The best ways to avoid burnout, 11/12/01

The best ways to avoid burnout
IT execs reveal how they get the most from their staffs without turning them to toast.

By Amy Schurr
Network World, 11/12/01

When Management Recruiters International redesigned its Web site this summer, the IT staff camped out in their offices and consumed Red Bull by the case.

"We certainly had a whole group of people here who were on the edge of burnout," says Neil Fox, CIO of the executive search firm in Cleveland. "People became irritated, some of the support staff would break into tears, they were just generally overworked and overstressed."

When the site went live, MRI quenched the burnout by sending the IT department to a nearby park for steam-relieving volleyball and softball matches. Many of the company's 32 IT workers also got the following day off to recharge before tackling the hundreds of enhancements planned for the site.

Fox says such moves help during crunch times, but really credits his staff's high motivation to a work environment that's constantly supportive, understanding and fun. "One of my goals is to make sure everyone feels a sense of ownership and that they're making a significant contribution," he says.

Employees who lack this sense of engagement are ripe for chronic physical and psychological exhaustion, otherwise known as burnout. Long hours, stress and tight deadlines are already common to IT, but thanks to the soft economy, burnout is on the rise. Downsizing and budget cuts could reduce your staff to toast.

Overload isn't the cause

Contrary to popular belief, work overload isn't the only cause of burnout. Michael Leiter, vice president of Acadia University in Nova Scotia and co-author of The Truth About Burnout, says these five factors work in conjunction to create frustrated, less productive IT workers:

Lack of control. Does your staff have autonomy to decide what to do and how to do it?
Sparse rewards and recognition. Do you compensate your staff enough and acknowledge their accomplishments?
A weak community. Do employees have good relationships and respect each other?
Subjective criteria for career advancement. Are you fair about deciding who gets raises, promotions and training?
Incongruous work ethics. Do the company's values match employees' ?

"It's a matter of how the person and the work environment are getting along with each other," Leiter says. He tells of one company where IT professionals were cynical and apathetic because they didn't believe training opportunities were being allocated fairly. In another firm, poor communications from upper management about business decisions put techies on the verge of burnout. Something as simple as an internal newsletter solved the problem.

Balance is the incantation that wards off burnout at Bose, the electronics maker in Framingham, Mass. "We're a culture of hard-working people, there's no doubt about that, but we also recognize an employee's personal time and family time," says CIO Rob Ramrath.

More than half of the IS department's 140 staffers take advantage of family-friendly work arrangements such as flex time, telecommuting and compressed work weeks. "Being flexible with your team and trusting them goes a huge way," Ramrath says.

Along with skills training and professional development, Bose emphasizes rewards and recognition. Awards run the gamut from candy bars to free Bose merchandise. When IS rolled out an enterprise resource planning system in July, Bose's executive vice president spoke at an awards ceremony about the importance of the project and greeted many of the IT staff by name.

Spotting problems

To reduce stress in the IT department at Lake Shore Technical College in Cleveland, Wis., the school outsourced Lotus Notes and other applications and automated parts of its help desk. Michael Lanser, vice president of education support, first spotted trouble when an IT manager started being short with end users and was frequently missing work. He solved the problem by scaling back the employee's workload and setting priorities during a weekly meeting.

Then Lanser adjusted the help desk rotation schedule so staffers log only one day per week as the primary contact, working on other projects and serving as backup the rest of the week. He assigned employees their own offices, and gave students access to an online tech support database, which reduced the number of help desk calls, he recounts.

The message from those who have successfully thwarted staff burnout is: No matter how much you throw at your own IT department, let them know these tough times will be short-lived. "People can work very hard for an extended period if they have an understanding of where they're going," Leiter says.

Ramrath agrees, noting, "You can get people to pull with you for short-duration work needs if they perceive that over the long haul, things are balanced and it's not just a one-way relationship."

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