How to Prevent Employee Burnout at Your Home Improvement Company

Employee burnout, also known as job burnout, can sneak up quickly and be difficult to reverse; so, how can you prevent it from happening in the first place?

Have you ever felt so over your job that just the idea of going to work makes you tired? Maybe you’ve even called in ‘sick’ to avoid your day-to-day responsibilities. Most people who experience these feelings quickly bounce back to their normal, motivated selves – but not everyone.

Some people continue to harbor that inefficiency, exhaustion, and irritability until they’ve completely fallen down the rabbit hole of employee burnout. And while it’s not classified as a medical issue, job burnout can put a big strain on someone’s emotional and physical well-being. Home improvement work isn’t easy either; this industry involves hard labor and can be high stress. Adding job burnout to the mix can lead to a drop in performance, communication, and overall team productivity; but the good news is that it can be prevented.

prevent employee burnout

Keeping Employees Happy

There are all sorts of stressors that can cause an employee to become disgruntled, uninterested, or just plain exhausted at work. And while you can’t take away the hard labor or difficult-to-handle customers, your home improvement company can create a positive environment that your teams are happy to work in. Below are five ways you can prevent employee burnout at your company:

 

1. Write Accurate, Detailed Job Descriptions

Preventing employee burnout starts with the hiring process, so being ambiguous with your job descriptions isn’t going to cut it. That means don’t use the title “Director of Digital Contact” if you’re hiring for a call center manager. Someone who is well-suited for the job – and not just the job title – is less likely to experience burnout.

 

2. Thoroughly Train Your Employees

You can’t expect your employees to feel confident in their job performance if you don’t provide them with the information or tools needed to do their job properly. That also includes showing them how to best communicate with and work with others.

 

3. Set Realistic Expectations

A great team is a productive team – until someone gets burnt out. It’s absolutely OK to push productivity on your employees, however, it isn’t ok to value productivity above someone’s wellbeing. When assigning work or deadlines, consider what your employees already have on their plates. For example, if your installers are already balancing several in-progress jobs, avoid pushing additional projects on them with crazy-tight deadlines. 

 

4. Provide Consistent Feedback

Whether its constructive criticism or a pat on the back, providing feedback is crucial in preventing employee burnout. And if you don’t have much feedback to offer on something, be sure you’re consistently acknowledging an employee’s effort or thanking them for their contribution to show them that they’re valued.

 

5. Encourage a Work-Life Balance

For some people, their job is their life, and they’re perfectly content with that! But that doesn’t mean everyone wants to work 100-hour weeks. Encourage your team members to not over-work themselves by taking breaks throughout the day and using their vacation time, and even consider offering flexible hours to allow employees to spend more of the day with their families.

 

 

If you’re looking for other ways to reduce employee stress at the workplace and prevent burnout, consider using technology to cut out some of the mundane, repetitive, or time-consuming tasks that frustrate your employees. For example: MarketSharp, an industry-specific CRM system, can automate everyday tasks for your home improvement company and help your teams work smarter, not harder.

To learn more about MarketSharp’s powerful CRM system, schedule a demo with one of our team members today.