One out of every five employees reported high engagement and high burnout, according to a recent study from the Yale Center of Emotional Intelligence. With Gallup reporting that burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 2.6 times as likely to actively seek a new position, having an emotionally stressed and exhausted workforce is costly.
To learn more, we invited the co-author of No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work and head of content at Humu, Liz Fosslien, for an HR Break Room conversation.
Your bottom line says …
According to the 2018 Best Workplaces for Millennials Summary, millennials who say they have a great workplace are 59 times more likely to strongly endorse their company to friends and family. Happy employees are more productive and make greater contributions to the organization.
The savings from happy employees do not stop at productivity. When you consider the costs of recruiting, onboarding and training each candidate, it’s important each new hire feels comfortable with their job so they don’t leave six months later. Retaining these employees not only saves, but justifies, the hiring investment.
Celebrate, celebrate
Help ensure employees avoid burnout and remain positive by creating clear job expectations. HR can help alleviate this uncertainty by establishing performance metrics and communicating a career path and goals to employees.
Another way to help retain burned-out employees is communicating the importance of paid time off. Using vacation time keeps employees sharper and more productive while at work. According to Fosslien, more than 50% of employees in the U.S. say their managers communicate nothing or are slightly negative about taking a vacation.
Training day
To foster a culture of emotional positivity, HR should equip managers with training to coach employees on handling their own emotions. Not every top performer is a naturally good manager, which makes initiating manager training courses essential.
Positivity is essential to creating a suitable workplace place that attracts the best in today’s war for talent. To retain your people, ensure your managers invest in their employees.
Listen to our full conversation with Fosslien on episode 59 of the HR Break Room podcast, “No Hard Feelings: What HR Can Do to Foster Emotional Positivity at Work.”
