Dealing with Post-Pandemic Burnout: Seven Tips for IT Pros to Overcome and Recover

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A changing work environment, increased skilled labor demand, and the need for modernization have put enormous strain on IT employees, leading to a startling exodus of the workforce in 2021. Companies today understand putting less pressure on employees to lessen burnout and keep top talent. But what steps can IT pros take to manage burnout better, and how can IT leaders support them? Here are seven tips to help handle post-pandemic burnout pressures.

For IT pros, personal and professional pressures steadily increased during the pandemic. Personally, IT experts faced the challenge of keeping themselves and their families safe during an ongoing event filled with stress and uncertainty.

Professionally, they found themselves thrust into the role of making remote work — well, work — without sacrificing speed or security. It’s no surprise that a recent reportOpens a new window found that 80% of cybersecurity staff said they are dealing with more stress now than pre-pandemic. And all this stress is leading to burnout: 65% of those asked are considering a job shift out of cybersecurity.

This is bad news for companies already facing a shortage of skilled staff and looking for ways to recruit new talent in a world where work/life balance outpaces the draw of high salaries and job stability. With the right approach, however, businesses can help support IT employees, as they look to overcome and recover from burnout.

See More: Top Tech Solutions to Reduce Burnout and Enhance Productivity

State of stress

53% of IT professionals sayOpens a new window that recruiting skilled talent will be their top challenge this year, and half of the businesses already have gaps in basic IT skills. Moreover, 32% of managers and 25% of IT directors are consideringOpens a new window a job move in the next six months. Combined with the 65% of IT pros considering this option, it’s a perfect storm just waiting to happen.

Data backs up the fact that a primary driver of this storm is stress. 65% said the pandemic made it harder to conduct security reviews and gain network visibility, and 47% said they worked extra hours to address these issues before they become major problems. In some cases, this meant staff working 90 hours or more per week to keep up.

As a result, stress has become commonplace among IT staff. Not only did the pandemic drive a push to remote work, which 69% of IT pros sayOpens a new window increased the overall risk to company data, but businesses are now looking for ways to balance return-to-office initiatives with work-from-home options.

Seven Tips to Help Handle Burnout

So what steps can IT pros take to manage burnout better, and how can IT leaders support them? Here are seven tips to help handle post-pandemic burnout pressures.

Take a quick break

It’s simple but effective: Get up, stretch, and go for a walk. It could just be a move to your kitchen or outside if you’re working from home or around the office floor to get a drink of water. While a quick break won’t address the underlying issues that create IT stress, it can help take you away from the stress for a moment and give you a chance to clear your head.

Stay ahead of stress

Businesses can also implement solutions to help staff stay ahead of stress. For example, new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools offer a way to streamline labor-intensive processes such as data entry and collection that need to be done but take staff away from other critical tasks. By reducing the number of tasks IT pros need to complete each day manually, businesses can help proactively control burnout.

Find your focus

It’s hard not to take work home when you’re an IT professional. Here, leaders can help set a good example by making it clear that when staff is at home, that’s where their focus should be: At home. For this to work, leaders need to walk the walk by ensuring that they provide a reasonable work/life balance for staff.

See More: How to Handle Stress Among Remote Workers? Experts Weigh In

Consider assistive apps

Mobile applications that focus on meditation or mindfulness can also help IT professionals manage stress at the moment and reduce the risk of additional burnout. While what works best differs from person to person, a wide variety of applications are now available.

Share honest experiences

Team leaders and C-suites should also consider creating a forum that allows staff to share their experiences over the last two years without fear of being contradicted or criticized. Given that stress tends to scale up in a vacuum, providing a forum for honest feedback is well worth the time and effort.

Invest in professional help

Mental health professionals can help IT pros pinpoint where they’re experiencing the most stress and how it’s impacting their life. From a business standpoint, resource support — in the form of both time and money — can help encourage connections with mental health experts.

Switch off entirely

Finally, leaders need to clarify that staff can switch off entirely when they’re not at work. For example, managers could implement a “no emails after hours” policy. The caveat? It only works if leaders follow the example: If staff isn’t supposed to answer emails after the workday is over, admins and managers can’t be sending them either.

Key takeaway – breaking burnout

Stress will always be a part of IT — from security challenges to issues with downtime, reliability, and new technology deployments — but the level of stress experienced during the pandemic simply isn’t sustainable. And while pressures are finally beginning to ebb, the long-tail impacts of IT burnout put professionals in a position of uncertainty regarding staying in their position. At the same time, leaders and C-suite executives face the possibility of a significant skills shortfall.

Best bet? Start with our seven tips to tackle burnout and help IT pros find a better balance.

What is your go-to approach for preventing burnout? Let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , Facebook,Opens a new window and TwitterOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!

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