Employment burnout, also known as “job burnout” or just “burnout,” is a state where you lose all motivation or incentive, leading to feelings of depression or stress. This can be a very uncomfortable state, usually because it has come after a long period of stress or a shorter period of high stress, feelings of powerlessness or overwhelm, and a sense of hopelessness as it may feel insurmountable to pull yourself out of the pit of burnout once you find yourself there.
On May 19, 2022, Verywell Mind hosted a virtual Mental Health in the Workplace webinar, hosted by Editor-in-Chief Amy Morin, LCSW. If you missed it, check out this recap to learn ways to foster supportive work environments and helpful strategies to improve your well-being on the job.
What Is Job Burnout?
Burnout is more than just a feeling of stress at the job in that it tends to follow you from day to day, presenting itself as a feeling of dread on Sunday night (if you know you have to work again on Monday), a feeling of being unable to muster any enthusiasm or motivation for your work and a lack of pleasure in what you do. It can feel scary because you may not know how to get yourself out of this place once you’re feeling burned out.
Burnout can come from a sense of overwhelming stress, but it tends to come most from specific types of stress and factors in a job. There are several factors that can contribute to burnout, including job-related features, lifestyle factors, and personality characteristics. Some companies and industries have much higher rates of burnout than others.
Press Play for Advice On Dealing With Burnout
Hosted by Editor-in-Chief and therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares how to combat feelings of burnout. Click below to listen now.
Common Job Features That Result in Burnout
The following features tend to cause more stress, taking more of a toll on workers:
Unclear Requirements: When it’s not clear to workers how to succeed, it’s harder for them to be confident, enjoy their work, and feel they’re doing a good job. If the job description isn’t explained clearly, if the requirements are constantly changing and hard to understand, or if expectations are otherwise unclear, workers are at higher risk of burnout.
Impossible Requirements: Sometimes it’s just not possible to do a job as it’s explained. If a job’s responsibilities exceed the amount of time given to complete them properly, for example, it’s really not possible to do the job well. Workers will put in a lot of effort and never quite feel successful, which also leaves them at risk for burnout.
High-Stress Times With No “Down” Times: Many jobs and industries have “crunch times” where workers must work longer hours and handle a more intense workload for a period. This can actually help people feel invigorated if the extra effort is recognized, appropriately compensated, and limited. It starts becoming problematic when “crunch time” occurs year-round and there’s no time for workers to recover.
Big Consequences for Failure: People make mistakes; it’s part of being human. However, when there are dire consequences to the occasional mistake, like the risk of a lawsuit, for example, the overall work experience becomes much more stressful, and the risk of burnout goes up. Those in law or healthcare often have higher rates of burnout because of the potential consequences.
Lack of Personal Control: People tend to feel excited about what they’re doing when they are able to creatively decide what needs to be done and come up with ways of handling problems that arise. Generally speaking, workers who feel restricted and unable to exercise personal control over their environment and daily decisions tend to be at greater risk for burnout.
Lack of Recognition: It’s difficult to work hard and never be recognized for one’s accomplishments. Awards, public praise, bonuses and other tokens of appreciation and recognition of accomplishment go a long way in keeping morale high. Where accolades are scarce, burnout is a risk.
Poor Communication: Poor communication in a company can cause or exacerbate some of these problems, like unclear job expectations or little recognition. When an employee has a problem and can’t properly discuss it with someone who is in a position to help, this can lead to feelings of low personal control.
Insufficient Compensation: Some occupations are stressful by nature, and it’s one of those things that you just accept along with the paycheck – if the paycheck is sufficient. However, if demands are high and financial compensation is low, workers find themselves thinking, “They don’t pay me enough to deal with this!” And the burnout risk goes up.
Poor Leadership: Company leadership can go a long way toward preventing or contributing to burnout. For example, depending on the leadership, employees can feel recognized for their achievements, supported when they have difficulties, valued, safe, etc. Or they can feel unappreciated, unrecognized, unfairly treated, not in control of their activities, insecure in their position, unsure of the requirements of their jobs, etc. Poor company leadership is one factor that can influence many others – many of which can put an employee at risk for burnout.
