Listen to Your People!
I recently led a half-day workshop on staying well at work for 60 staff members of three nonprofits serving people affected by sexual assault, domestic violence and homelessness.
We all know the challenges of working in a nonprofit — long hours, low pay and doing more with less, to name a few. These employees, however, face even greater risks to their wellbeing from working closely with individuals who face violence and/or trauma, including secondary traumatic stress (STS) and burnout.
Participants named the issues below, among others, as contributing to their chronic work stress:
Staff shortages
Limited resources / having to deny resources to clients
Too many clients / difficult clients
The nature of our work / many triggers in chaotic workplace
Too much work / inequitable workloads
Poor boundaries
Generational differences / interpersonal conflicts
Asked how to improve their workplaces to reduce major stressors, they offered the following ideas:
Be able to rely on our co-workers for support
More collaboration
Management needs to trust employees
Open communication between management and workers
Regular check-ins with managers
Validation/appreciation for our work
Role clarity
A Two-Way Street
I emphasized that wellbeing is a two-way street: it’s up to employees to familiarize themselves with the signs of STS and burnout and practice solid stress relief habits to cope with their demanding jobs.
It’s also critical for their leaders to be able to recognize burnout and STS both in themselves AND their teams. When they see signs of either condition, they must take immediate steps to address it.
Participants understood this and were curious how their leaders were taking care of themselves. The leaders mentioned their strategies for stress relief and self-care, including gardening barefoot.
Ending Overwork Culture Demands Everyone Make Changes
I was struck by how closely the workshop participants’ questions and comments lined up with what I’ve learned – and continue to learn – about burnout and the ways organizations support staff wellbeing.
A recent Harvard Business Review article, “How Companies Can End a Culture of Overwork,” by Brigid Schulte, author of the book Over Work, describes five strategies leaders can employ to shift workplace culture from a burnout shop to one of wellbeing and productivity.
“Don’t give me a yoga class at noon,” a member of Workaholics Anonymous told Schulte for her book. “But do make sure you’re not going to call me, email me or text me after 5 p.m. Friday evening until Monday morning,”
1. Employers must first confront their own workaholic attitudes that contribute to unhealthy behaviors, since what leaders model is precisely what staff understand as what’s expected of them.
2. Leaders should review work processes to identify and trim unnecessary tasks that both zap morale and productivity -- with the result of reducing everyone’s work hours and freeing up time to spend on R&R and with family.
3. Next, they should humanize workloads, which may mean adding staff, the cost of which pays for itself with greater productivity and less turnover and retraining.
4. To create a culture of wellbeing, leaders should offer a lot of flexibility and autonomy by communicating clearly defined roles, goals and timelines and then, as my workshop participants suggested, trust staff to do the work.
5. Experiment, learn and tweak new approaches, perhaps by setting and enforcing vacation minimums and implementing shorter workdays.
Has your organization taken stock of its organizational culture to identify how it may be contributing to burnout, accidents, preventable mistakes, costly turnover and lost productivity? Please drop me a line!