3 ways leaders can help ease

workplace stress and avoid

employee burnout
By : Marcel Schwantes

Employees who feel they can bring their whole selves to work perform the best. Luis
Alvarez/Getty Images

• Reports of burnout, stress, and loneliness levels are high as

employees continue working from home.
• Improving these conditions and rebuilding psychological safety
will require leaders to step up.
• Show gratitude for your employees, check-in frequently, and build
resilience into the workforce.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.
The crisis is subsiding, but its wounds run deep. For all the heroic efforts of
employees to keep companies operating, the past 16-plus months have left a
powerful psychological scar.

A recent Workhuman survey of more than 3,000 US workers reveals a

workforce in trouble. The data shows 48% of employees agree they've
experienced burnout, 61% feel elevated stress levels, and 32% agree that
they've felt lonely at work.

The emotional toll has been greater for working parents (especially mothers).
Observed differences in stress and burnout levels between men and women
appear to be related to caregiving responsibilities as well as the
disproportionate loss of jobs among women.

Early in the crisis, for example, mothers with young children decreased their
work hours four to five times more than fathers. The survey, which asked
seven questions related to psychological safety, also discovered that non-
White employees experienced lower levels than their White co-workers.

The impact of psychological safety

Google's People Operations team found that the number one driver of
successful teams is psychological safety, an environment where people feel
safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of one another.

When people feel safe, they will innovate, cooperate, and show up as their full
selves at work, which are critical qualities in today's agile environment.
Conversely, lack of psychological safety in the workforce is corrosive; it
endangers all plans to return to the "next normal."

Rebuilding psychological safety after a crisis requires leaders to speak candidly

about the toll employees have suffered, and show the way forward with a more
human-centered approach to managing:

1. Say "thank you" more often

"Recognition builds lasting connections between people," said Workhuman
CEO Eric Mosley. "Great leaders instinctively know that the more human
connection in a company, the better it performs."

It's easy to see why receiving a "thank you" makes an employee feel
appreciated. What's less obvious is that showing appreciation for someone's
efforts improves the positive feelings for the giver as well. Mutual recognition
and gratitude help people take off their emotional armor. When employees do
that, they feel safer as well as more connected.
2. Check in with employees more
frequently
People who check in with their manager at least once a week experience higher
psychological safety than those who check in less frequently, and yet only 29%
of respondents in the Workhuman survey said they check in with their
manager every week.

IBM is taking the lead on changing that statistic, emphasizing more frequent
feedback for everyone. CHRO Nickle LaMoreaux, who spoke with Workhuman
co-founder and CEO Eric Mosley, cites it as one of IBM's four priorities,
saying, "Feedback is as important as growth, innovation, and inclusivity,
because you can't have those first three elements without feedback."

3. Build resilience into your culture

While you might not be able to prevent the next crisis from happening, you
can take steps now to build resilience into the workforce, enabling people to
deal well with external stressors.

For example, psychological safety can become part of your hybrid

workplace design as you return to the office. You can consider formalizing
appreciation and thank-yous with a data-rich social recognition system. You
can strengthen diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts by helping managers
understand and mitigate unconscious biases.

Imagine how much time and resources would be salvaged if your organization
moves the needle on psychological safety. If all employees, and especially
underrepresented groups, feel more comfortable sharing ideas and bringing
their whole selves to contribute, the "next normal" won't just be a recovery
from the crisis but a fresh start. There will never be a better time than now to
build psychological safety into your culture.