What to Do About Employee Burnout
If you are experiencing job burnout, try to take a break in order to recover. You can also try simpler stress relievers like breathing exercises and positive reframing to help relieve stress you feel in the moment, and more long-term stress relievers like regular exercise, maintaining a hobby (for personal balance), or meditation. You can try to change aspects of your job to create a greater sense of knowing what to expect and perhaps having more choice in how you perform your job.
If job burnout is persistent, it may be worth considering seeking professional help with the stress, and perhaps even another career path, as continued stress can impact your health.
After working in a specific role or industry for several years, you may decide to pursue a different role that introduces you to new challenges and experiences. Becoming a consultant can allow you to make a career out of helping others advance in your area of expertise. Understanding the different types of consulting can help you decide whether there’s an opportunity for you to become a consultant.
In this article, we define consulting, discuss the different types of consultants and explain how to choose your specialty.
What is consulting?
Consulting is the process of providing advice to clients to address and resolve specific issues or projects. A consultant may begin by studying current processes to determine where a client may benefit from the implementation of changes.
This way, a client can help their company take a course of action that conserves time, money and effort. To partake in consulting, an individual has at least a few years of experience in a specific industry or role, as this expertise can help them provide valuable, actionable insights for clients to use.
15 different types of consulting
Here are 15 types of consulting in which you may consider working:
1. Strategy consulting
Strategic consultants provide executives and managers with advice about forward-thinking, comprehensive solutions. Overall, strategic consulting is one of the broadest divisions of this scope of work, as this kind of consultant can work for companies in various industries.
Note that there are opportunities to specify the sector or function of this role. For example, strategic consultants can help clients develop a business strategy in specialties such as environmental management and financial strategy.
2. Marketing consulting
Marketing consultants help their clients develop new strategies that allow them to improve their communication with target audiences. They may focus on helping a client improve tasks like content production, email marketing and paid acquisition.
They may evaluate existing marketing strategies to determine what elements are and aren’t successful so they can suggest improvements. Although experience is often more valuable than education in this field, earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing may enhance your employability.
3. Operations consulting
Companies employ operations consultants when they need to streamline operational performance. These employees use research and data to address issues and provide solutions to increase company productivity and reduce spending.
Within this specialty, consultants have a background in business, finance or economics. They also have verifiable records of improving the daily operations and overall supply chain process of companies and organizations.
4. Financial consulting
Organizations often seek the advice of financial consultants to help them maximize and protect their profitability. This is especially prevalent with smaller companies that can’t hire a full-time employee to manage finances.
A big company can also hire someone in this field to help them navigate a particularly challenging financial situation. Consultants can specialize in different roles, such as fundraising consulting, foreclosure consulting or economic consulting.
5. HR consulting
Consultants who specialize in human resources help clients establish techniques for conflict resolution, which can improve team member satisfaction and staff development and training. HR consultants may also have a role in the hiring process, as they can conduct a process analysis to improve how an organization handles the onboarding of new candidates.
6. Compliance consulting
Compliance consulting involves helping a company adhere to local and federal laws and regulations. Compliance consultants can help a company interpret and develop programs to avoid the legal and financial ramifications of failing to abide by established laws. They can also help them remain knowledgeable of current legal changes.
7. IT consulting
Information technology (IT) consultants work for companies to evaluate the productivity of their software and technology. They suggest and implement changes to ensure that all systems are functioning properly.
In addition to software management and implementation, technology consultants can specialize in different areas like cybersecurity, where they’re responsible for securing the systems and network of a company in order to prevent a breach in security. They may also help a company develop customer service procedures so employees can resolve technical issues and help customers use their products without difficulty.
8. Legal consulting
Smaller companies may not have the needs or funds to hire a full-time attorney. Legal consultants often work for companies to provide insight and assistance with particular legal situations.
