Employee burnout means revenue loss

“The psychological and physical problems of burned-out employees, which cost an estimated $125 billion to $190 billion a year in healthcare spending in the US, are just the most obvious impacts. The actual cost to the business can be far greater, thanks to low productivity across organisations, high turnover, and the loss of the most capable talent,” said  Eric Gartner, of Bain and Company.

Unlike Europe or the US, India does not have statistical data on direct losses caused by employee burnout. In most Indian companies, taking people for a break, picnic, or team outings laden with free flow of liquors and vent outs masked as emotional outbursts are looked up as taking care of burnouts.

The issue is far deeper. When the daily grind you encounter at work like constant changing priorities, deadlines, workload, being micromanaged, and norms of collaborative teamwork, when all these actually exceed your capacity to handle them, you are at risk of burning out.

A recent research by Harvard shows that burnout has three components: exhaustion (loss of energy), cynicism (loss of enthusiasm), and inefficacy (loss of self-confidence and capacity to perform), but you do not have to be experiencing all three to suffer grave consequences. For example, if you do not believe in your organisation’s core activities, leadership and culture, you are likely to feel demoralised even if you function well at work.

Microsoft performed a field study by computing activities of 27 users over a two-week period. It found that participants spent nearly 10 minutes on an average delay caused by interruptions, and spent on an average another 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the type of interruption) before returning to focused activity on the disrupted work. About 27% of work at hand delays resulted in more than two hours of time until resumption.

The loss of revenue estimated per person was $100 in one day considering $50 was cost of an hour.

In India, it is easy to calculate this kind of loss. Imagine, every day hundreds of employees wasting time in smoking for longer hours, taking unwarranted coffee breaks, apart from their water cooler time.

Individually, how can this be handled?

Manage small breaks

In such breaks, leave your phone behind. Just for ten minutes, take digital detox seriously. The world would function without you anyways.

Breathe and chuck that extra sip or puff

A smoke or a coffee may give you a temporary sense of relief, but eventually, it means popping anti-acidity pills on sleepless nights. Ask yourself if it is worth it.

Think of future progress

An unclouded vision of what your future looks like in next one year is a motivating feeling. That is marching towards personal goals and going higher. That road is not easy, and you know that.

There is a bias towards fixing people rather than fixing the job situation. American Psychological Association mentions that newer models of role and individual person fit, and less multitasking will lead to better definitions of healthy workplaces, and in turn, reduce revenue loss incurred by unproductive and unhappy employees.

The writer is a strategic advisor and premium educator with Harvard business publishing