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Employee on the verge of burn out but will not stop working outside of working hours...

Anna

I have an employee that says they are struggling with their workload and works into the evening. when Line manager spoke to them, they said the reason that they are struggling is that they are a perfectionist and has difficulty feeling that the work is perfect.

We have assessed the work load and it should be manageable and we feel their work needs to be refocused as it seems the employee gets involved in things that are not their project.

We have been working with them now for 2 months to help them out of the work late every day cycle but noting seems to be working to get the employee to slow down. we are starting to see high stress level, irritation towards other staff.

The employee has now told me that they feel uncomfortable with the meetings and that she is being blamed.

We have been approaching this very softly and from the perspective of welfare.

Can anyone give me any good advice on how to get an employee to improve their work life balance and stop working out of hours?

Parents

  • In all seriousness, though, there are several ways to approach this:

    1. Coaching

    It sounds like you're already doing this, but I don't know if you're taking a coaching approach, in which the ability to stop working is framed as an opportunity for professional learning and development rather than just being an issues of (mental) health. Depending on the approach you've taken so far, the answer might be "the same thing, but different".

    2. Discipline

    You mention that their behaviour also manifests in the form of getting involved outside the remit of their project. This may be a disciplinary issue and this might be a way to get through to them that their behaviour isn't just bad for them, but bad for the business. Their "perfectionism" is, in fact, creating flaws and errors that would be avoided if they could calm down.

    3. Natural wastage

    This is an uncompassionate approach and not one I'd recommend, but it can be appropriate depending on the employee. Let them break. Some children have to learn the stove is hot by touching it and some people cannot understand the potential consequences of their actions until they arrive at them. Of course, have a safety net ready, but in some cases this is the only wake-up call an employee will hear.

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  • In all seriousness, though, there are several ways to approach this:

    1. Coaching

    It sounds like you're already doing this, but I don't know if you're taking a coaching approach, in which the ability to stop working is framed as an opportunity for professional learning and development rather than just being an issues of (mental) health. Depending on the approach you've taken so far, the answer might be "the same thing, but different".

    2. Discipline

    You mention that their behaviour also manifests in the form of getting involved outside the remit of their project. This may be a disciplinary issue and this might be a way to get through to them that their behaviour isn't just bad for them, but bad for the business. Their "perfectionism" is, in fact, creating flaws and errors that would be avoided if they could calm down.

    3. Natural wastage

    This is an uncompassionate approach and not one I'd recommend, but it can be appropriate depending on the employee. Let them break. Some children have to learn the stove is hot by touching it and some people cannot understand the potential consequences of their actions until they arrive at them. Of course, have a safety net ready, but in some cases this is the only wake-up call an employee will hear.

Children
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