They may help create a strategic plan for handling elements of a legal issue so the company can maintain its reputation and resume its operations normally. In order to enter this specialty, a candidate must obtain a Juris Doctorate from an accredited law school.
9. Social media consulting
Social media consultants help clients properly use social media channels in order to reach their target audience. While social media consulting may belong under the category of marketing consulting, some experts see it as a separate entity that belongs in its own category.
This specialty typically values experience over formal education. However, employees in this field can constantly educate themselves on the latest trends and strategies for each social media platform.
10. Sustainability consulting
Sustainability consulting involves helping clients find ways to reduce their impact on the environment. A sustainability consultant can help a company develop and implement more sustainable practices so it can not only improve the environment’s health but also increase its brand image and reputation among the general public.
11. Sales consulting
As an expert in interpersonal relationships and negotiation, sales consultants can help increase a company’s revenue. They do this by evaluating the sales process from the perspective of the customer and developing strategies to incentivize the sales team. As with some other consulting roles, proven sales records and experience can be more valuable than formal education in this industry.
12. Fitness and wellness consulting
Consultants who specialize in health or wellness develop fitness and dietary programs for their clients. This can take the form of health coaching, personal training or nutrition, all of which require certification in the chosen specialty.
13. Growth consulting
Growth consulting is the process of advising a client on how to grow their business. A consultant in this specialty may help a client focus on scaling a company and identify ways to increase the number and quality of new customers it attracts. They may also assist with risk management so they mitigate potential risks and ensure the company is as profitable as possible as it expands into new industries or new markets.
14. Career consulting
Career consultants help their clients identify their skills and passions and handle the various aspects of the interviewing process. A career consultant’s purpose is to guide clients toward careers in which they thrive. Career consultants may help their clients assess their skills, ideals and goals during the consulting process.
15. PR consulting
Public relations consultants aim to improve a brand’s public image or presence. They shape the way that people view a company’s owners, team members, products or services by writing press releases, building campaigns and conducting surveys. Although a bachelor’s degree in public relations is beneficial, your network and experience are oftentimes more valuable in this industry.
How to choose your consulting specialty
Here’s a list of steps on how to choose your consulting specialty:
1. Consider your skills and knowledge
When you’re choosing your consulting specialty, you can first consider your skills and knowledge. Think about the formal education you’ve completed and the certifications and other credentials you’ve acquired.
2. Identify demand in the market
After completing the first step, you might have identified multiple skill sets that you can convert into consulting opportunities. You can further refine your focus by identifying demand in the market. Look for available postings on online job boards.
If you know what company you’d like to work for, look for current opportunities. When you better understand the demand, you may experience more success in finding a long-term position that compensates you fairly for your education and experience.
3. Pursue additional qualifications if necessary
If you want to enter the consulting field, it’s important that you have ample qualifications. This way, you can distinguish yourself from other candidates, and clients can view you as an authoritative individual from whom they can learn valuable information.
If you have the resources, you can consider pursuing additional qualifications to increase your employability as a consultant. For example, you may earn an additional industry certification or return to college to earn a graduate degree in your area of expertise.
According to Forbes the human brain unconsciously processes 11 million pieces of information per second compared to just 40 processed consciously. With such a significant number of decisions being processed and reached without being consciously aware, it is vital for organisations to become aware of the risks associated with this in the day to day running of their business and educate their people in order to develop and maintain a truly inclusive and high performing culture.
So, what is Unconscious Bias?
Unconscious or implicit bias refers to the associations that are made between different qualities and social categories such race, gender or disability and are judgements that are made without conscious awareness. These automatic preferences or stereotypes are a major contributor to a lack of workplace diversity. In 1998, a milestone study carried out by team of social phycologists at the University of Washington and Yale analysed the reality behind people’s biases and measured the root cause of their prejudice, concluding that biases ran through “90-95% of people”. Unfortunately, this sameness thinking is becoming a common reality in our lives, our workplace culture, and according to McKinsey & Company, is even becoming hard coded into artificial intelligence (AI).
