It Won’t Pay to Ignore BurnoutIt Won’t Pay to Ignore Burnout

In the past year, a few constants have become evident in the modern world of work: the RTO debate is entering its fifth year, to the dismay of both return-to-office advocates and hybrid workers; workers are in "permacrisis" characterized by constant burnout; and they're AI-skeptical.

But what about using AI to combat burnout? Done correctly, that kind of technological deployment would solve two high-level management problems: employee engagement and lagging AI adoption rates. At No Jitter, contributor Robin Gareiss floated research suggesting that AI could provide companies with an impetus to move from an hours-based model of employee workload to a productivity-driven model:

The benefits of a shorter workweek included boosted employee engagement, reduced employee churn (employees cost money to replace and often do not reach full productivity during the first six months on the job) and reduced burnout.

That shorter workweek might also provide workers with something that's keeping the RTO debate from resolving: a sense of autonomy over their time. Autonomy might also be key to addressing burnout issues. Recent research from the University of Queensland, published in the MIT Sloan Management Review, offered a work framework that is meant to address employee burnout:

Dr. Caroline Knight from UQ Business School said, "Offering an already overworked and burnt-out employee productivity tips and ways to assert healthy boundaries isn't helpful when it's clear the job entails long hours and unreasonable workloads. The SMART framework encourages managers to think more broadly about how they curate work that allows their employees to thrive."

And it might be a framework a smart manager could develop with AI assistance and an employee experience platform.

Employers should care that their workers are feeling charred -- not just because it's the humane thing leaders do, but because burnt-out workers cost money. A report in Harvard Business Review last year estimated that stressed employees cost U.S. employers' health care programs anywhere from $125 to $190 billion dollars a year and "the biggest factor in these costs was high demands at work, responsible for an estimated $48 billion in spending."

So even if the humanitarian incentive is not there, the financial incentive is. A savvy workplace manager responsible for employee experience has a great opportunity to solve two of today's existing workplace challenges -- AI resistance and employee burnout -- while also providing cost justifications for it all. That's a win-win-win for everyone.