What\u2019s going on here?<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0And more to the point, what can be done to improve a very dangerous workplace situation?<\/p>\n One of the questions senior corporate managers always ask is: \u201cWhat\u2019s the financial risk of employee stress and burnout?\u201d It\u2019s not necessarily a dismissive attitude amongst the higher ranks as it is a basic desire to know exactly how much workplace stress impacts a company\u2019s bottom line. Some of the answers to those questions were discussed at the recent Ohio Safety Congress in Columbus, in a presentation given by Shelly Meadows and Martin Franchi from Navigation Consulting and Training.<\/p>\n Meadows and Franchi cited research indicating that mental health injuries tend to have a much longer recovery time\u2014up to 15 times greater time lost compared to other injury types. Also, there are much higher direct costs for mental stress claims, being 8 times higher than for other injury types.<\/p>\n Anxiety and burnout aren\u2019t the problem, they pointed out\u2014rather, they\u2019re the symptoms of systemic organizational imbalances. That could include stress-filled situations caused by insufficient staffing, heavier-than-normal workloads, or toxic leaders. As Meadows and Franchi noted, companies need to get better at addressing those systemic issues and not just assume that an individual will \u201cget better\u201d after a little rest. \u201cWe\u2019re all in the same storm,\u201d Meadows observed, \u201cbut we\u2019re not all in the same boat.\u201d Decades of research indicate that merely trying to help an individual cope with a work situation is far less likely to have a sustainable impact on employee health than systemic solutions, including organization-level interventions.<\/p>\n A typical HR response might be to give a stressed-out employee an extra day off, but that does absolutely nothing to change the work situation and might in fact exacerbate it since that person will come back to work one more day behind on their assignments. A more helpful systemic response, according to Meadows and Franchi, would be for the company to actually address the too-heavy workload situation, offer more resources, and even examine the management structure that might be causing problems.<\/p>\n Toxic workplace behavior is the biggest driver of negative workplace outcomes such as burnout and an intent to leave the company, according to a McKinsey study. Unfortunately, there\u2019s a 22% gap in perception of mental health and well-being in organizations between employers and employees. The boss might think everything is just fine, whereas the employees are anxious, stressed, burnt out and ready to go looking for another job. And that\u2019s another one of those financial risks of neglecting the stress levels of the workforce\u2014the workers could very well just decide the job\u2019s not worth it and quit. Not only will the company need to hire replacements, but the company\u2019s reputation will also take a hit as word spreads amongst both current and former employees: \u201cYou don\u2019t want to work there.\u201d<\/p>\n So to answer the question, \u201cWhat can a safety leader do about worker burnout?\u201d Meadows and Franchi recommend that you become a partner with your employees in stress prevention. \u201cBe proactive in addressing the root causes of workplace stress and burnout to prevent psychological and physical injury,\u201d they said. And stay up to date and informed about mental health awareness.<\/p>\n To learn more about stress and stress-related issues go to stress.org.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Photo by Andrea Piacquadio<\/a><\/p>\n About the Author: Dave Blanchard | Editor-in-Chief \/ Senior Director of Content<\/a><\/p>\n OP-![\"EHS](\"https:\/\/img.ehstoday.com\/files\/base\/ebm\/ehstoday\/image\/static\/ehstoday-logo.png?auto=format,compress&fit=fill&fill=solid&height=35\"){kind=logo}
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