Research from Robert Half into employee wellbeing has concluded that employee burnout is common, affecting nearly a third of UK companies and the greatest effects are seen in London and the South East. 

The firm asked 200 HR Directors to cite the three factors they feel contribute most to employee burnout.  The top answer was workload, followed by overtime/long hours and then unachievable expectations. 

When asked if any initiatives had been implemented to prevent employee burnout, HR directors said they are promoting a teamwork-based environment (50%), reviewing/restructuring job functions and tasks (45%), encouraging team–building activities (34%), providing flexible working options (34%) and encouraging employees to take time off (31%).  One in five businesses (19%) plan to hire additional temporary / interim staff to help manage burnout.

Background

Recently, I mentioned on Twitter that we are teaming up with a Health & Safety consultant to offer those services to our clients.  After all, HR and Health and Safety are intrinsically linked.  I had a response from someone I tweet with quite ofthen who said something along the lines of "don't mistake Health and Safety for moral fortitude."  Intrigued, I asked him to explain and then asked if he'd consider writing a guest blog post on the subject.  This is the result (my twitter buddy has asked to remain anonymous).