Affinity HR Group’s St. John on Ways BSCs Can Deal With Burnout
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “burnout” as “exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration.” The COVID-19 era has stressed and frustrated building owners and occupants like no other time. For building service contractors (BSCs) who have been tasked with keeping indoor spaces cleaned and disinfected during the pandemic, the pressures have been immense and burnout has become a real problem.When things get really tough, BSCs have turned for help to Affinity HR Group, a national HR consulting firm that specializes in addressing the needs of small to mid-sized businesses, including BSCs. It is staffed by a group of seasoned HR professionals with years of combined experience and headed by President Claudia St. John. She states, “Burnout, whether with BSCAI members or any industry, is a huge issue right now. I don’t know if it’s as bad at this moment of time as it was maybe three or four months ago. But it absolutely is a crisis. People are just exhausted, and many are wondering, ‘Is this all there is?’”
And it hasn’t helped that just as COVID-19 concerns have begun to ease, new worries regarding inflation, high gasoline prices, and war in Europe have given folks little break from dire headlines and their very real, day-in and day-out personal concerns. According to St. John, “Burnout is something we often think of as specific to ourselves and our jobs. But when you are running on emotional fumes, being under stress is exhausting physically, mentally, and emotionally. People not only have their occupational stress, they have this existential ‘What next?!’ whenever they turn on the TV or go online. So much of what we thought would never change has changed. So, now we know there really is no certainty, and that is really destabilizing!”
From her vantage point, St. John has definitely seen an increase in the degree of exhaustion and burnout from 2019 to today. She refers to it as “the collective” that is getting so many down, so many quitting their jobs, and so many seeking professional help. She states, “It is the sheer volume of us all at some point in the last two years thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh! I don’t want to do this anymore.’ I own my own company, and I’m very honest about the fact that even I have had thoughts of quitting. But then I thought, ‘If I have these feelings, what are the people who work for me thinking?’ I know many business owners, as well as their employees, who have had those same moments of crisis.”
Consequently, one has to look for ways to recharge and reinvigorate. So, what can BSC business-owners specifically do to improve employee wellness? “If it’s their employees’ wellness,” St. John replied, “the first and most important thing is to recognize the stress they’ve been under and to talk with them about not only their financial well-being, but also their emotional well-being. I know a lot of BSCs right now who are taking stock of where their employees are now. They are doing staff ‘census-ing,’ putting together employee focus groups, conducting employee satisfaction surveys to figure out ways to help their employees. The questions they want answered are: ‘Are you OK?’ and ‘Can we help you?’ and ‘Do you need something that we can provide?’ But you and your employees have to be willing to open up and have those conversations. And when checking in, doing so authentically and genuinely.”
St. John is a proponent of offering stressed staffers perks to help them cope and stay on track. Employee assistance programs are big at the moment. “Those are programs that help connect employees with resources, whether those be legal, financial, and physical and emotional well-being,” she says. “Maybe it’s a substance abuse issue or a self-harm issue. Offering confidential support resources is making a difference with front-line employees.”
The conversation circled back to St. John’s own fatigue and periodic thoughts of wanting to do something else. The question was then posed: How has she personally dealt with such feelings and gotten past them?
St. John was quick to answer: “I’ve had many clients who have called me because I have been fairly open about this. The first thing I have done personally, and what I recommend to them, is to take care of your physical and emotional well-being. Go outside, get into nature, move your body. If you are a person of faith, lean into that. I am not, but I am a spiritual person. I have some daily affirmations that I remind myself of. The one I use is called The Reiki Prayer, which is just for today. ‘I will not be angry, I will not worry, I will take stock of my blessings, I will work honestly, and I will be kind to every living thing including myself.’ That’s how I start my day. But whatever is your jam, lean into it. There is no right or wrong. This notion of gratitude, being kind to one’s self, and taking care of one’s self emotionally and physically is important.”
She continues, “The second thing I have done, and something I’ve encouraged my clients to do, if they are really burned out at work and thinking ‘I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this for another day!’ then I have a little exercise. I do it for myself, and I recommend it to others. Take a [strengths, weakness, opportunity, and threat, or SWOT] analysis of your job. Four questions. ‘What in your job do you like to do and are you good at? What in your job do you like to do and are bad at? What in your job do you hate to do, but are good at? And what in your job do you hate to do and are bad at?’ If you can somehow or another get help dealing with the stuff that you hate to do and are bad at, that will at least take that pressure off. The things that you love at and the things you are good at, keep doing more. The things that you love to do, but are bad at, that’s an opportunity to get better. And that’s exciting! That’s the sort of stuff that I’ve leaned into. I love to do certain things even though I am not very good at them, so I try and practice, be a beginner, and get better at it. The things that I am really good at, but hate to do, I try and mentor others in order to help them share some of that responsibility. You can’t get rid of everything you hate in your job. When there is sunshine, there is always some dark.”
She also advises that there are certain things one should most definitely NOT do when feeling fatigued. For one, don’t make any serious life decisions. St. John explains, “I recommend people who are seriously burned out to take some time, take a vacation, journal, get therapy, speak with a counselor or a coach. Burnout is less intellectual than it is emotional. If we can take it out and unpack it, you can hopefully see where those emotions are coming from and where the solutions may be. Too often, you see people quit their job and take their issues with them to a new job without dealing with the underlying questions of ‘Why am I not fulfilled? Why am I not satisfied?’”
It helps to have things to look forward to also. For St. John, she is very eager to attend BSCAI’s Virtual Human Resources Summit on March 29. She concludes, “I am so excited about this summit! In past BSCAI events and last year’s summit, we really spoke about a wide range of subjects from compliance to COVID to employee hiring and engaging. This time around – and it might now sound as exciting or as sexy – but we’re going to be talking about HR from a data perspective. Our goal is to help BSCs of all sizes look at the data that they have that’s accessible to them and learn ways to use that data within their own capabilities to look at their hiring strategies and also their engagement and retention strategies. We want them to leave with real solutions with data that they inherently have. As organizations, they already have these nuggets of information – clues on the roadmap to being better at hiring, engaging, and retaining employees. We’ll try and show them the ways to get that data; decipher what that data tells us; and, most importantly, how to use and implement that data.”
Claudia St. John, President, Affinity HR Group