Dropout at work; prevention is better than cure

How do you prevent an employee from dropping out?

What is it that sometimes makes us come home exhausted after a day of work? As fun as your job can be, it can happen to the best of us. But when this starts to take over and you need all your free time to recharge, you may well be suffering from stress.

A challenge for employees to start recognizing this, but there is also a task for the employer to create conditions so that an employee does not drop out. Preventing stress from striking and becoming unmanageable therefore means intervening in time.

Stress does not have to be caused only by a work situation. The combination of high workloads at work combined with high workloads privately can cause stress symptoms and make employees increasingly unable to function at work. If this turns into chronic stress, an employee is likely to drop out.

Factors

What employees may experience as stress at work lies in a number of areas. If there are multiple factors and add to that factors from a private situation, there is a chance that a person will lose control, resulting in sick leave.

But what factors at work affect this? A brief description to get some insight into this.

Task content

Do the employee's tasks match personal performance? Time pressure, excessive expectations, too many responsibilities and tasks that do not match skills can lead to stress.

Reward

Is there a balance between the energy put into the work and what reward is given in return? Giving a lot, without the idea of getting anything in return, can cause stress to build up and pleasure and satisfaction in work to diminish.

Check

When the feeling of having no control or say arises, then situations in which this feeling is present may be avoided or cause anxiety. After all, no matter what personal input is given, nothing will be done with it anyway.

The executive

Lack of support and understanding is a major factor and a major contributor to stress. It is common for employees to have done a fine job because of this positive approach by a supervisor,. When there is a changing of the guard and these traits are not present, one quickly feels misunderstood and satisfaction and performance diminish.

Changes in organizations

Big changes in teams, structure or e.g. procedures can have more impact than small changes. Changes can go two ways, either employees see opportunities as a result or it causes stress to employees.

Lack of collegiality

In an environment where many colleagues are willing to help each other, where there is a good and positive atmosphere and where information is clearly disseminated, there is less stress. In fact, it leads to better performance and greater commitment.

Job retention uncertainty

One of the factors that can cause stress is the fear of losing a job. Especially in organizations where there is reorganization or, e.g., lack of career opportunities or just being introduced to a new role too quickly, stress can set in.

Role of employers

May sound recognizable, but employers/leaders can play an important role in this and thereby also prevent or at least reduce absenteeism.

So, as an employer/manager, pay attention to how it works and fits together in your own organization. More importantly, learn to recognize signs of stress and have regular discussions with your employees with these points in mind and do not underestimate these factors. Prevention of stress symptoms is ultimately better than cure. Prevent failure at work and use the career and reintegration consultants of Puls in good time. Feel free to contact us for more information and the possibilities.