From police officers to pharmacists, nurses to bus drivers, Britain’s key workers have selflessly carried the country through the pandemic turbulence. But this has come at a heavy personal cost. Symptoms of burnout, a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress, have been reported by three-quarters of workers in the past year, an escalation triggered by months of intense unpredictability. And it’s key workers who have felt the impact of burnout most severely, owing to the increase in their workload, working hours and worries about their own health. 

As a doctor in the NHS, where staff burnout is at emergency levels, I’ve seen first-hand how quickly burnout can escalate and drive talented workers to quit. And although so-called ‘Freedom Day’ has now been and gone, there’s no sign of release from the pressure that key workers are under. Every employer wants to retain their staff and maintain high performance standards, but this can only be achieved if every member of the workforce is supported in remaining mentally and physically well into this autumn and winter. Fulfilling this goal can be simpler than is often thought; here are 5 excellent places to start: 

Encourage honest communication
Similar to other mental health conditions, tackling any stigma around burnout is a key first step to reducing its impact on your workforce. As key workers, employees may have internalised a belief that they have to always remain ‘strong’ and that the nation is ‘relying’ on them. This could lead to them concealing symptoms of burnout, or feeling guilty about admitting how they are feeling.

It’s important that employers and workplace leaders make an active effort to dispel this narrative by promoting formal and informal conversation around mental wellbeing in the workplace. It’s helpful to create opportunities for such discussions to take place, such as workshops and coffee mornings. HR leaders might also consider training up colleague anti-burnout champions, who take on the responsibility of spotting warning signs and supporting their peers who are approaching or experiencing burnout. 

Deliver cures for pain points
Talk, listen, look: find out what issues are causing frustration and worsening workloads for key worker employees. For example, they could include laborious analogue admin tasks in need of digitisation, or red-tape heavy processes that ought to be streamlined. 

These pain points are the low hanging fruit when it comes to burnout prevention. This means that their elimination – potentially a very straightforward process – can have an immediate positive impact on staff lives. By prioritising their resolution, the whole team will see that their feedback is taken seriously, and that they do in fact have the power to drive positive change in the workplace. 

Make flexible working work
Many organisations have ‘flexible working policies’, but it’s actually very rare to see these operating effectively in key worker sectors. Of course it’s imperative that key worker roles are always staffed and that managers have predictability and oversight of workforce planning, but this does not have to come at the expense of worker flexibility. In other words, the two are not mutually exclusive.

With the right work policies in place, the full spectrum of key worker organisations – can empower their staff to create work schedules that suit their unique personal needs, safely and compliantly. In practice, this could mean allowing them to safely select shifts in convenient locations, to have their working preferences taken into account, and to request leave days as and when necessary. 

Flexible working is not just a ‘nice-to-have’ – the next generation of workers will see it as a ‘must have’. Flexibility and professional self-determination are two of the most powerful anti-burnout tools out there, and every responsible employer has much to gain from leveraging them correctly.

Lead by example
Now is the time for leaders to reflect on their own attitudes and behaviours in the workplace. Naturally, leaders’ actions set the tone for others – if they are not following their own anti-burnout advice and guidance, then key worker employees are much less likely to do so.

When it comes to burnout prevention, leading by example can look like the following:

– Championing flexible working initiatives
– Speaking openly about the importance of  wellbeing and mental health
– Making use of internal support services as and when required
– Participating in workplace wellbeing and social events
– Actively challenging the glorification of overtime and after-hours work
– Looking after physical health through exercise, healthy eating and proper sleep
– Taking  full holiday leave entitlement

Go the extra mile to show you care
When the bells and whistles of working life are stripped away, we’re all humans looking to feel supported, cared for and appreciated. And although employees are often told of how heroic they are and how important their contribution is, we must all remember that actions speak louder than words. Rather than relying on token gestures, it’s time to think about the bigger picture of  employees’ lives. How can they be shown that we care about the outside-of-work pressures that may be making them more stressed and more likely to burnout?  

From introducing technology that enables on-the-spot payment for shifts, to offering discounted healthy lunches and on-site childcare, there’s a lot that employers can do to make life that little bit easier for key worker staff. 

And although there’s no magic solution when it comes to beating burnout, pursuing change can still be a powerful priority in the workplace. There are small but impactful actions that we can take today to make a real difference to the resilience and wellbeing of teams, and to strengthen organisations ahead of whatever the coming months may bring.