Have you gone through stress during work? You might have had to drag yourself to work the morning after pulling an all-nighter. Or there might be the pressure of working under a boss you feel will never understand. Everyone will have to go through it at least once in their career. More and more employees, despite their age group and types, are becoming victims of employee burnout. According to the statistics from a pre-Covid survey, employee burnout is rapidly on the rise, with 52% of all workers feeling burned out. 

The burnout employees face at work affects their mental health and performance within the companies. This is why companies are working hard towards creating strategies and environments to avoid stress and burnout amongst their workers, as they realize how vital the mental health of their workers is to grow and organize successfully. 

Adding behavioral science to support workers is a way in which organizations reduce burnout while increasing their corporation's value. The World health organization added burnout to its list of official medical diagnoses. There are specific tasks that can be the causes of employee burnout. If the tasks are monotonous, they can create what's known as "decision fatigue". The question is, how can we tackle the issue of employee burnout? 

AI and Employee Mental Health 

AI is widely used in every aspect of life and business- such as recruiting in HR, customer service, sales tools, chatbots etc. For example, HR managers in organizations have realized that AI can be utilized to automate repetitive tasks, prescreen candidates, and conduct personality assessments during video interviews. 

As studies have previously reported severe consequences of employee burnout, companies are beginning to use AI to help monitor and maintain employee mental health to control burnout. However, there are certain aspects in which AI can play a significant role in preventing this situation in workplaces. Here are some: 

• Asking people when to step away: "I am fine" is a white lie people always say when asked by HR, even if the employees feel overwhelmed, depressed or need a breather. Because no one likes to admit otherwise. Here, if made use of AI, it can analyze the behaviors of workers in questions and report if it is normal and what is out of the ordinary. It is a red flag if an enthusiastic employee is suddenly underproductive at work. HR can use the data collected by AI as evidence for telling the employee why they need a break.  
• Automate repetitive tasks: Employees can become bored or irritated by monotony. If they are annoyed by the amount of time it takes to create an invoice and feel their time can be used elsewhere, they're likely to look for another job. Automating these simple tasks can eliminate employee frustration. Instead of an employee filling out a tedious reporting spreadsheet, AI can do the job. 
• Personalize employee experience: People only love to work for a company that appreciates their effort. This appreciation should be verbal and in the form of remuneration. It can be discouraging when workers can't see ways to advance in their company. This can motivate them to look to other companies that offer the desired growth potential, leaving the current place of work high and dry. AI can be instrumental in aiding in mapping out a possible career path. Some businesses have already implemented AI as a human resources assistant. They use it to help employees recognize what skills they already have and what they need to develop to be promoted.  

Benefitting from AI 

AI can not only be used by employees. There is nothing wrong with management and HR relying on technology to help them perform their job functions. All business models can implement AI to reduce the number of burned-out workers. In addition, it can make companies more attractive to potential workers and retain people they hire for much longer. Employees will be grateful that AI works hard to keep them happy, and companies overall will reap benefits. 

Source: Crayon

Image Source: Unsplash