Every time we make a decision, our background, life experiences and cultural values all impact our reasoning. Over time, the human brain has developed an ability to use these experiences to create short-cuts and enable us to navigate the incredible amount of information we’re exposed to on a daily basis. This cognitive function can be very helpful, but often leads to snap decisions being made which, in many cases, can be wrong or poorly informed. In the workplace this can have a negative impact on recruitment decisions, slow down employee development, impair diversity and drive up attrition.
Types of Unconscious Bias
A common component to many people’s cognitive behaviours, the concept of unconscious bias is made even more complex by the many types of biases that can exist. Some of them include;
Gender bias – preference towards one gender over another which often comes from deep rooted beliefs about gender roles and stereotypes.
Affinity bias – an unconscious preference towards people who share qualities or viewpoints with us or with someone close to us.
Halo effect – viewing one particularly strong positive trait about someone in a way that overpowers our judgement of them and can skew our ability to see any of their negative traits.
Horns Effect – focussing on one badly perceived trait that can cloud judgement of the positive ones.
Beauty bias – a social behaviour that often adversely affects women in the workplace. For example, attractive women being viewed as less competent than their male counterparts and tall people being treated like leaders from their peers from a young age.
Confirmation bias – selectively seeking information to back up an opinion that is already held without looking at the bigger picture
The Impact of Unconscious Bias in the Work Place
Although widely recognised that diversity of thought and innovation are key to secure bottom-line results and workplace productivity, our unconscious preferences for people who are like us continues to severely challenge our ability to create these conditions.
Biases can sneak into every encounter we have from the language used in job specifications and decisions on who to hire or promote to managers overlooking poor performance of those they know and like.
In recruitment, biases can lead to generalisations that determine the right candidate for the job not based on their skills, but on the perceived origin of their name or nationality. One study by Raconteur revealed that on average 24 per cent of job applicants of white British origin received a positive response from employers, compared with only 15 per cent of ethnic minority applicants with identical CV’s and cover letters. Gender biases are also common with many job roles that historically attract one gender over the other, for example female nurses or male engineers. Whilst in some industries there may be traditional stereotypes, it is important for managers to advertise and hire on the qualities and characteristics required to the job and be aware of how easily gender biases can arise.
In some more severe cases, strong preferential bias of any kind can lead to workplace bullying, unlawful harassment or discrimination putting businesses at high risk of reputational damage and any associated financial costs as issues develop.
Overcoming Unconscious Bias and Promoting Diversity
Implicit biases can be hard to address because by their very nature they are unconscious and may be hard to recognise and accept. However, promoting a culture of respect for difference encourages diverse ideas to be expressed leading to greater creativity and innovation. This is important in the workplace but also in the way that businesses respond to customer needs and ultimately strengthen their business brand.
To eliminate unconscious bias in the workplace, consider the following;
Educate employees on the types on unconscious bias and negatives consequences that can arise from allowing such behaviour to become normalised
Monitor each other for unconscious bias and question comments or remarks on cultural or gender stereotypes
Reconsider the rationale behind an initial decision to establish if all facts were considered or if biases have crept in.
Deliberately slow down decision making to reduce the likelihood of a making a snap decision.
Invest in setting up Diversity and Inclusion committee to build and maintain processes and enforce cultural behaviours that align with the diversity goals of the company.
Lasana Harris, a neuroscientist who studies prejudice and social learning at University College London, said that the concept of unconscious bias should not absolve people of discriminatory behaviour, but “if you’re aware of these [biases] then you can bring to bear all of your critical skills and intelligence to see it’s wrong to think like that” and that these are thoughts we all have the ability to control.
In the workplace, this starts with awareness and becoming mindful of unconscious bias, but it is of particular importance for those with decision making power on hiring, promotions and business best practice. Individual awareness and ownership must also be underpinned by policy, processes and frameworks to truly promote diversity throughout the workplace.
The late management guru Peter Drucker once said that “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights, while looking out the back window.”
