The Employee Assistance Program, in conjunction with the Professional Development and Learning Office, will host a workshop about avoiding burnout for University of Idaho faculty and staff.
The Avoiding Burnout workshop will take place from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Administration Building.
Elissa Keim, director of Employee Development and Workforce Diversity, said the topics are chosen directly with university faculty and staff in mind, because the subject matters come from the feedback of employees who attended previous workshops.
“I get to choose the topics for each event,” Keim said. “When picking them, we really take into account what employees need and what they have to say feedback wise after they go to one of the workshops.”
She said informational employee courses are taught about six or seven times a year and they are taught in both the live and webinar setting. Keim said a variety of UI employees equally come to both workshop styles. This specific workshop will be a live presentation.
Alex Smith is set to teach the workshop. Smith said, KEPRO, the company he works for, contracts with UI’s Employee Assistance Program to showcase the resources available to faculty and staff at the university.
Smith said he has taught several courses for university employees, and the goal is to always provide attendees of each workshop with new information that can help balance their work life and personal life. He said helping employees find ways to get the most out of their workday is a large factor in every presentation.
Smith said the workshop will focus on revealing the signs and symptoms of burnout so employees can catch on early and begin fixing the problem.
“Helping people understand their own vulnerabilities in that area is a big part of that,” Smith said. “I’ll help them find their own style and demands of being an employee and then encourage what I like to call a personal action plan for managing stress and maintaining a balance.”
Smith said the workshop will be a lecture-style presentation, however, he always encourages attendees to interact with what is being taught, even after the workshop has ended.
“We give a worksheet at the workshop to those who come and they are encouraged to fill out a guide during the presentation and use it going forward,” Smith said.
Smith said he prepares for presentations like the Avoiding Burnout workshop by researching the topic in a variety of ways. He said he uses his own knowledge along with research from books, websites and articles that pertain to the subject.
Keim said employee workshops are important in the day-to-day lives of faculty and staff, because it can help them find an overall balance.
“I think it helps to find a work-life balance and it gives people the opportunity to learn things they may not have known before,” Keim said.
Smith said some employees find their workshop experiences an important part of their job. He said even if the workshop gives an employee an hour-and-a-half to just sit and think, then the presentation did its job.
“We are so busy that we don’t even take the time to take in fresh ideas and gain new perspectives,” Smith said. “We get in the habit of doing the same thing day in and day out. Some things work and some things don’t, so these workshops give employees the opportunity to learn and reflect.”
Hailey Stewart can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @Hailey_ann97