The Pew Research Center estimates that as of April 2024, around 22 million employed adults in the U.S. exclusively work remotely, which is about 14 percent of all employed adults. That's more than double what it was in 2019, and even though the number has dropped since 2021's peak of 18 percent, it hasn't dropped by much. Remote work is here to stay — even in the face-to-face space. But in an inherently high-pressure industry, how can managers identify and prevent burnout when human connection is jeopardized by remote work?

Dr. Andy Core, CEO of Core Change Institute, has taught professionals how to thrive in high-demand environments for more than 20 years, and he has some answers. His specialty is in performance psychology, and while its principles are most applicable to professional athletes, many translate to any experience where stress is involved (such as living in the 21st century).

Transformational Leadership
Core defines a transformational leader as someone who wants to pursue success with their team rather than succeed alone, and this type of leadership is paramount to success. “When leaders get stressed, they revert to me versus them,” says Core. “Instead, you have to create this sense of, 'We're in this together.'” Nobody wants to feel like a cog in a machine, and if you let team members self-isolate, then it will only erode their morale. Having a manager in the trenches with their team can make all the difference.

One way to create that sense of camaraderie is through strong communication. “I've learned not to assume how someone is feeling without clarifying,” Core says, recognizing that in an increasingly digitized world, the simple cues we take for granted, like body language, tone, and ill-advised DIY bangs, become muddled. “To me, effective leaders create trust and open dialogue,” he continues, and suggests that regular, meaningful check-ins are the key to keeping people engaged and interested. Core suggests approaching these check-ins with a sincere interest in an employee's well-being so that if they are indeed feeling burned out, they will feel comfortable talking about it.

Employees, however, shouldn't be the only ones doing the talking. Core refers to a growing body of research that says transparency within companies is key to job security. “[Transparency] is a wonderful leadership strategy. If you, as a leader, communicate clearly what constitutes a win, people will thrive,” Core says. “Being transparent may open managers to scrutiny and criticism, but I find that most of the time, transparency increases engagement, performance, and loyalty.” In other words, employees are likely to trust an honest manager who doesn't gatekeep out of fear of criticism.

Identify and Mitigate Burnout
During his teaching sessions, Core sometimes conducts live research by asking his audience questions about their emotions, obstacles, and professional goals, and based on their responses, produces data-driven visuals in real-time. “It's a research-grade resiliency assessment plus additional questions that are not only relevant, but crucial,” he says.

A major part of Core's live research investigates the primary causes of burnout, something he says every leader needs to focus on because once burnout sets in, employees lose engagement and become increasingly less productive and increasingly more cynical. Core once taught a group of leaders in the event space. One leader said they insist employees take a day off at their travel destination so they can have some downtime after an event to unwind. “That leader intuitively knows that if his people don't recharge, they're going to get emotionally exhausted, lose engagement, decrease performance, and leave,” Core says. “He would even remind people and ask what they did so he could confirm they were getting that downtime. I think that's an exceptional leader.”

Can any leader institute this policy and see results? Not necessarily. To some, the thought of their boss asking what they did during their off time in Las Vegas sounds mortifying. But a transformational leader has a genuine interest in their employees' well-being, not their extracurriculars. “If this type of policy to combat burnout is done in the right way,” Core says, “it creates loyalty and respect.”

But is a late night out in Vegas just another form of revenge bedtime procrastination? Core says it depends. People who can't find personal time in their day may deprive themselves of sleep just to have a few hours when they're not working, and that can be a symptom of burnout. But more important than giving a catchy name to your employees' habits is ensuring they have the freedom to engage in the activities and rest they need to feel adequately refreshed. “The people who are more resilient are intentional about identifying what recharges their emotional batteries and either setting that boundary or working with the people in their lives to make sure that they have that time,” Core says. For some, that might be a few hands of poker when in a new city, and for others it could be doomscrolling under the covers until the wee hours.

Mental Resiliency
When it comes to stress management, the most prominent principle for Core is mental resiliency and learning how to reprogram the brain's emotional responses so that it can deal with stress more efficiently. A major part of that is developing strategies to effectively assess, analyze, and process what triggers stress, and determine what people at all levels of an organization can do to mitigate it and improve the culture from within.