When it comes to anticipating new trends in technology, change is happening so fast that the back window may as well be fogged up.
2022 saw NFTs go from flavor of the month to yesterday’s leftovers; cryptocurrency experience a long cold winter; and nuclear fusion take its first steps from the realms of science fiction towards becoming science fact.
But for those who follow the latest developments in innovation, it is possible to see patterns in where societies are heading, and forecast which technologies will take them there.
As we begin 2023, CNN asked four experts to predict which technologies will shape our lives this year – here’s what they said.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our daily lives, found in everything from e-commerce to social media algorithms. Ayesha Khanna, co-founder and CEO of Addo, an AI and data solutions firm, predicts an explosion of AI-generated images and music in 2023. She adds that while it will not replace humans, “AI will become the new team member for humans in many jobs, contributing ideas and drafts.
Bernard Marr, a futurist and author of books including “Future Skills” and “Business Trends in Practice,” also anticipates that this year, “a focus of AI will be the augmentation of workers, as new tools become available to enable workforces to fully leverage AI.”
But Khanna warns that more work will be needed to ensure that generative AI co-pilots – such as GitHub’s Copilot, a tool designed to help developers code – are accurate and unbiased, especially in industries like healthcare, where there could be serious consequences to an AI assistant recommending the wrong treatment to a doctor.
“Retail and entertainment companies will launch increasing pilots on how to build customer engagement and loyalty in the various metaverses, especially game platforms like Roblox,” she says.
“Metaverse natives who have grown up gaming and socializing in alternate digital realities will drive companies to host concerts, fashion weeks, customer journeys and edutainment activities in 2023.”
Marr adds that more small companies will join the bigger organizations that have already established “outposts” on metaverse platforms.
“The metaverse will also become more mobile and accessible through devices such as headsets and smart glasses, and businesses will need to consider how they can leverage these opportunities to create immersive and efficient experiences,” he says.
“The entire field of sustainability, underpinned by technologies, will play a monumental role in 2023,” says Abishur Prakash, co-founder and geopolitical futurist at the Center for Innovating the Future (CIF), in Toronto, and author of “The World is Vertical: How Technology is Remaking Globalization.”
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Cynthia Selin, an associate professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society and the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, believes that in 2023, as we continue to build more capacity for renewables, short-term and long-term energy storage such as batteries and hydrogen will be key.
“Clean energy projects, like those taking electricity generated by solar power from Africa to Europe, will advance in 2023, adding a new dimension to the global energy war.”
“Continued investment and favorable policy conditions … mean that clean hydrogen (including hydrogen made using renewable energy) could see sustained growth, the development of necessary infrastructure, and better cost competitiveness,” she says. “In terms of consumer-facing developments in relation to hydrogen, in ’23 the most likely area of attention will be in long-haul trucking.”
Selin believes carbon capture and storage – removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it – will grow in importance.
“Direct air capture may continue to gain attention alongside natural removal mechanisms like reforestation,” she says. “New demonstration projects are sprouting up worldwide in tandem with supportive policies, building our capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Semiconductors and self-reliance
Prakash predicts the war in Ukraine will usher in a new era of geopolitics and globalization.
“The pursuit of self-reliance, a catalyst of vertical globalization, will accelerate in 2023, affecting every aspect of technology,” he says. “Automakers in China are buying their own ships to export their cars to the world,” he adds, and points to Apple’s plans to move production outside China.
Another trend to watch will be the fight over the semiconductors that power our smartphones, computers, automobiles and home appliances. Prakash says semiconductors are set to upend world affairs in 2023, and become an area of competition between the US and China.
Adobe Stock
The Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of connected sensors and infrastructure that can collect data on everything from household heating to traffic jams on city streets.
Selin believes the IoT will continue to transform the energy sector in 2023. “Smart thermostats to track energy consumption and regulate temperatures help in reducing energy consumption and costs. More and more devices are coming to market that use smart sensors and data-driven intelligence to inform energy choices and drive energy efficiency.”
