The Slow Burn: How to Confront Real Estate Burnout

Burnout happens in every profession. Doctors, lawyers, teachers — anyone can begin to feel exhausted at work, especially when he or she deals with people on a daily basis. Gallup recently discovered that 23 percent of full-time workers feel burned out very often or always, and an additional 44 percent feel burned out sometimes. That means about two-thirds of full-time workers experience burnout — and real estate professionals are especially vulnerable.

Agents have to navigate clients’ emotions, expectations, and fears during the process of buying or selling homes — not to mention other agents’ feelings and fears. Busy agents don’t get extended downtime, and if they do, they’re likely stressed about not generating enough business. Burnout in the real estate industry is also unique because agents don’t get paid until transactions close, and in many cases, problems arise even after closing, which means the transaction can take a long time to complete.

With 25 years of real estate experience, I’ve seen burnout all too often, but I now use that knowledge to coach other managers in how to mitigate those feelings in agents.

What Does Burnout Look Like?

One of the most obvious signs of burnout is that agents tend to start showing up to the office late — or not at all. Lamenting the end of a fun weekend is normal, but it shouldn’t be a struggle to get to the office every day. If you notice a total lack of enthusiasm in agents throughout the week, this could be a big red flag.

A lack of energy to complete everyday tasks is another symptom of burnout. When agents lose enthusiasm for their work, poor performance tends to follow. Watch out for missed appointments and late paperwork. Along with falling behind on day-to-day work, take note if you notice an uptick in complaints about meetings, training sessions, open houses, or even other agents. When small annoyances like these become more burdensome, it can mean agents are worn thin.

An overall lack of joy at work isn’t hard to spot, but sometimes, it manifests in smaller ways. Stay aware so you can address the signs early on. You don’t want to catch agents in the throes of burnout when they’re already too far gone. The longer employees feel exhausted and frustrated with their work, the more they and the people around them suffer.

The Broader Impact of Burnout

There’s a distinct difference between experiencing burnout and feeling tired from a busy run of closings. An agent who’s burned out can create problems within the office and for clients.

The biggest challenge is that burned-out agents no longer care about their work. They probably know they should care, but try as they might, they can’t muster the energy to give their clients adequate attention or follow through on transactions.

This creates substantial costs for the organizational. The same Gallup study also showed that burned-out employees are 63 percent more likely to call in sick and nearly three times as likely to look for other jobs. Clearly, burnout can activate a downward spiral not only for the singular employee, but for the organization as a whole. If employees can’t address their own needs in the office, they’re unlikely to pay much mind to the needs of the company at large.

Unsurprisingly, the effects of burnout don’t cease at 5 p.m. One study shows that employees who experience a lot of stress at work also struggle to fulfill their family responsibilities.

Help Mitigate Agent Burnout

A good manager cares about his or her employees and doesn’t want to see them struggle. Here’s how to remedy burnout at the office before it becomes a bigger problem.

1. Understand agent capacity. In order to recognize when agents may be in over their heads, you need to understand their capacity. It will vary from individual to individual. I have one agent, for instance, who closed 19 transactions in one month and was smooth sailing, while another had seven transactions in a month and felt like his hair was on fire.

Keep a particularly close eye on your top performers, as higher engagement doesn’t always equal less burnout. A study by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence showed that one in five employees who were highly engaged in their work reported high amounts of burnout. The same study found that while high performers often exhibited desirable behaviors and looked like model employees, they also report the highest turnover intentions — even higher than those who reported being unengaged at work.

2. Keep the office culture light and fun. I try to make the office a space people like to be. We aren’t quota-driven; instead, we have a performance level we feel agents need to hit to make a living in this business. We work with them to help them improve with every transaction but don’t add the extra pressure of having to meet a certain quota.

If you can’t get around a quota requirement, there are other ways to spice up the office and keep the pressure down. According to BrightHR, employees’ favorite work activities are dress-down Fridays, office parties and nights out, bring-your-pet-to-work days, and massage days. Regardless, allowing agents to relax and be more casual with each other will increase overall comfort at the office.

3. Create a supportive atmosphere that encourages sharing. Share both successes and challenges in weekly meetings. This will show that agents aren’t alone in their celebrations or their shortcomings, and that helps keep agents in the right mindset. At our team meetings, agents will thank other agents for helping them out in a tough situation, brag about their kids or grandkids, and even ask for prayers and good thoughts for anyone who’s having health issues or going through a rough time.

Encouraging co-workers to share about their families can show that you value family and support a healthy balance. And studies show that employees who work in environments that are more supportive of their work-life balance experience lower levels of work-family conflict, which, in turn, leads to greater job and family satisfaction.

4. Encourage your agents to take vacations. Americans have a vacation problem. Fifty-five percent of Americans left vacation days on the table in 2015. The most common reasons for doing so were that they feared returning to piles of work and that no one would be able to get the job done in their absence.

It’s up to managers to change this mindset. Eighty percent of employees said if they felt fully supported and encouraged by their bosses, they’d be more likely to take time off. On your end, this means devising a plan to ensure employees’ work is covered in their absence so they can fully relax.

Tell your agents they need to take time off; it’s a wonderful way to let them know you care. I’ve told many agents they need to schedule time off because they weren’t acting like themselves. Remind them of how successful they are, and kindly let them know that they aren’t doing as good of a job at hiding their exhaustion as they think they are.

Burnout might feel inevitable, especially in a fast-paced industry like real estate, but it’s preventable. It takes careful and kind leadership to ensure your employees are still excited about coming to work every day, and it takes a keen awareness of individual behavior. Watch out for the signs and take care of your employees when they’re spread too thin.