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Help Your Tech Team Unplug and Achieve Work-Life Balance

on May 24, 2019 in IT Clients

 

Tech pros often suffer from burnout. IT jobs are stressful, most tech teams are stretched beyond their limits and IT pros rarely work a standard nine-to-five schedule. It is extremely important to help tech pros achieve better work-life balance so they can manage stress and prevent the burnout that so often leads to turnover.

Why Balance Is Important

Stress impacts a person’s mental and physical health. If an IT pro feels like they are working around the clock, if their blood pressure rises every time their smartphone sends an alert or if they feel like they can’t ever fully disconnect from work, they will begin to develop problems. Prolonged stress can cause anxiety, depression, exhaustion, weight gain, sleep disorders, cardiovascular issues and makes people more susceptible to illness.

When people experience stress-related health issues, their productivity and engagement levels tank. They may take sick time or show up to work disengaged. Eventually, they will begin to look for new jobs. Helping a tech team achieve better balance will vastly improve productivity, engagement and long-term retention.

How to Help Tech Pros Improve Work-Life Balance

As a leader, you can help your team achieve stronger balance through a variety of strategies:

  • Encourage PTO usage: Rather than making people feel guilty for taking time off, encourage it. If someone shows signs of burnout, suggest they take a long weekend to get out of the office and recharge their batteries.
  • Assign PTO backups: Assign “backup buddies” to cover one another on days off so nothing falls through the cracks and the employee who is off can fully disengage.
  • Let people disconnect after hours: Only contact people after hours who are officially on call. On-call schedules exist for a reason, so let people who are off enjoy their personal time.
  • Offer flexibility: Is it absolutely necessary to have everyone in the office from nine to five? Or could you let people set an eight-hour schedule that works for them (within reason)? Flexible start times let people drop their kids off at school or pick them up, or just choose hours centered around their peak energy levels.
  • Embrace remote: If you have the technology to allow people to telecommute a few days a month, offer them that option so they can skip a few days of their stressful commute.
  • Augment your staff: Major projects that require a lot of overtime put your team in danger of burning out. Hiring skilled contractors and consultants for busy periods ensures the workload is manageable and prevents burnout while ensuring the project stays on target.

A Strategic Staffing Partner Can Help Eliminate Burnout

If you are looking for more ways to reduce burnout on your team, PEAK Technical Consulting can help. From staff augmentation to customized recruitment, we help employers overcome some of their biggest IT hiring and retention challenges. Contact us today to learn more about the ways we can help your business.