros annually in lost productivity.
https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/190049/high-cost-worker-burnout-germany.aspx
If we add another Gallup statistics, which says that 67% of employees worldwide are “not engaged” in their work, meaning that completing their daily tasks requires considerable effort, then the number of people who are likely to be at risk of burnout is far bigger, than what we see in the statistics.
Although burnout is finally getting some attention, in most workplaces it’s still not taken seriously enough. When it does come up, it’s often considered to be a shameful topic, and better to pretend it doesn’t exist at all.
It is quite difficult to offer a program to most companies, if it’s called burnout prevention. We must invent all kinds of sexy names for employers to even consider dealing with it, names that include energy, wellness, well-being, etc.
So, why does burnout cost so much?
On the employer side, it costs a lot, because when the employee is demotivated, disengaged, and exhausted, their main focus is on how to get away with the day. This means the obvious, that they will not be as productive as could otherwise be.
This employee should be fired! – would be the normal reaction.
Yes, that’s a possibility. But, if we consider the cost of high employee turnover within a company, then firing everyone may not be the best solution.
Once I made a quick calculation for one of my clients, the director of a luxury hotel, what the expense of replacing someone would be. The industry itself is at a huge risk of burnout and high employee turnover. So he was quite surprised when we looked at the costs of hiring a recruiter, the time it would take to find the right person, during which other team members would need to do his job. Then training the new colleague would mean that those who train him would not be able to do their own work at their usual potential.
It would have cost a lot less to invest in developing the team and figuring out ways to keep motivated employees healthy and engaged.
There are some countries now, where a large percent of skilled workers is missing from the workforce, so high employee turnover could bring unexpected deficit to these firms. Serious attention should be paid to employee retention, and burnout prevention is an important part of this.
Article reposted with permission from Kalangu Coaching
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