Reducing staff burnout, an organizational approach
An organizational approach focused on reduction of staff burnout:
- Effective management structure and leadership
- Staff members are clear about who is in charge and sets and enforces policies. Reduction of ambiguity subsequently relieves stress.
- Do organizational leaders model stress management techniques for their employees?
- Clear purpose and set of goals
- Staff members should know the purpose of the organization. Are goals and roles clear enough to enable the determination of services and expectations, limits and boundaries with clients?
- Functionally defined roles
- Staff roles must be defined, to reduce conflict and encourage support.
- Team support
- Structure ways in which staff members can support each other. Share resource and contact information, expertise, consultations, tasks, coverage during absences and emotional support.
- Use a team approach not an individual approach.
- Plan for stress management
- Be aware of the stress levels of staff providing direct services. Cue staff members to address their stress when they seem to be unaware of it.
- Include stress reduction activities into the environment of the organization.
- Critical incident stress
- Develop informal and formal de-briefings of staff following critical incidents (suicides, assaults or other crisis events), occurring during service delivery.
- Realistic expectations and staff support should be a program standard.
- Case management services may be unpredictable, as clients have urgent or crisis needs.
- Caseload sizes should allow for flexibility to address urgent or crisis client needs.