How to manage burnout among your top performers

Top performers generally have a few things in common: they work hard, strive for excellence, push for what they believe in, and don’t settle for mediocrity. That’s what everyone wants in an employee, right?

However, the constant excellence comes with one big problem: burnout.

If you’re not careful, your top performers can become overwhelmed, overworked, feel under-appreciated or under-supported, and suffer in their day-to-day activities. Here are practical steps to help keep your top performers productive and engaged. It starts with managing their stress levels and vacation time.

Why “unlimited vacation/PTO time” isn’t the answer

Netflix was one of the first companies to offer an unlimited vacation policy. Get your work done, take off as much time as you want, and they won’t keep track of your vacation days. As long as it’s approved by management, have at it.

While that is still its policy, other companies who have tried this benefit eventually scrapped the program. Why?

Many employers with unlimited vacation policies collected data that showed employees actually took fewer vacation days when compared to being given a set amount of days off. Less!