Around a year ago, millions of employers worldwide had to make a sudden and unprecedented shift to home office amid the coronavirus pandemic.
For most employees, what started as a short-term remote work setup is now a permanent home office and is not going away anytime soon.
Work from home has been on the rise and a necessity to contain the spread of viruses and with that, the challenge for you to manage your remote team also comes.
However, work from home isn’t the only thing that has been on the rise; employee burnout is another severe threat with the home office setup.
Monster’s research indicates that around two-thirds of employees experience burnout symptoms while working from home during July 2020.
The same report also suggested that most workers are taking less time off in the WFH setup than WFO.
Around 42% of people working from home are not planning to take any time off to decompress.
The reason behind this less day off might be the fear of losing a job, poor management, unreasonable workload, or inability to recognize the signs of burnout.
Another research indicates that after lockdown, working hours have increased by 48 minutes, meetings have increased by 13%, and employees are sending on an average of 1.4 more emails per day, which is relatively higher than the situation before lockdown.
Although people are working from home, taking day-offs, breaks, and having “me time” is very important.
As a manager, you need to understand that your remote team has a lot going on and you have to manage your remote team anyhow, especially in this pandemic situation.
This article will tell you what exactly employee burnout is and how to manage your remote team without burning out.
What Is Burnout?
Burnout is a situation when you feel there’s no energy left to carry on working.
It can affect a person’s mental, physical, and emotional health in several ways, leaving them exhausted and stopping them from completing their day-to-day tasks as they usually would.
NO, it is not simply a feeling of being tired; it’s a lack of interest or motivation towards work.
Generally, burnout involves:
- Not feel like working
- Lack of motivation
- Running away from people and responsibilities
- Procrastinating
- Not able to focus
- Symptoms of depression, like hopelessness or fatigue
- Getting insufficient sleep or experiencing insomnia
- Increase of interest towards alcohol than usual, or drinking to cope
- Physical problems like chest pain, headaches, dizziness or fainting, etc
- Negative thoughts towards your work
- Feelings of helplessness and disconnected
Primary Reason Why Burnout Evolves
Burnout can evolve due to various factors, but some primary reasons include:
Reason 1: Too Much Work Pressure
You open your eyes, see a hundred emails and messages from the office, and you want to reply to all of them as soon as possible.
Sounds familiar? Well, this is the usual routine of most of the people who are working from home.
Stress starts building up at the back of the mind when employees start their day by replying to emails and work meetings.
The increase in working hours and shifts is causing some very profound social and personal struggles.
As working from home saves time which we used to spend travelling and getting ready; it also makes people workaholic and does more and more.
Work-from-home setup sometimes blurs the line between personal life and work life.
Sometimes people are unable to see where work ends and leisure time begins.
Some employees might feel overburdened and not able to communicate due to a lack of in-person meetings.
This overburden may cause some significant issues and eventually burnout.
It also happens in situations when a person is not a good speaker or cannot communicate comfortably on call.
- Solution: Set Boundaries
The goal of marketing is to promote a product or service effectively to the target audience and generate desired outcomes.
In order to achieve this goal, it is essential to create a positive work environment and prioritize the well-being of your team members.
The human body and mind need a sufficient amount of rest in a day. By setting boundaries and implementing office hours, you can help your team members achieve a healthy work-life balance.
It’s important to allow your employers to switch off work notifications and activate an out-of-office response for after-shift hours, signaling that your office is closed for business.
Encouraging your team members to go out of the house, take a walk, exercise outside, or meet their friends can contribute to their overall well-being and productivity. Socializing helps them refresh their minds and stay productive.
Additionally, if a call doesn’t require screen sharing, you can suggest taking the meeting while sitting in a park or walking on a terrace, allowing team members to enjoy the benefits of fresh air and nature.
When managing a remote team, it’s crucial to consider both their work and personal life. Different time zones of teammates working from various parts of the world mean that notifications or emails sent outside of working hours can disrupt someone’s sleep or family time.
To address this, it’s important to discuss work schedules with every team member, respecting their time and ensuring they aren’t pressured to respond to chats or emails outside of their designated working hours.
By prioritizing work-life balance, you create a conducive environment for your team to achieve the goals of marketing effectively.
Reason 2: Lack Of Supportive Environment
If you lead remote team, effectively managing them and maximizing the remote team productivity is crucial.
Providing your team with the necessary resources such as laptops, required software, mobile devices, and a high-speed internet connection is essential.
It’s important to create an environment where your employees feel comfortable asking for these resources, particularly if they are new to the organization and may be hesitant to communicate openly.
Additionally, ensuring that your team is aware of the various tools available to them is vital. Sometimes, they may not realize that certain tasks can be automated using tools, leading to manual work that could be time-consuming.
