The fear of missing out — or FOMO — is a key risk factor for employee mental health and can increase burnout if workers experience information overload, anxiety and stress, according to a new study by University of Nottingham researchers.
In response, HR departments could consider policy and training options that help workers better access, manage and consume information as part of the digital workplace, the researchers said.
“The glut of information flowing through channels such as email, intranets or collaboration tools can lead workers to worry about missing out on it as well as succumbing to overload as they strive to keep up,” Elizabeth Marsh, a PhD student in psychology and the lead author of the study, said in a statement.
“To help people cope with information overwhelm, serious and sustained attention should be given to both optimizing information management and supporting information literacy,” she said.
In the study, Marsh and colleagues analyzed survey data from 142 employees to understand the “dark side” of digital workplaces, including anxiety, stress, overload and FOMO related to workplace updates and opportunities for relationships.
The research team found that employees who were worried about missing out on information and felt overloaded by it were more likely to suffer stress, experience burnout and report lower overall well-being.
Employee burnout continues to be chronically high, and employee workload remains the driving factor behind that burnout, according to an Eagle Hill Consulting report. Although employees have pointed to solutions such as a four-day workweek, increased flexibility and a decreased workload, employers may have “hit a wall” on reducing burnout, where burnout levels stay high and the “drivers remain virtually unchanged,” Eagle Hill’s president and CEO said.
For some employees, self-imposed pressure may prevent them from fully unplugging during their time off, according to another Eagle Hill survey. Many workers said they still check work email and messages while away, or they can’t take a vacation at all, citing a heavy workload, no colleagues available to cover the workload or a need to “stay on top of the job.”
To help, employers may need to reevaluate their performance management strategies and recalibrate their approach to struggling hybrid employees, sources told HR Dive. For instance, leaders can gauge employee morale through engagement surveys, recognize successes during meetings and one-on-ones and implement more frequent review cycles.