A year ago, organizations around the country scrambled to limit in-person work. Remote work boomed. But do credit union work from home policies cause employee burnout?
Yes and no.
Here’s the reality of the situation…
Work–Life Balance
It’s 8:00 p.m. You’re enjoying a glass of wine after dinner. Suddenly, you hear a familiar “ding!”
It’s a Microsoft Teams message about work. It seems important, so you respond. While you’re on the computer, you check your emails, reply to one or two, and check your calendar for tomorrow.
37 minutes have passed. You finished your wine. You should be thinking about bed, but instead you’re thinking about work.
You’re relieved that you got a head start on some things. But you also feel like you never quite got the break from your day that you wanted…
Work from home means your house is now your office. There’s no escaping it. You’re easier to reach at all hours. The lines between your work life and your home life are blurred.
Remote work has increased productivity. But it also lowered morale.
Employees Want to Quit
A recent study by Microsoft found that remote employees are working too much. In fact, it’s making them look for new jobs:
- 41% have considered quitting;
- 54% feel overworked; and
- 61% of business leaders say they’re thriving.
Yikes!
No, really, yikes.
Of course business leaders are thriving! Their departments or organizations are more productive than ever. They can reach their team whenever they need to.
But it’s not sustainable. Not if you want to retain the employees who were heretofore so productive, that is…
Solutions to Burnout
Unfortunately, we can’t exactly suggest solutions to burnout. Certainly, a few options include:
- Being firm about your time off or your cut-off time at work;
- Working only in a designated office and leaving the office after work;
- Discussing the issue openly with supervisors and other employees to find healthy ways to manage your workload.
Notice that all of those suggestions are about reducing workload and providing more space for a home life. You can’t exercise your way out of a to-do list. You can’t use a mindfulness app to reduce your workload.
The cause of burnout is too much work, not a lack of meditation.
Leaders should be proactive about preventing burnout. Check in with your employees before giving yourself that pat on the back!
Let’s Make the Future of Work Healthy
How has your credit union ensured that work from home employees aren’t overworked?
What do you do to prevent burnout in your team?
How do you make sure employees can get a break from work even though their office is now 10 feet from their bedroom?
Sorry for the lack of answers. Burnout from remote work is not a solved problem yet. So, subscribe to our blog to see if we ever find a solution, and please forgive us if we miss a week here and there… we’re getting serious about taking our PTO!
