How to Prevent Employee Burnout in the Manufacturing and Warehouse Industries

Subscribe to Email Updates

how-to-prevent-employee-burnout-in-the-manufacturing-and-warehouse-industries-thumbBurnout is an issue in countless professional fields, including the manufacturing and warehouse industries.  Unfortunately, it is something that many workers experience and many employers struggle to prevent among their workforce.

Download our whitepaper to see how we solve our clients' evolving staffing  issues

If you are looking for new team members to replace workers who have left because of career burnout, Liberty Staffing can help you find the right people. Contact us today to find out how we help companies like yours avoid staffing shortages, no matter what is going on in the world. 

What is Burnout?

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, “Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Burnout in the course of employment can make one feel emotionally drained and unable to function in the context of work and other aspects of life. Burnout can reduce productivity and can lower your motivation and cause you to feel helpless, hopeless, and resentful.”

Burnout doesn’t just affect the employee. It also causes stress and complications in the workplace. Employers and managers with stressed, burned out employees may experience higher rates of turnover and absenteeism, decreased productivity, and a less satisfying worker experience.

What Causes Burnout in Manufacturing and Warehousing? 

One of the biggest factors causing burnout in the manufacturing and warehouse industries is the pandemic. There are so many contributing factors to COVID-19 burnout, including lockdowns, school closures, social distancing, taking preventative measures, pandemic-related stress and anxiety, feeling disconnected from coworkers and friends, and uncertainty about the future

How Can You Prevent Burnout Among Your Workers?

The fact that you want to prevent burnout in the first place is a really good sign that you are on the right track. Managers who care about the mental health of their employees are generally perceived as more trustworthy and caring than managers who only care about the bottom line. 

We have written about avoiding burnout on our Liberty Staffing blog in the past, but in light of the changes now that we are in the second year of the pandemic, let’s review the best ways to prevent burnout and keep your workers feeling refreshed and connected. 

Avoid Understaffing

Everyone feels the crunch of being understaffed, especially people who have to pick up the workload when there aren’t enough workers on the team.

If you can avoid being understaffed, you will alleviate a lot of your team’s stress. If you are struggling to keep up with staffing demands, work with a staffing agency and consider hiring temporary workers

Provide a Positive Work Environment

What can you do to build morale? What makes people enjoy their jobs? These are the questions you want to be asking.

A positive work environment is fostered by positive leadership. We can’t say enough about the importance of modeling positive behavior. You can encourage your workers by getting to know them and interacting with them regularly, rather than creating too much distance between levels of leadership. 

Provide opportunities for social interaction, including shared meals, recreational activities, and special events. Sometimes it costs a little extra to provide people with the opportunity to socialize, but in our experience, providing these perks makes people feel valued and important to the company. 

Provide Competitive Compensation and Benefits

Our last piece of advice has to do with what you give people for their time. 

What is one of the best ways to help your manufacturing or warehouse staff feel like you want them there, and it’s worth their time to be there? Pay them well!

Rewarding great work with great compensation is such a great way to increase positivity in your workplace and encourage workers to stick around. If they are frustrated with work and underpaid, they are going to be heading out the door in droves. But if they are paid well, those occasional lulls in workplace satisfaction are easy to overcome. 

Liberty Staffing Finds Great Workers for Great Employers

As a staffing agency, we have been helping our clients manage fluctuating market forces and worker trends for more than 20 years! 

Today we have several branches across Southern Ontario, and we work with companies in various industries, including both manufacturing and warehousing.

We invite you to contact us today with your questions or to get established as one of our clients. We’ll help provide you with a great team, and will help you with employee retention and turnover.New Call-to-action

Lorna Faires

I have over 15 years of experience in the staffing industry, in a management role. I possess a strong background in recruitment, screening, and connecting candidates with the right employment opportunities. I love all animals, but especially my 3 dogs. Hiking and canoeing are my passions, and getting out into nature and being unplugged is my favourite way to spend my vacations.

Find Lorna Faires on: