Professional Buoyancy

I recently posed a question on LinkedIn.com asking what individuals or companies are doing to prevent burnout, stress and overall disatisfaction by their employees.  The answers people supplied were great, but made me wonder about a few things. 

The majority of the answers were geared toward me, individually, giving me ideas as to what I could do to prevent this problem.  The other interesting note was that a high majority of the suggestions were focused on the on-site staff preventing the employee stress and burnout.  Ideas such as taking a walk, eating lunch together, holding an informal meeting to address the issues, etc. - these are all focused on the on-site and immediate supervisor completing the actions.  What almost no one supplied was what company policies are in place to address standing problems and prevent future ones.

Who has a company designed to maintain a high level of employee satisfaction?  Anyone have a designed plan for addressing employee stress?  How about programs to proactively prevent issues of stress and burnout?

Based on some of the responses to several MFI blogs lately, it is definitely an issue and one that at least a few of us out there feel is not being addressed appropriately, or at all.  This is also a big $$$ problem for employers... follow the trail... employee stress can lead to absenteeism, which can then lead to performance issues, grievances... stress can lead to health  issues and errs in judgement, accidents, litigation, and performance loss.  Nothing any company wants.

So what do we do?  As companies, we can develop policies that help our employees feel good about themselves, their jobs, and their contribution and futures.  We maintain EAP programs, advertise them, encourage their use, and monitor how they are used to evolve proactive policies.  As companies, we help our supervisors help themselves and their employees.  We teach them about stress, how it affects them and what they can do with it.  We give them an outlet.  We support their appropriate feelings and offer ways to alleviate the issues.  We offer trainings, feedback, and a multitude of options.

Or do we?  That is the question.

What makes our industry so strong is the dedication and work ethic we give it.  We all know the multifamily industry is not a 9-5'er... Which means we all need to know the inherent risks and rewards and be prepared for them. 

What are your companies doing re: employee stress, burnout, and overall employee disatisfaction?