Tracking Employee Burnout? Measure ‘Rust-Out’ Like Barclays

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We’re all familiar with employee burnout, but Barclays UK Retail and Business Banking uncovered another productivity-killing phenomenon in its latest employee engagement surveys: worker “rust-out.” Barclays teamed up with Robertson Cooper to measure employee wellbeing and overall engagement to hopefully draw correlations between this data and sickness-related absences at the firm.

At most companies with a high-pressure work environment, such as a call center, employees typically suffer from burnout, or stress-induced health effects. At Barclays, however, employees are far more likely to take sick days due to rust-out, or sheer boredom at work. Robertson Cooper discovered that three factors contribute to rust-out: dull and repetitive work, work that isn’t likely to change, and work that’s monitored too closely.

What does rust-out mean for managers who try to foster employee engagement? In addition to supporting teams and enabling healthy lifestyles, leaders must also ensure their employees remain challenged with their duties and responsibilities.