By introducing simple yet effective tools, you can streamline their work and enhance productivity. For instance, implementing planning and tracking tools can help you manage multiple projects simultaneously and ensure timely completion.
- Solution: Regular Check-ins
We live in an advanced era of technology and the internet.
Keep in mind that work from home is not going away anytime soon. Therefore, people have to adjust themselves to the virtual setup; slowly and gradually.
Regularly have one-on-one meetings or team meetings and give them the time to contact you on any application without conflict of time zones.
Make sure to turn ON your availability as your employees might hesitate to contact you during odd hours.
Schedule a one-on-one to discuss their problems and give them the solutions.
You can also try to set up virtual team bonding activities every week to strengthen the team bond.
Virtual team-building activities can help your team members feel connected and increase productivity.
As a team manager, you need to help your team figure out what they should do and set reasonable expectations from their work.
Ensure each task and the reasons behind them to make them understand exactly how you will measure success.
Clearly define the scope of work, deadlines, and deliverables for each project to your team.
Don’t forget to give feedback to each team member to help them stay motivated and interested.
Reason 3: Lack Of Resources
If you have a team of remote workers, team building for remote employees is essential to foster collaboration and enhance their productivity.
In addition to providing them with the necessary tools like laptops, required software, mobile devices, and a high-speed internet connection, it’s important to create a supportive environment where they feel comfortable asking for resources.
This is especially crucial for new employees who may not be accustomed to openly communicating their needs.
By incorporating team building activities and encouraging open communication, you can establish a strong rapport among your remote team members.
Furthermore, promoting awareness about the available tools can greatly benefit their work efficiency.
For instance, implementing planning and tracking tools can streamline multiple projects, ensuring everyone stays on track and meets deadlines.
- Solution: Invest In Resources
One of the many things that create burnout among employees is that they cannot plan how long it will take to complete a project and arrange their priorities.
You can simplify the whole prioritization process by using a Gantt chart maker to act as a game-changing tool in planning and scheduling projects.
You can’t just assume that everyone has all of those things, and it’s your responsibility as a team manager to make sure they have enough resources to do their work.
Before assigning a project, make sure your team members have the required tools and technology to get the job done quickly.
Encourage your team members to use tools instead of manually doing a task.
It will enhance their speed, and they will be able to invest their time in something productive.
Other Ways To Avoid Burnout
Apart from these preventive measures, you can also practice the following to avoid burning out employees:
Be Flexible
Due to work from home setup, regular work hours might not be suitable for many people.
As a team manager, you have to trust your team and give them the flexibility to get work done on time and help them be the most productive.
Being flexible with working hours might result in enhanced productivity and help them avoid burnout.
Instead of focussing on active hours, focus on productivity and the result of your employees.
Encourage & Embrace Diversity
Cultural obstacles are one of the significant issues while managing a remote team. Your team might consist of people from different cultures and religions.
It becomes pretty hard for a team manager to team members of different races, embrace cultural diversity, and make them stick together.
Find out how people from other areas and cultures are open to receive feedback.
As a manager, you have to promote a mindset of celebrating differences and being respectful about your team’s national holidays.
Use Video As Much As You Can
With so many free and paid video calling solutions in the market, it is not hard to collaborate with your team on a video call.
Video conferencing is one of the best remote team solutions to stay connected and work together effectively, including for video marketing on social media.
Make sure to switch your video ON while collaborating with your team members, especially during one-on-one video calls.
Whether you want to read their reaction to a change in plans or want to know their overall mood, a video call can tell you way more than an audio-only call.
It can also be a powerful tool for video marketing on social media platforms, allowing you to engage with your audience in a more personal and interactive way.
Burnout is REAL, and it is the team leader’s responsibility to make sure their team members are in good mental and physical health, especially when it comes to team building remote teams.
Incorporating video marketing strategies on social media can also be an effective way to promote a positive work culture and boost team morale.
In these challenging times, a remote work environment will be a long-term solution; adopting the right leadership style, along with leveraging video marketing on social media platforms, is crucial.
By utilizing video content, you can effectively communicate your brand’s message, engage with your target audience, and showcase your products or services.
We hope these tips and practices, specifically tailored for managing remote teams, fostering team building, and incorporating video marketing on social media, will help you effectively support your team without burning out.
Best Methods To Remote Team Work Out
Conclusion
I hope you understood how to manage remote team without burning out involves a combination of successful communication, developing trust, and giving both individual and team well-being priority.
Leaders may establish a culture of productive remote work by utilizing technology tools, establishing a friendly and welcoming online community, and promoting work-life balance.
To keep people motivated and engaged, set clear expectations and have flexible scheduling.
Recall that while remote work presents fantastic prospects for flexibility and productivity, it also necessitates conscious measures to minimize burnout and advance the general well-being of team members.
Managers may encourage their remote employees to grow and succeed while preserving a good work-life balance for all parties involved by putting these principles into practice.
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