According to a new survey, Salesforce professionals are experiencing burnout in alarming numbers
Amidst several other new statistical insights, the latest survey published by Mason Frank International reveals that 44% of Salesforce professionals currently employed on permanent contracts have experienced burnout within the past year.
This new information comes at a time when employers have been increasingly promoting workplace wellbeing and mental health support throughout the tech sector. But despite an uptick in these discussions, the reality for many Salesforce professionals is still unsustainable. As detailed in the survey, the most commonly cited causes of burnout include insufficient workplace support, unmanageable workloads, and unrealistic deadlines. So even if organizations are taking mental health more seriously, this needs to be paired with a re-examination of how work is structured and what expectations are in place.
With 27% of Salesforce professionals always working overtime and those who abandon pursuing a new qualification naming their current workloads as a critical factor, it’s clear that unrealistic workloads and expectations hamper professional development and contribute to the continuing skills gap. And not only does this climate prevent professionals from progressing, but it’s also pushing people to leave their posts. Twenty-five percent of current Salesforce professionals leave their roles to seek a better work-life balance.
As leaders, assessing workloads needs to be a permanent priority for us. Quarterly targets without direct communication isn’t enough. We must collaborate with our teams to understand their day-to-day capacity and set expectations accordingly. It’s easy for specialist workloads to seem abstract to us, so we need to make sure we’re really listening.
Alongside workloads and deadlines, respondents to the Mason Frank International survey also emphasized flexibility as central to managing and preventing burnout. Of those whose roles currently support remote working, 76% said they would reconsider their employment if that flexibility was revoked. In this context, it’s definitely worth exploring how you might be able to support employees with gestures like hybrid working options and more flexible hours.
It’s vital that we work to shift this climate towards a healthier, more sustainable landscape and take responsibility for that as leaders and organizations. Individuals experience burnout, but it is not an individualized problem. Wellbeing support is essential, as is flexibility, but measures in these arenas must be supported by serious efforts to revise the culture around workloads and deadlines. Burnout is affecting people now, and is affecting tech in the long term.
About the author
Zoë Morris serves as the President of Mason Frank International and oversees our ongoing business and sales operations, employee training, and hiring initiatives. Zoë studied Psychology at the University of London and has nearly 20 years’ experience in the recruitment industry. Under Zoë’s leadership, Mason Frank International has consistently achieved substantial year on year growth as well as winning many industry awards.
