A friend of mine was just told by his boss to take a week off for some burnout prevention. The boss himself had recently returned from an extended sabbatical so his awareness of others’ exhaustion may have been more acute, but why isn’t everyone more conscious about proactive wellness? It’s not talked about enough.
My dissertation advocated for some strategies that would aid in employee retention and one of the questions posed to me was how colleges would afford it. Retention is almost always a positive investment. By the time you factor in the cost of a search (and management time to conduct it), training (and management time to provide it), lost opportunities because of a vacant or inexperienced person in the position, relationships and connections that are lost and the toll it takes on reconstituting the department’s culture, it becomes clear that organizations are far ahead when they retain their productive employees.
We invest money in professional development and a host of other perks for our team members. Don’t neglect wellness time as part of that package. Yes, vacations are lovely, but often jam-packed and full of their own variety of stress. Help your staff create time to decompress and truly recharge. Burnout is far, far easier to prevent than to recover from – for both the individual and the organization.
