Performance Archives

Preventing Burnout: Practical Strategies for Workload, Wellbeing and Recovery

Burnout rarely announces itself with dramatic fanfare. More often than not, it sneaks in disguised as a busy month.

Someone stays late to get a project over the line. Another person picks up a few extra tasks because a colleague has left. A manager starts doing more themselves because it’s quicker than delegating. Everyone agrees things are “a bit hectic right now” but assures each other it will settle down soon.

Then three months later, nothing has settled down.

The extra work has become normal work. The person who was “helping out” now seems to permanently own half of someone else’s role, and the employee who has always been wonderfully dependable is suddenly exhausted, disengaged or seriously considering whether life might be better somewhere with fewer Teams notifications.

That’s when burnout can start looking like an individual wellbeing issue. However, often, it isn’t.

Very often, it’s a sign that something in the way work is structured, managed or communicated needs attention.

Burnout doesn’t begin with burnout

By the time someone tells you they’re burnt out, there has usually been quite a long runway leading up to it. Maybe their workload has grown gradually without anyone stopping to reassess what is realistic.

Maybe their priorities change every five minutes, so everything is urgent and nothing ever feels finished. Maybe they’ve stepped into a new role without enough training, or their Job Description bears only a passing resemblance to what they actually do each day. Or perhaps they’ve been signalling for a while that they’re struggling, but those signals have been interpreted as complaining, poor time management or simply “part of the job”. This is why burnout prevention needs to go further than wellbeing initiatives.

Yoga is lovely. Fruit bowls are nutritious. Employee Assistance Programmes can provide valuable support. However, none of them will fix a role that has become impossible to perform within a reasonable working week.

So how do you get things back on track? One of the simplest places to start is role clarity.

Start with the work itself

When people know what they are responsible for, where their authority sits, what their priorities are and what good performance looks like, work is generally easier to manage. When they don’t, things get messy surprisingly quickly. You end up with duplication, gaps, people stepping on each other’s toes, employees taking on work because they’re not sure who else owns it, and managers discovering that three people thought somebody else was dealing with something important.

A current, meaningful Job Description is useful here, but only if it reflects the actual role.

If your JD says “other duties as required” and it’s those other duties that now occupy about 60% of your week, we may have moved beyond “other duties”!

Regularly reviewing roles, responsibilities and decision-making authority helps organisations spot workload creep before it becomes a genuine wellbeing problem. It also makes conversations about capacity much easier.

Instead of “I’m really busy”, the discussion becomes “these are my agreed priorities, these are the additional responsibilities that have been added, and something now needs to move”. That’s a much more useful conversation for everyone.

Keep talking before things go pear-shaped

Good feedback and check-in frameworks create space for conversations about workload, priorities, support and roadblocks before they become significant problems. Questions like “What’s taking up more time than it should?”, “What could we stop doing?” and “What are you carrying at the moment that I might not know about?”, can tell you far more than another traffic-light wellbeing survey.

The annual performance review is not the ideal place to discover that someone has been drowning since February. Managers need regular opportunities to understand how work is actually feeling, not just whether deadlines are technically being met. Because your highest-risk person is not always the one visibly struggling. Sometimes it’s the employee who keeps saying yes. They’re capable. They care. They don’t want to let anyone down. So, they absorb the additional client, fix the problem, cover the vacancy and work a bit longer. Which is fantastic. Until it isn’t.

The important bit, of course, is what happens next. If employees repeatedly raise concerns and nothing changes, you haven’t created psychological safety. You’ve created a very efficient suggestion box.

Sometimes people need more skills, not more hours

Workload isn’t always about the sheer quantity of work. Sometimes work feels overwhelming because the person hasn’t been properly equipped to do it. This happens frequently when businesses grow quickly. Someone gets promoted into management because they were brilliant technically, then discovers that managing people involves an entirely different skill set.

A system changes and everyone gets a five-minute demo. A role becomes more complex, but development doesn’t keep pace. Then we wonder why people are working longer and feeling less confident.

Training and Development Planning should therefore be part of burnout prevention too.

If someone is taking twice as long to complete something because they’ve never been shown a better way, the answer isn’t necessarily “work harder”. It may simply be “let’s teach you”. Novel concept, we know!

Psychological safety matters, but it has to be real

One of the strongest protections against burnout is having a workplace where people can say:

‘This isn’t manageable’

‘I need help’

‘I don’t understand what you’re asking me to do’

‘I think we need to rethink this’

That sounds simple. In practice, it depends enormously on how leaders respond.