How do we process the things that cause stress? Every person has to develop unique strategies to digest and overcome the causes of stress, with an emphasis on the word “digest.” You have to eat it, let your psyche process it, acknowledge it, and understand the complex psychological mechanisms at play. And it's the manager's job to understand how to support their unique staff members.

Core says there are four key facets to creating mental resilience: Control, Connection, Commitment, and Challenge.


 CONTROL 
My efforts make a real difference  
“Control is the belief that you can be successful if you try,” Core says, noting that this is often part of an organization's culture. If somebody performs well, are they rewarded for it? Or are they punished with more work?

“One of the biggest problems and disconnects with leaders is that they think their employees know what they could do to be successful,” says Core. “But the number one employee stressor is unclear expectations, and that can only be exacerbated by remote work.” Core urges both managers and team members to revisit topics to clarify expectations. “Everyone wants to be successful,” Core says. “And the fastest way to make someone quit is to make them feel like they're working hard but can't be successful because there's no clarity on expectations.”

Core suggests managers make it clear what constitutes a win, and then celebrate that win so the employee feels admired and appreciated. “If you make people feel successful, you can increase their engagement significantly,” Core says.

 CONNECTION 
I am a part of something  
Core says leaders should be nimble in determining how to establish connections between team members.

“Managers need to find out what makes their people feel connected to their teammates. If they don't perceive a connection? That's a problem. The employee's perception is key.” An employee's perception, in fact, is often far more important than what a leader thinks. People need to feel like they're a valued part of something larger than themselves. If they don't feel valued and supported by peers, their enthusiasm will plummet.

“To build community, start by identifying what community feels like or looks like to the employee,” says Core. If managers don't take the time to get to know their employees and understand what makes them tick, they won't be able to understand what drives them or understand what irks them. Is an employee energized by a compelled social mixer over Zoom? Or does it trigger an anxiety response? This distinction is hard enough to read when you're in an office setting, but remotely it's virtually impossible to pick up on. The other approach is to invest a great deal of time and effort into reaching an intuitive understanding of the individuals who make up your team.

 COMMITMENT 
Life is interesting and worth my full effort  
What makes you feel like your work is important and valued? The answer will dictate how committed a person feels to the work they are doing.

“If someone doesn't feel like their work is valued or important, then they're not going to be very motivated or resilient,” Core says. Team members can show each other they're valued in creative ways. Core knows one company that has a plug-in installed in their Slack workspace that's essentially a way to give props. Anybody can award anybody else a taco emoji for making a great joke or for completing a major project. The company even has an internal currency that allows employees to exchange tacos for extra time off or other benefits.

“What you're doing as a leader is clarifying what the wins are,” Core says. “When you give someone a taco, then everybody sees what's valued. Be creative in finding ways to show appreciation and clarify what a good job looks like.”

 CHALLENGE 
Stress is normal and helps me grow  
“Do people see difficulties as a challenge or are they living in fear of failure?” Core asks. “I always try to teach leaders to help people get out of worry and fear and move into the realm of problem-solving.”

Core once heard of a manager referred to by his employees as “The Eye of Sauron.” For context, Sauron is the primary villain in J.R.R. Tolkien's “The Lord of the Rings.” In the movies, he manifests as a giant flaming eye at the top of a tower in Mordor that scans the horizon like a searchlight. This manager would randomly hyper-fixate on certain individuals or teams, and would even demand on-the-fly meetings to scrutinize work. Goal posts always moved, bold new initiatives were devised and demolished on a whim. His tactics gave everyone at the company a certain amount of trauma from living in fear. When might Sauron's micromanaging gaze burn you next?

Core first suggests that managing this type of manager requires emotionally detaching from the stressor using radical acceptance. “He's a jerk and a child in his approach to emotional management,” Core says. “But if you're the manager between the Eye of Sauron and your team, you have to focus on the things you have control over and ruthlessly clarify expectations in both directions.”

One way to achieve this is through second-thought thinking. “Let's say the Eye of Sauron lands on you,” Core says. “Your first thought is to go, 'Oh no!' That's the emotional response. It's normal, and psychology says that you can't manage your first thought. Let it happen. Your second thought, the arousal reappraisal, is where you make sense of it and determine your reaction to the stress.”

Core suggests that people digest that initial emotional response without judgment, then analyze what's really going on. What's the real problem in this situation? What can you do to manage it? The key is to shift into problem-solving mode rather than spiral in fear and anxiety. E