Brownout Among Employees

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Brownout Among Employees

What is a Brownout of an Employee?
Originally the term "brownout" comes from the energy industry, where it means a sudden drop in voltage of energy. In a management context "brownout" means a similar condition in case of an employee. An employee who suffers brownout faces a serious drop in their energy levels and feels demotivated to do the work. There is a complete lack of interest in doing the work. One might say in simple terms that a brownout is an early stage of a burnout.

Signs or Symptoms of Burnout of Employees:

• Employees are working late hours, but show no interest in work.
• Employees are less productive in meetings.
• Employees suffer physically, they are getting less sleep and are eating junk food.
• Employees are doing same repetitive work for a long time.

A brownout can be reversed if it is acted upon as early as possible. The above symptoms will help you identify the employees suffering from brownout and take action accordingly.
Creating an employee wellness program for your top employees is essential to tackle problems such as burnout and brownout. Doing this will ensure employees' physical health as well as mental health.
Even though a brownout is not considered as severe as a burnout, it is not something that can be ignored. In a survey conducted by a US firm, it was found that 5% of the people suffer from burnout while 40% of them suffered from brownout.

How to reduce the Number of Brownouts?

• Star employees are the ones who are not looking to clock in and clock out kind of work. They are looking for work which will challenge them and improve their skills. You may ask them questions such as which projects do you think will challenge you and thus giving them a new enthusiasm for working.
• Rewarding the employees for their efforts and encouraging them to think out of the box will also reduce brownout as it increases their enthusiasm.
• Providing the employees with formal training and online courses which will benefit them and which they are interested in will keep them motivated to work. It will ensure the personal development of employees and also benefit the organization.

3M allowed their employees 15% of their paid time to work on innovative ideas which they can think of. This practice at 3M created a very creative and innovative environment and thus a huge step towards reducing brownout levels.
Sources:
"Brownout the Stage before Vurnout" (20170, Mensura.
"Don't Lose Your Top Employees Because of Brownout" (2017), Entrepreneur.

		Comments by date▼ Comments by rating Rating
		1 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Internal Capacity Building to Prevent Brownout Do you agree we all have different layers in personality? For example the physical, intellectual, negative emotions, positive emotions etc... Competency building at each and every layer enhances the coping mechanism with a brownout of a person. It may rejuvenate the person.

		3 Aniket Deolikar Consultant, India
	Employee May be Unaware of Brownout @Srinivas: Truly said Srinivas, but during a brownout people might sometimes not even know that they are mentally stressed. It may seem normal to them as they have become familiar with that kind of stress. But in the end it ends up in fatigue and underperformance. So it's important to handle brownout in an executive, managerial way.

		1 Prashant Dhodapkar India
	Brownout or Disengagement? I tend to agree with Srinivas, since our emotions associated with the workplace experiences tend to affect our behavior/performance. If somone feels that the work is meaningful/fulfilling, there will be enthusiasm which will be reflected in a positive body language at the workplace. Similarly, an unenthusiastic appearance at the workplace is an indication that the work may not be satisfying, or the person is frustrated or under appreciated. Aniket has described the symptoms of Brownout. These symptoms could also be present in a person who is disengaged at the workplace. The person may be unaware that he/she is mentally stressed, but there could be other persons around (including family members) who will note that 'something is not right'. On such occasions, the affected person has to be proactive about his/her attitude towards the work rather than blaming others (say superiors at workplace) for the state of affairs. It is easier to blame others, rather than take up the responsibility for one's emotions. That is why, perhaps, workplace disengagement is very common.

		1 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Reasons for Brownout are Often in the Management People have a tendency to think a brownout or burnout is caused by the employee. He or she is 'ill', 'not well' or 'not feeling well'. But brownouts and burnouts can be caused by the employer, manager and the employee. Actually the top-5 reasons for burnouts are all management-related. So we should stop assuming the reasons and solutions are to be found in the employee. That is a big mistake. Moreover, situations like this should not be allowed to turn into a 'blame game'. All parties involved (employee, manager, employer) suffer from the brownout situation and all involved should work together to improve.