With 2024 close on the horizon, burnout is spreading quickly as deadlines get tighter and workloads grow exponentially.

Each holiday season, burnout spreads quickly as deadlines get tighter and workloads grow exponentially. Burnout is more than fatigue at work. According to the World Health Organization, burnout is an "occupational phenomenon" that burdens employees and their managers and cripples business success.

As we close in on 2024, burnout will run rampant if it’s not properly addressed. The solution starts at the both the leadership and employee levels. Leaders must recognize the symptoms and causes of burnout and learn tips to prevent it. In turn, employees must recognize when they’re beginning to feel burnt out, and voice their concerns to trusted managers and embrace healthy work habits. Below are tips for both of these groups on how to prevent, reduce, and address burnout:

How employees can prevent — and recover from — burnout

Practicing self-care and developing an actionable strategy are the best ways to prevent and combat burnout. As Dr. Natalie Baumgartner, Chief Workforce Scientist at Achievers, says, “Things that fundamentally support our well-being need to come first.”

Try some of the following tips if you’re starting to see symptoms of burnout in your own life or your team members’:

1. Seek support from outside and inside the workplace: Develop a support network of people who might be able to help among your coworkers, family, and friends and consider engaging with others in hobbies you enjoy.
2. Take time off: Spend some time away from work and give yourself the space to view your situation from a new, healthier perspective, and recharge and recalibrate.
3. Explore your creativity: All too often, workers abandon creativity in favor of productivity. But it’s important that you find some time to regularly exercise your creative muscles on a project that engages you.
4. Maintain a healthy work-life balance: Work with your team and manager to set realistic deadlines and establish — or reinforce — the expectation that no one will answer messages outside of work hours.
5. Exercise: Working out is a fantastic way to relieve stress. In fact, it’s directly linked to mental sharpness and leads to quicker learning, greater mental stamina, more creativity, and refined concentration.
6. Sleep: Getting enough quality sleep is one of the best ways to improve your mental and physical health.

How organizations can prevent burnout

1.  Build trust: Employees are more likely to voice feelings of burnout to those they trust. Unfortunately, only 1 in 5 HR and employee engagement leaders say that their employees deeply trust their company leaders, and 50% of employees don’t even view their HR department as trustworthy. To build trust in the workplace, leaders need to be transparent and communicate with their workforce often.
2. Lead by example: If company leaders block their calendars for regular lunchtime walks or reading sessions, take long, relaxing holiday vacations, and avoid answering emails outside of their typical working hours, employees will follow suit. When employees start to mimic these fantastic habits, leaders should give them kudos for taking some well-deserved personal time.
3. Increase recognition: Workloads increase as the winter holidays approach, and it’s sometimes inevitable that employees will feel overwhelmed. But workers will feel more at ease and in control if their employers show that their hard work isn’t going unnoticed. AWI research finds that social recognition drives engagement, retention, and productivity. Employees recognized monthly are 36% more likely than those recognized quarterly to say they are engaged and productive and are 22% more likely to have high job commitment. Increased recognition should come from managers too, employees recognized weekly by their managers are 10x more likely to recommend their manager than those never recognized.
4. Listen and act on employee feedback: Employees who say their employer takes meaningful action on their feedback are 37% less likely to job hunt in 2023. It’s critical to ensure employees feel heard at work by acting on the feedback that they share with you, especially during busy seasons. Proactively gather feedback from employees on a regular basis to help identify individuals and teams that are at risk of burnout. Employee surveys are the best way to do this.

Use these tips to recognize and prevent burnout at work before it takes a toll on your organization and its most valuable asset — your employees. What’s one habit your organization has adopted to avoid employee burnout?