How can employees with bigger workloads be supported?

White paper outlines four steps to recognise, reward staff putting in extra hours

BY Dexter Tilo 11 Sep 2024

One significant impact of labour shortages is how it can stretch thin the remaining workforce in organisations, a situation that could further worsen turnover at a time when qualified skilled talent can be hard to find.

In a white paper, Achievers urged employers to be "conscious and conscientious" about employee workloads.

To recognise and reward employees who are putting in extra hours and effort, Achievers suggested four important steps:

Acknowledge. Ensure employees know that you're aware of their workloads and are working to alleviate the burden.
Assist. Take steps to offer support, resources, and assistance where possible. This could mean bringing in temporary staff, adjusting deadlines, or changing job responsibilities.
Recognise. Recognition can go a long way toward ensuring employees feel seen and valued. Make sure they follow best practices: timely, specific, public, and values-aligned.
Compensate. Employees today are doing more than they were a year or two ago, often with the same job title and pay. In the short term, they may be willing to adapt and address the organisation's needs, but in the long term, this could be a push factor driving them to look for a new role that more appropriately compensates the work they are actually delivering.

Importance of support, inclusion

With retention critical amid talent shortages, the report highlighted the importance of support and inclusion.

"Recognition and feedback are two tools to improve these areas and employers cannot underestimate the value of implementing a recognition programme and feedback solution at this time," it said.

Having a strong culture of belonging is also key, according to the report, stressing that it should be built on communication, employee input, and connection.

"When every employee feels welcomed, known, included, supported, and connected, they are more likely to stay in their roles and to do the best work of their lives," it said.

Read more on how to effectively navigate employee retention and engagement in this free white paper from Achievers.