During the past 18 months, nearly every industry has experienced some sort of staffing issue, but recently the problem seems to be growing. There doesn’t appear to be much change on the horizon, however, there are ways to make things easier for employees who may be feeling the stress.
A new report just released by U.S. Labor and Statistics shows 4.3 million people quit their jobs in February alone.
The reason for this is mainly stress. Around 57% of workers reported feeling stress on a daily basis over the past 12 months.
There are a few factors leading to burnout among employees, but the main issue is staffing.
People are quitting, and on the backside of that, employers are not finding enough people to hire for those empty positions. The recruitment pool is just not as big as it was.
The pandemic has forced many people to find new jobs, but it has also led to an increase in burnout with those left in the workforce. Current workers are having to do more work, with less help. This creates burnout.
This will lead to more people deciding to quit, or you may see several employees start to underperform because they are too stressed out.
So how do we fix this? While it may seem daunting, there are some simple solutions to help increase employee morale and reduce stress.
First, establish a set of guidelines to make you and your employees happy. Make sure you listen to their concerns and find out where they need the most help.
Next, you should abandon perfectionism and look for more simple answers. Customers are not looking for perfection, they are looking for the right piece of equipment at the right price. Employees don’t need to be perfect to land the sale, they just need the right tools.
One of the most important things is to make sure you don’t focus on who has quit, focus on finding solutions. Searching for new employees costs time and money.
Instead of looking for new workers, can you figure out an easier way to do things with the tools you have now? Are there simple things you can add like a texting platform, or a payment system that can take some of the burden off your employees?
As you establish the guidelines, make sure your worker knows what to expect from you, and make sure the customer is aware of staffing issues, or the type of responsiveness they will get. Be honest throughout the struggle so there are no secrets, and you can work through problems together.
Once a basic plan is in place, then you need to make sure you have the tools to help your employees. One of the best solutions is to come up with a more automated system throughout your company.
Texting is one of the best ways to limit employee workload, while still communicating with your customers.
You can set up a texting platform so people can use text-to-pay and get updated information on sales and service.
This will also help your staff reduce the time they spend on the phone and take some of the pressure off to get back to customers. Employees can set up automated responses, so they don’t have to be waiting by the phone all day.
The texting trend is not going away, and it can help you avoid burnout with your employees by creating a system that eases the pressure on them and allows the customer to keep in contact at any time of the day.
Ben Leighton is a Content Marketing Specialist with Kenect, a provider of simple texting tools to connect businesses with their customers.