If the first employee who raises a workload concern is labelled negative, difficult or not resilient enough, everyone else receives the message loud and clear. And suddenly nobody has a workload problem anymore. Magic!

Psychological safety doesn’t mean agreeing with every concern or immediately removing work whenever somebody feels stretched. Businesses still need accountability, performance standards and the occasional difficult conversation. What it does mean is that people can raise genuine issues without fearing that speaking up will be used against them.

That gives managers the chance to intervene early rather than discovering a problem when someone is already at breaking point.

And sometimes, something genuinely has to change!

There is also a point where no amount of coaching, prioritising or clever calendar management will solve the problem. The business may simply have outgrown its structure. Perhaps roles have expanded dramatically. Perhaps responsibilities are sitting in the wrong places. Maybe a vacancy was never replaced, and the work has quietly been redistributed forever. Or perhaps growth has created a level of complexity that the original team structure was never designed to handle.

At that stage, telling everyone to be more resilient is unlikely to cut it. Sometimes you need to reset workloads, redesign roles, redistribute responsibilities, recruit, remove lower-value work or restructure. Those conversations can feel uncomfortable, particularly when an organisation is trying to keep costs under control. But leaving an unsustainable structure untouched has a cost too.

Eventually it shows up in absences, mistakes, turnover, disengagement, customer experience or the loss of exactly the people you were hoping would help you grow.

Prevention beats picking up the pieces

WorkSafe New Zealand treats psychosocial risks such as excessive workload, poor work design and workplace stress as workplace health and safety issues. That means burnout prevention shouldn’t sit solely in the “nice things we do for our people” bucket. It belongs in good business management.

Health and Safety inductions and processes should help people understand how to raise concerns. Managers should know what warning signs to look for. Workloads and role expectations should be reviewed as businesses change. Leaders should be equipped to have conversations early, rather than hoping things sort themselves out.

And if you’re looking around your workplace thinking, “Hmm. We may have normalised a few things we perhaps shouldn’t have”, that doesn’t automatically mean there’s a crisis. It just means it might be time for a closer look.

Add Spice

At Spice, we help businesses get underneath the wellbeing conversation and look at what might actually be driving the pressure.

That might mean tightening up Job Descriptions and role clarity, introducing better Feedback and Check-in Frameworks, building Training and Development Plans, strengthening Health and Safety processes or helping leaders create greater psychological safety within their teams.

And when the issue is bigger than a few tweaks, we can also help with workload resets, role redesign and restructures. Preventing burnout isn’t about creating a workplace where nobody ever feels busy.

Busy happens. It’s about making sure “flat out” doesn’t quietly become the permanent operating model.

If you’d like to take a fresh look at workload, role clarity or the people processes sitting behind your team’s wellbeing, talk to Spice.

Add Spice. Your People Partner.

How To Boost Workplace Wellness This Winter

Winter wellness – it’s all about rugging up warm, getting that flu jab and staying home from work if you’re unwell, right? Well, that’s part of it.

But have you thought about how you’ll care for the mental wellness of your team this winter – particularly at work?

Deadlines, demanding customers, COVID-19 worries, long hours, remote working – the list of things that can knock our wellbeing at work is endless. And the long, grey winter months can make it all feel so much worse. But improving our mental wellbeing is priceless.

So, how can you ensure you are being an ethical leader and creating an environment of winter workplace wellness? Read on to find out.

How To Boost Workplace Wellness This Winter

Why Workplace Wellness?

Good mental health at work and good management go hand in hand. There’s evidence that workplaces with high levels of mental wellbeing are more productive. According to WorkSafe NZ, focusing on mental health in the workplace is essential because:

It’s good for business. When people are happy in their environment, they are more productive, take less sick leave, and are more likely to remain in their jobs for longer.
It’s a legal obligation under the Health and Safety at Work Act (which is as much about mental health as physical health!)
It’s a moral and ethical obligation for all of us to do the right thing by one another.

Workplace wellness creates a better working environment for everyone, so it becomes a pleasure to be at work despite the dreary weather outside!

Navigating The Winter Blues

The winter blues are a well-known phenomenon. They are most heavily felt throughout the workplace. As the temperature drops and the weather worsens, it is harder to get those sunlight hours that our bodies desperately crave.

As a manager, it is your responsibility to acknowledge that your team may be feeling those winter blues and have a plan to combat their impact as much as possible. One of the easiest ways to do that is to regularly check in with your team – individually and in a group setting.

Encourage open lines of communication so that your team can discuss issues or problems they are facing, have constructive conversations so that they can build resilience, and develop perseverance.