Marr predicts 2023 will see a rise in IoT products and services related to health and well-being, “with devices such as smartwatches offering sophisticated sensors for monitoring various health indicators.”
He adds that there will also be a focus on “enabling more complex machine-to-machine interactions by developing global standards and protocols that devices can use to communicate with each other, as well as improving IoT security to prevent attacks.”
Human resources (HR) trends are practices and techniques that companies often use to understand and meet employee needs, add value to the business and align specific functions with commercial demands. As industries and society evolve, many HR departments update their practices to enhance both company and employee experiences. HR professionals who want to increase the efficiency and value of their organizations may benefit from learning about these trends.
In this article, we discuss why it’s important to learn HR trends and recognize 11 developing trends.
The importance of HR trends
It’s important to learn HR trends because market climates, employee needs, industry practices and company policies often change as time progresses and technology evolves. World events and societal shifts also often affect how employees and companies approach daily operations.
For example, many employees now desire more flexibility as technology now allows many work-from-home opportunities. Companies often observe these trends and incorporate them into the organization to enhance practices and the employee experience. Observing trends often helps organizations determine what changes may optimize the business.
11 industry trends in HR
Here’s a list of HR trends that may be helpful for HR professionals and organizations:
1. Treating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as an integral strategy
As the country grows more diverse, many companies seek to represent that diversity at all levels of an organization. This is especially true for leadership roles. Treating DEI as an integral strategy means more than creating an inclusive workplace.
It also means taking action to promote inclusion and ensure equity. This typically helps companies build a more positive employee experience. Many organizations make these efforts to specifically benefit people who have historically faced inequality in the workplace.
Encouraging discussions about DEI can often help organizations change corporate culture. Companies that actively promote a diverse environment may even attract more talented candidates. Here’s a list of potential actions an organization can perform to ensure inclusion and equity throughout the workforce:
Creating a zero-tolerance approach to bullying
Ensuring that diversity remains an important part of work culture by observing leaders modeling the behavior the organization wants to see
Addressing bias in diversity training
Incorporating bias assessments into performance reviews
Applying DEI metrics to a company’s key performance indicators (KPIs)
2. Listening to what employees have to share
Many organizations face challenges when attracting new talent and maintaining a substantial employee retention rate. As people continually search for better opportunities, some companies have shown a greater appreciation for their employees.
Companies that listen to their employees often don’t focus on controlling a conversation or forming a response before an employee finishes what they have to share. Some upper management professionals have emphasized using active listening when communicating with employees to truly understand their thoughts and concerns.
Active listening refers to typically listening to another person attentively, taking notes or genuinely trying to understand why the person relays their message. It also includes holding responses until the other person is done communicating their thoughts, ideas or questions, thoughtfully processing the information and then offering a response.
Listening to people typically demonstrates respect and inspires feelings of trust, validation and understanding. Empathetic listening typically inspires motivation and belonging. Here are a few ways in which upper management professionals may develop better listening skills:
Giving a person your full attention and avoiding multitasking
Letting the other person complete their thoughts before responding
Trying to understand the actual meaning of a person’s message, including nonverbal cues
Asking thoughtful questions
Building a company culture that encourages employees to express themselves
3. Upskilling and reskilling your workforce
Some companies feel as if new hires, such as recent graduates, don’t completely possess all the right skills to excel at their jobs. Competent employees typically ensure that an organization can grow and change in today’s environment. This means that many companies are upskilling and reskilling their employees.
Upskilling refers to the process of learning new skills. Reskilling refers to learning how to do a different job with new skills. Reskilling often helps companies create a more adaptable workforce, while upskilling can provide employees with better career advancement opportunities.
Here’s a list of actions a company may perform to upskill and reskill employees:
Encouraging training and development for all employees
Rewarding successful development accomplishments
Using multiple methods for training, such as face-to-face, online and hybrid options
Providing focused feedback
4. Nurturing a positive company culture
A company’s culture involves attitudes, beliefs and behaviors among employees and management. As hybrid and work-from-home options become available, some companies wonder how to maintain a positive work culture.
