Dealing with Employees Who Feel Overwhelmed with Work Related Tasks
There are times when work is just overflowing. For some people, it is a good thing. They understand that greater workload means better results for the company. However, there are those who don’t feel the same way. They easily feel overwhelmed. As a result, they give up. As a leader, you need to make them feel less overwhelmed. You don’t necessarily have to reduce the workload, but you just need to make it clearer for them.
Set goals
You need to let them know what they have to do and when they need to finish it. By then, it is easier for them to see the progress of their actions and they can also easily budget the time. It is also important for them to see the relevance of what they are doing in a bigger picture. Otherwise, they will feel like they are just working to get paid or to avoid being fired.
Check the progress of their work
It is easy for someone to be overwhelmed when work piles up. However, it is important to know why the tasks have started piling up. Is it just because you have assigned a lot or is it because of previous tasks that were left undone? Time management could be the bigger issue and this is something you need to address. Find a way for the employees to do better when it comes to the way they handle their time or else the job will always feel overwhelming.
Emphasize on rewards and punishment
What are the practices in your company when it comes to the achieving or not achieving certain goals? There are people who easily motivated by these external factors. It is not necessarily a good thing but it would be great if they have something to look forward to. Every now and then, you have to recognize people who are doing a great job. Make them feel important. Let them realize that their work is highly appreciated.
Check your professional development strategies
It is also important that you find out how your employees become better in using technology to work faster. They might have to adapt to changes as they are still stuck with their old ways. There are certain tasks that could have been done faster, but end up getting delayed because they don’t know how to use modern technology. They might also need an upgrade in terms of professional development. Send them to training and workshops. These activities could help them. There are also other techniques that might work for them. This includes blogging with executives, video conferencing, weekly town hall-style meetings, and messaging technology.
Don’t keep asking for results
This is the biggest mistakes most leaders do. Stop nagging about the results. Just set a deadline and let your employees do the job. They are old enough to handle it. Deal with the consequences later if they are unable to finish what they have to.
In the end, you will notice that no matter how busy the work becomes, your employees feel optimistic and are generally happy.
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