A Guide To Improving Mental Wellbeing In The Workplace

Here at Spice HR, we believe that good mental wellbeing at work is crucial, which is why we support the Five Ways to Wellbeing developed by New Zealand’s Mental Health Foundation.

Whilst these are general principles, they can be practically applied in the workplace. Here are the five areas your team should focus on for great workplace wellness this winter:

Connect

Listen and talk, be present, feel connected. Speak up when you need to, and listen to others. Keep the communication lines open by encouraging discussion

2. Give

Give your time, knowledge, and presence – an essential part of connecting!

3. Take notice

Recognise the good things that your team are doing and the things that spark their creativity and joy. Even the little things count. Appreciate them!

4. Keep Learning

Embrace new experiences, see development opportunities, and provide ongoing learning experiences for your team members.

5. Be Active

Encourage your team to keep active throughout the day even if their role requires them to be at a desk. Do what you can, help them enjoy what they do, and don’t forget to move your mood and your body! Just move – no matter how you do it!

Here at Spice HR, we think that number 1 is particularly crucial: Connect. Many struggling with mental wellbeing try to hide their feelings, afraid of other people’s responses. If you create workplace cultures where people can be themselves, they will speak more freely about mental health concerns and reach out for help when needed. It all comes down to open lines of communication.

Are You An Ethical Leader?

Part of supporting good mental health in the winter workplace is ensuring you behave like an ethical leader. That means taking the time to build a healthy workplace environment for all of your team members.

Ethical leaders tend to choose people over financial reward. While economic growth is essential for many businesses, you will struggle to achieve your goals if you don’t have the buy-in of your people. That means balancing your decision-making to ensure you are doing the right thing by your employees and doing what is best for the business.

There are plenty of ways you can do this. But ultimately, it comes down to creating an environment in which people want to work. An environment that embraces excellent communication. One where people’s opinions and ideas are respected, management show transparency and shares information, and staff feel heard.

Ensuring your team leaders and management have a sense of empathy is vital to supporting their staff appropriately.

Ready To Spice Up Your Workplace Wellness?

Achieving great workplace wellness can be challenging at any time of the year, yet that challenge increases significantly during the winter months.

Need more guidance to improve mental wellbeing in your workplace? Reach out to the Spice Gals!

Spice HR support small and medium businesses who need help getting HR frameworks in place – and we love helping businesses boost staff wellbeing.

So: stop right now, thank you very much – and drop us a line!

The Importance of Job Descriptions for Staff Retention and Performance

The Importance of Job Descriptions for Staff Retention and Performance

When was the last time you reviewed the job descriptions for your team? If it’s been a while, then you’re probably underestimating the importance of these often overlooked documents.

Every New Zealand business uses job descriptions (we hope!), as it’s a legal requirement to provide one for each employee. But many businesses fail to leverage them to their full potential.

Often, they end up tucked away in a virtual file, only to be dusted off and reviewed next time a position needs to be filled.

If this sounds familiar, it’s time to change the way you approach your job descriptions.

By keeping them up to date and using them as a management tool beyond the recruitment process, you can help shape your company culture, increase staff retention and performance, and future proof your business.

Here are some of the ways the not-so-humble job description can help level up your business.

Effective Recruitment

Job descriptions are most often put under the spotlight when it’s time to recruit for a role. So, this is the ideal time to ensure they are accurate and up to date.

This is your opportunity to attract someone who not only has the right skills for the job but is also the right fit for your company culture.

The more accurate the job description is, the better it will be at attracting high-quality candidates. This streamlines the entire recruitment process and makes it easier to select someone who will add value to your business.

Remember, cultural fit is just as important (if not more so) than skills fit. Skills can be taught or improved, but personal attributes are way less pliable!

Job descriptions are also important from a legal perspective. They can be used to demonstrate that there are legitimate, non-discriminatory considerations used in the hiring process.

Improved Staff Performance and Productivity

The recruitment process may be over, but the position description’s job is far from done! In fact, this is where the real spicy work begins.

We know that effective communication is vital to the success of any organisation. Well, your job descriptions are excellent communication tools. They clarify the expectations for employer and employee, leaving no room for ambiguity or confusion – if they’re honest and up to date!

Job descriptions help your team understand exactly what they should be doing, providing direction and meaning to their roles which help promote job satisfaction and increase engagement and productivity.

Beyond the day-to-day tasks, well-written job descriptions communicate how each team member contributes to the success of the organisation and outlines how they can continue to grow within their role.

They establish a set of expectations that assist with performance development and help prevent or resolve any grievances that arise.

Increased Retention

What happens when employees are confused about their responsibilities, mismanaged, or faced with tasks that lie outside of their skillset?

Frustration, decreased productivity, lack of engagement, conflict, and potentially, lost employees.

All this can result from outdated, inaccurate, or poorly written job descriptions.

However, nailing the job description ensures you attract candidates who are an excellent fit for the role. When your team are aligned with the culture and values of your business, they’re far more likely to enjoy and value their work and stick around for longer.

That means increased retention and reduced costs associated with recruitment.

Future-Proofing Your Business

Do your job descriptions reflect what is actually happening in your business as well as address the future needs of the business?

Is there a skill shortage now, or will there likely be one in the future? Are your employees already stretching beyond their job descriptions? Is there a mismatch between the needs of your business and the abilities of your team?

Job description reviews are a great way to answer the big questions that help you future-proof your business. They allow you to effectively structure and align roles within the business and pinpoint gaps that need attention, whether via training and development or specialist recruitment.

Is It Time to Review Your Job Descriptions?

If your job descriptions have been a little starved for attention of late, now is the perfect time to assess your team and identify any gaps. This leaves you plenty of time to come up with a plan of action for the new year.

Great job performance starts with recruiting the right talent. Alongside a well-defined job description, an Extended DISC report on potential candidates can help you identify new hires that are going to be a great fit for your role and culture.

Spice HR offer DISC Recruitment Reports that can assess how well candidates align with the role.

How To Build Resilience In The Workplace

The last few years have been pretty brutal for everyone. Many people and businesses have experienced a lot of loss due to the pandemic, and the long-term stress continues to take a toll.

But have you noticed that some people seem to be able to bounce back more easily than others?

While some individuals may be struggling to cope, others are able to learn from what’s happened, grow from it, and persevere.

What does it take to do this? How do they manage so well? What do they have in their personal and professional lives that enables them to get right back up and carry on?

The answer is resilience. This quality helps people adapt when faced with adversity, conflict, and trauma.

Resilient employees are an enormous asset to any organisation, so building resilience in the workplace should be a top priority for leaders.

But what is resilience in the workplace and why is it really important? And how can leaders encourage resilience among their workers? Let’s answer those questions now.

How To Build Resilience In The Workplace

What Is Resilience

Resilience is an individual’s ability to respond to the stresses and demands of life. The dictionary definition talks about concepts such as flexibility, durability, strength, and speed of recovery.

Basically, resilience is the capacity to respond to adversity and challenge throughout all aspects of life.

So, where does resilience come from? Is it in our DNA, or can it be nurtured and grown?

Interestingly, it’s likely to be a little bit of both.

Although some people seem to inherently be more resilient, it is possible to cultivate and nurture this quality to help people not only cope, but even thrive through challenging times.

Resilience is cultivated through healthy habits and a positive mindset. There are many small yet effective ways to build your own – and help boost those around you.

The Benefits Of A Resilient Workforce

Resilience is the foundation for many desirable workplace qualities. It improves general wellbeing, helps people be more flexible and adaptable to fast-paced environments or changing circumstances, and aids in effective communication.

Research has shown that resilience can help businesses stay competitive and profitable even during times of uncertainty.

Resilient workers contribute enormously to a positive workplace culture. They are more likely to be engaged, productive and innovative, even in high-pressure situations, and less likely to succumb to burnout.

Building Resilience In The Workplace – Where To Start

Leaders have a unique struggle on their hands. They need to somehow find a balance between striving for financial performance while addressing the mental wellbeing of their team.

One of the best ways to do this is by encouraging resilience in your workers. Here are some of the most effective methods for building resilience in the workplace.

Become a resilient leader

Your own resiliency impacts the way you lead, which trickles down to affect those who work with you. Use these tips to develop personal resilience:

Take steps to manage your own mental and physical wellbeing
Work on reframing threats as challenges
Pay attention to your thoughts and behaviours and work on cultivating a growth mindset
Create (and lean on) a social support network
Build mindfulness and self-awareness

Support the wellbeing of your workers

Emotional wellbeing is the foundation of resilience. We all cope better when we are well-rested, healthy, and have a manageable work-life balance. Consider implementing measures that support workplace wellbeing, such as flexible work arrangements.

Foster positive work relationships

Social interaction and support are essential in building resilience. Ensure you provide your employees with the chance to bond and socialise, even if you have remote workers. This can be through organised activities within the workplace, events held outside of working hours, or simply encouraging your team to connect with each other on a social level.

Don’t neglect performance and development

Self-reflection helps cultivate resilience. Don’t let challenging times derail your performance reviews. Your people still need feedback on how they are doing and the opportunity to reflect on their challenges and successes. Make sure you provide this in a formal review setting, but also on a regular, more casual basis.