Many employees value a work-life balance for all team members. Five elements of a positive work culture include relationships, peer support, communication, diversity and technology. Here’s a list of ways employers may enhance their work culture:
Helping employees maintain relationships and forming new ones as new employees appear
Teaching employees how to better collaborate while providing resources to maintain them
Adapting new communication technology
Including diversity, equity and inclusion into the business strategy
5. Using data to enhance employee experiences
Employers have increasingly emphasized employee experiences to maintain employee retention as many people continue to seek better working conditions. Many companies have used technology and data to learn more about their employees’ opinions and personal lives to improve employee engagement strategies and employee experiences.
Data may provide assistance in the form of a personalized onboarding program, which may help new employees feel valued and supported. Companies may also use data from professional rewards and recognition programs that emphasize an employee’s accomplishments. Emphasizing engagement with these programs may help some companies gain more data and insight into employee values.
6. Creating more wellness initiatives
More companies have started emphasizing employee wellness support to help with productivity, employee turnover and client satisfaction. This includes wellness in different forms, such as financial, social, mental and physical.
Employees who feel well are more likely to perform better at work. Some examples of financial wellness initiatives include providing elder insurance, tuition forgiveness and access to financial planners. Some physical wellness examples include on-site workout facilities or discounts on gym memberships in the employee’s area.
Mental health wellness initiatives may include encouraging communication between supervisors and peers and providing access to telehealth professionals and a certain amount of sick or rest days. Social wellness initiatives may include providing access to employee engagement platforms. Incorporating more of these initiatives into a workplace often helps employees improve their focus and productivity because they may provide some relief across many channels.
7. Providing care for caretakers
Many employees take care of others in their lives while maintaining their careers, such as elderly parents, children and spouses. Management leaders often face challenges caring for those in their workplaces and personal lives.
Some companies have emphasized additional support and recognition to those in management positions to provide some relief as they perform their duties. Here’s a list of actions some companies perform to provide additional support to managers:
Providing clear goals and expectations
Gathering and listening to feedback
Recognizing efforts
Providing additional tools and resources for job duties
Providing more training opportunities
8. Emphasizing the role of teams among employees
When people work from home, participating in a virtual team often helps them form new relationships and access new resources. Teams may contribute to a more positive work culture when all employees feel valued as equals among their peers.
Many organizations have even designed superteams, which combine a larger amount of people and technology to produce a higher work output. Successful teams often emphasize the role of a work culture that celebrates growth, adaptability and resilience. Other factors contributing to this success include enabling employees through upskilling, reskilling and mobility and using new technologies.
9. Implementing innovative recruitment
As companies compete for talent, some have started implementing different tactics to attract and retain qualified candidates. Many companies now use social media to contact potential employees instead of conventional job boards.
This approach often helps recruiters target specific groups of candidates within a market on a social media platform. Since social media profiles typically provide more information about an employer, candidates now typically prefer employers who remain transparent about their values and goals.
Candidates also usually consider the overall imagery and tone of company social media posts before applying for a job. Companies may choose to advertise attractive benefits when attracting potential candidates on social media. This includes career advancement opportunities, nonmonetary benefits, a competitive salary, work flexibility and a positive work-life balance.
10. Balancing remote work flexibility with on-site business requirements
Some employees prefer working remotely over working in an office. Many employers have developed strategies for maintaining employee needs and preferences while still addressing on-site business requirements. Organizations can typically encourage employees to return to the office by using some of these tactics:
Crafting an equal back-to-office strategy that addresses those who can and can’t perform remote work
Offering a place of community and engagement
Using rewards and recognition as motivation
Communicating with transparency
Using change management strategies
11. Using skills-based hiring
As technology advances, many jobs require new skills and competencies. This is typically true with the rise of artificial intelligence, which has both automated and created jobs.
Many companies have emphasized skills and competencies when hiring new employees to meet the demands of the current industry. This also means that some organizations look specifically for certain skills instead of a person’s degree or credentials.
