Labor challenges: Preventing and managing employee burnout

The COVID-19 pandemic created a complex and confusing labor market on a national scale, and the agriculture sector is feeling the strain both literally and figuratively. Combatting employee burnout is critical to the bottom line of the business, and something that isn’t easily done given the generational diversity seen in the modern workforce.

While much of the current labor challenge centers on simply finding enough people to get the job done, one of the bigger issues stems from current employees facing the very real issue of burnout. With fewer people to get the job done, coupled with persistent stressors at home and in the workplace, many workers are quite simply at their wits’ end. 

What can managers and business owners do to help support these employees and help them achieve the seemingly mythical work-life balance? In this episode, Feedstuffs poses that question to business consultant Melissa Furman, the former assistant dean and current faculty member at the James M. Hull College of Business at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia. Dr. Furman, in addition to her consulting work with businesses in a variety of industries, has a background in academic research on issues of generational diversity, unconscious bias, career and leadership development, emotional intelligence, and assisting technical professionals transition into management roles. 

This episode of Feedstuffs In Focus is sponsored by Topigs Norsvin, the second largest swine genetics company in the world. The TN70 is the flagship parent sow of Topigs Norsvin, described as being a self-reliant sow capable of raising her own pigs and requiring less human intervention in the farrowing house. When challenged with finding qualified employees, hire the TN70. Visit tn70.topigsnorsvin.com to see what producers are saying about their experience with the TN70.