According to a study by Gallup, employees who experience burnout are 63% more likely to take a sick day, 23% more likely to visit the emergency room and 2.6x more likely to actively seek other roles. With the pandemic opening up remote work opportunities, many in the tech world are left confused about when to switch off at the end of the day. Overworking and neglecting personal needs can lead to physical and mental exhaustion, which isn’t beneficial for your employees or your team. Here’s when you can step in to encourage a healthy lifestyle and avoid burnout in your tech team.

When someone reaches the point of burnout, they don’t want to be productive and may feel overwhelmed and distant. Tech teams especially have faced a major transformation with their workload as they adapt to expanded use of technology to keep up with the current digital transformations.  

6 Tips to Avoid Burnout Among Your Tech Team 

Beat burnout before it’s too late. Guide your coworkers through six helpful ways to manage stress and avoid burnout in the long term. 

1. Promote flexibility 

The first step to helping your employees avoid burnout is to allow them to have flexible schedules. For many professionals, working remotely has been a game changer in being able to manage their personal lives as well as take the necessary time to be productive and focus on work. If you need your team to come in and collaborate, consider offering a hybrid working schedule. When your team knows that it’s about productivity rather than specific hours, they will feel focused and less stressed.  

2. Be supportive 

Allow your team to trust you and be able to come to you when challenges arise. Lead with empathy and check in with your team every now and then to ensure they are doing okay. Encourage open communication with your team and ensure that they have the help they need during their projects. Being supportive could also mean giving your team advice and guiding them during particularly intense projects.

3. Reinforce objectives 

Jumping off of our earlier point, supporting your team also means guiding them and providing clear goals and expectations for each team member. The team needs to know specific goals and have priorities outlined, which will help them understand the goal and zero-in on what needs to get done. Having specific goals helps to avoid confusion among the team, so everyone can feel more focused and productive. 

4. Lead by example 

You are the person your team looks up to when it comes to leadership and workplace behavior. Therefore, you need to show them how you manage your workload as well as take breaks when necessary. Your team will model their behaviors after you, so if you show them what a healthy routine looks like, they will be inspired to model their schedules like yours. Your team needs to see that you care and that you take burnout and stress seriously. Promoting a good work-life balance will help keep your team’s stress at bay. 

5. Provide well-being programs 

Give your team the opportunity to take advantage of wellness programs and other assistance. These programs can be designed to help your team with their mental health, physical health and even diet and nutrition counseling. Wellness programs can benefit employees by letting them focus on achieving better overall health which then leads to better balance at work. Having the support from these programs can help someone who is feeling very stressed to manage it the right way, before their health issues negatively impact other areas of their lives. 

6. Encourage use of PTO 

We’ve touched a lot on achieving balance in the workplace. One of the ways to achieve this is by taking advantage of vacation days. Time off is extremely important to help individuals recharge from work and reconnect with the people in their personal lives. Encouraging your team to use their PTO will help them unplug, relax, and return to work feeling refreshed and ready for the next project. Unplugging at the end of the day, taking breaks and even communicating openly about stressful tasks or projects will help in managing stress.

If you are currently hiring for a new position, contact one of our Ledgent Technology recruiters today!