Skills-based hiring typically increases the number of potential external candidates, but it also usually increases internal employees’ opportunities for career advancement. This means that an employee may earn educational pathways for specific industries.
Procrastination isn’t a result of laziness or poor time management but it is linked to poor mood management, research shows.
Procrastination correlates with serious health and wellbeing problems, including higher levels of depression and anxiety.
Forgiving yourself, showing compassion and using evidence-based strategies to manage your tasks can help to reframe the procrastination cycle.
Do you ever beat yourself up for procrastinating? You might be composing that message to a friend who you have to let down, or writing a big report for school or work, and doing your best to avoid it but deep down knowing you should just get on with it.
Unfortunately, telling yourself off won’t stop you procrastinating again. In fact, it’s one of the worst things you can do. This matters because, as my research shows, procrastination isn’t just a time-sapper but is actually linked to real problems.
Procrastination is not a result of laziness or poor time management. Scientific studies suggest procrastination is due to poor mood management.
This makes sense if we consider that people are more likely to put off starting or completing tasks that they feel aversion towards. If just thinking about the task makes you anxious or threatens your sense of self-worth, you will be more likely to put it off.
Research has found that regions of the brain linked to threat detection and emotion regulation are different in people who chronically procrastinate compared to those who don’t procrastinate frequently.
When we avoid the unpleasant task, we also avoid the negative emotions associated with it. This is rewarding and conditions us to use procrastination to repair our mood. If we engage in more enjoyable tasks instead, we get another mood boost.
Tasks that are emotionally loaded or difficult, such as studying for an exam, or preparing for public speaking are prime candidates for procrastination. People with low self-esteem are more likely to procrastinate as are those with high levels of perfectionism who worry their work will be judged harshly by others. If you don’t finish that report or complete those home repairs, then what you did can’t be evaluated.
In the long run, procrastination isn’t an effective way of managing emotions. The mood repair you experience is temporary. Afterwards, people tend to engage in self-critical ruminations that not only increase their negative mood, but also reinforce their tendency to procrastinate.
In the long run, procrastination isn’t an effective way of managing emotions. Image: Unsplash/Magnet Me
How is procrastination harmful?
So why is this such a problem? When most people think of the costs of procrastination, they think of the toll on productivity. For example, studies have shown that academic procrastination negatively impacts student performance.
But academic procrastination may affect other areas of students’ lives. In one study of over 3,000 German students over a six month period, those who reported procrastinating on their academic work were also more likely to engage in academic misconduct, such as cheating and plagiarism. But the behaviour procrastination was most closely linked with was using fraudulent excuses to get deadline extensions.
Other research shows employees on average spend almost a quarter of their workday procrastinating, and again this is linked with worse outcomes. In one US survey of over 22,000 employees, participants who said they regularly procrastinated had lower annual incomes and less job stability. For every one-point increase on a measure of chronic procrastination, salary decreased by US$15,000 (£12,450).
They were less likely to practice healthy behaviours, such as eating a healthy diet and regularly exercising, and use destructive coping strategies to manage their stress. In one study of over 700 people, I found people prone to procrastination had a 63% greater risk of poor heart health after accounting for other personality traits and demographics.
How to stop procrastinating
Learning not to procrastinate isn’t going to solve all your problems. But finding better ways to regulate your emotions could be a route to improving your mental health and wellbeing.
An important first step is to manage your environment and how you view the task. There are a number of evidence-based strategies that can help you quarantine distractions, and set up your tasks so they provoke less anxiety and feel more meaningful. For example, remind yourself why the task is important and valuable to you can increase your positive feelings towards it.
Forgiving yourself and showing yourself compassion when you procrastinate can help break the procrastination cycle. Admit you feel bad without judging yourself. Remind yourself that you’re not the first person to procrastinate, nor will you be last.
Doing this can take the edge off the negative feelings we have about ourselves when we procrastinate. This can make it easier to get back on track.
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