Focus on the future

As part of your performance reviews, you should be helping your employees effectively set realistic, achievable, relevant goals. The right goals can motivate people and help them focus their energy on what’s ahead of them, instead of dwelling on what’s behind them. It also helps them to look beyond the current adversity to a time that may be calmer.

Provide resources

Even the most resilient people can struggle with tough times. Our resilience changes from day to day, and sometimes we may need support to manage. Ensure your workers have access to resources to help them cope, such as employee assistance programs, stress management coaching programs, or similar initiatives.

When you are the one who is expected to lead, sometimes it can be difficult to always demonstrate resilience. So, it can be helpful to call in the experts to assist.

If you want to build resilience in your workplace (and yourself), then reach out to us here at Spice HR. We help businesses tackle the tough times so they can be ready to capitalise on the good.

Is Learning Part of Your Company Culture?

Have you ever wondered what the Spice Girls would be like now if they had stayed together? We sure have! Sadly, we can only imagine the incredible tunes they might have produced if they had been allowed to grow and evolve within the group instead of being trapped in their predetermined ‘roles’. Today’s workforce is much like Posh, Ginger, Sporty, Scary, and Baby: they need to be in an environment where their learning and development opportunities are supported.

If denied that learning culture, they will quickly move on.

So, what can you do about it? How can you create a strong learning culture in your company?

Let’s explore what a training and development culture looks like, and why it’s so vital.

Is Learning Part of Your Company Culture?

What Does A Learning Culture Look Like?

Because every business is different, there’s no one-size-fits-all prescription for a learning culture. Each business should create development and training opportunities that fit into the values and culture that already exists.

However, there are commonalities.

Training and development is not merely a “ticking the boxes” kind of activity. It’s a strategy that encompasses all the ways your people share, support, and learn together, both on individual and collective levels.

It’s about connecting the dots and understanding that individual learning is the foundation for collective success.

Opportunities Are Everywhere

Traditionally, training meant sending your staff to lengthy courses and trying to cover their time out of the office. Now, development opportunities can take place both inside and outside the workplace.

The standard 70:20:10 model suggests that a mere 10 percent of learning occurs at formal training sessions, 20 percent from informal studying, and a whopping 70 percent is on the job development.

Online courses are extremely popular, but less structured opportunities to learn, such as YouTube videos or TED talks, can be equally effective. Find the tools and resources to fit your team.

People Enablement Is Where It’s At

The concept of people enablement was trending a few years ago and is still growing in popularity.

Rather than a static progression along a pre-defined pathway, organisations are focusing on a learning culture that allows employees to gain valuable experience, explore new skillsets, and reinvent themselves.

Training opportunities could look different for each team member, depending on their skillset, progression ambitions and availability.

Integrate Development Plans

Performance and development go hand in hand, so development plans should be part of your toolkit. Employee reviews and catchups should have a heavy focus on growth and development. They should be created as a two-way discussion with employees, where you both identify the support and tools needed for success.

It’s a great opportunity to speak with each team member about the areas they want to improve in and how the business can enable them to skill up.

The Delicious Side Effects of A Culture Of Learning

Providing development opportunities to your team drives employee engagement and strengthens your culture. The benefits are numerous and include:

Employee Retention

The modern workforce, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, highly value learning and development. If they can see opportunities to upskill within an organisation with a robust, built-in learning culture, they are likely to be fulfilled and won’t need to seek opportunities elsewhere.

In fact, 93 percent of employees say they will remain at an organisation that invests in their development and training. Not only will you retain your best employees, but you will also save money by reducing employee turnover.

Recruitment

To attract top talent, your organisation needs to become an employer of choice. Having a successful culture of learning builds your brand and makes you more attractive to skilled employees. This reputation will generate a better quality of candidate.

Improved Performance

At the most basic level, training helps people perform their tasks efficiently. Enhanced efficiency equals enhanced productivity. But beyond this, there are other tangible benefits, such as increased confidence, innovation, and creativity, a problem-solving mindset, and improved morale.

People development initiatives are just one piece of the puzzle in building an engaged, exciting, and high performing team. Your employees are your biggest asset, so it makes perfect sense that an investment in their knowledge and skills is an investment in your organisation, too.

Don’t let your team drift apart to make their own opportunities like the Spice Girls did… provide them with opportunities to grow, learn, and experiment, and you’ll stay strong for years to come!

If you would like to discuss how this could look in your business, then get in touch with us here at Spice HR. We can help you create a people and culture development program that will make your company an enviable place to work! Drop us a line today.