When does a highly productive employee become an employee at risk of becoming less productive or burnt out due to work overload?

In chapter three of Marshall Goldsmith’s book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, Goldsmith writes “successful people tend to be extremely busy and face the danger of over commitment.”

As Goldsmith points out, success leads to opportunity and increased opportunity can lead to a heavier workload and he warns that “If you’re not careful, you’ll be overwhelmed in due course – and that which made you rise will bring about your fall.”

Can intense pressure to perform bring about undesirable results? Consider, for example, a Reuters article which summarizes Australian research that suggests “Overcrowded hospitals that try to cope with growing patient loads by churning them through more quickly may be helping the spread of drug-resistant germs.” In light of current economic pressure, we need to be on the alert for employee burnout or a negative impact upon performance such as the one described in this example.

Wharton management professor, Sigal Barsade suggests that a lack of respect and recognition within the workplace leads to an increase in burnout. Respect includes trust in an employee's abilities. According to a study conducted by Barsade and colleague Lakshmi Ramarajan, "Autonomy ... can act as a buffer on stress -- and actually decrease job burnout -- if autonomy is high, but not if it is low.”

With the start of the holiday season upon us, this is a good time to make sure employees are recognized for their efforts, successes and capabilities, both at special times of the year and every day.

References:

Fox, Maggie. “Fast patient turnover spreads germs in hospitals.” Reuters [www.reuters.com]. June 23, 2008.

Goldsmith, Marshall. What Got You Here Won't Get You There. New York: Hyperion, 2007.

Knowledge@Wharton. More than Job Demands or Personality, Lack of Organizational Respect Fuels Employee Burnout. Knowledge@Wharton Human Resources, November 15, 2006.