Preventing Employee Burnout in the Janitorial Business
We've all experienced burnout in our jobs at one point or another. And when you're in a job that requires physical labor all day like in the janitorial industry, the burnout is physical as well as emotional. Burnout occurring in one form or another at some point in our careers may sound unavoidable, but there are simple steps you can take to help prevent burnout in your line of work.
What Are Some of the Symptoms of Burnout?
Burnout could look like:
- Feeling exhausted both physically and emotionally
- Dreading going to work in the morning
- Getting easily irritated by small things
- Feeling overwhelmed by your workload
Now here's how to help prevent these awful symptoms!
Be Truly Off the Clock When You're Off the Clock
If you run your own cleaning business, this is harder than if you are a janitor working for someone else. If you're a janitor who comes in, cleans, and then leaves at the end of the day, you really can't take your work home with you. Rejoice in this!
For many people who work office jobs or jobs that can be done remotely, they're never off the clock and they find themselves answering emails or messages at all hours of the day and night. When you do manual labor, you really can't take it home with you. You need to clean your own house, of course, but the burnt-out office workers have to do that too, and you're better and faster at it because you're trained to do it.
If you own your own cleaning business, not taking work home with you is a little bit harder, because you probably have inventory to order, invoices to send, and other tasks that you could easily do at home or at all times of the day. If you have an office, try and do everything work-related in that space so your work doesn't bleed into your time at home.
Luckily, there aren't many “janitorial emergencies” like there are in other industries such as medicine or newscasting, which function around the clock. Unless your cleaning service has emergency services, such as fire cleanup, you can probably wait until tomorrow to answer that email that came in right as you were logging off for the night!
Attend Classes, Conferences, or Other Professional Development Events
Yes, this is technically adding to your workload, but part of preventing burnout is rediscovering the joy in your work if you've lost sight of it. This is something that happens to people in every industry, and it's nothing to be ashamed of.
When you do the same thing day in and day out, it gets repetitive! Attending a conference with other janitors and cleaning professionals will not only give you a sense of camaraderie with others in your business, but you'll also learn interesting new techniques or lessons that could improve the efficiency of your work, and you'll be able to nerd out/and or vent with people who understand exactly what you're going through in your day-to-day work life.
Hire the Best, Work with the Best
Even when our jobs are difficult or tedious, the people we work with and the clients we serve can make it all worth it. Surround yourself with dependable, kind, and trustworthy people who believe in the work you do and make your life easier. If you find yourself not liking your work for a time, you can at least take comfort in working with great people, and this will prevent you from getting burnt out on multiple fronts.
In a similar vein, only take on clients that you like working for, if you can afford to do this. (This isn't always possible, we know.) Working for people who truly appreciate the effort it takes to keep their space clean will cause less stress and anger for you.
Hopefully, this article has proven helpful to you in some way as you navigate avoiding burnout in your janitorial work!
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