A big deadline is looming, with plenty of tasks coming in the next few weeks. You know your most dedicated employees will do anything to get the job done.

Or will they?

The employees you know for their passion and motivation are at risk for burnout. Due to their drive to do an exceptional job, they'll push themselves to the limit. And that could cause them to break ties with the organization.

As a project manager, you can help. Here's how.

What Is Burnout?

Knowing your enemy can help you defeat it. And chances are, you already know a little about burnout. Of senior managers interviewed by Robert Half, 96 percent said their employees are experiencing some level of burnout.

Burnout has often been associated with caring professions (such as nurses) and first responders (such as firefighters), says Marcela Slepica, clinical services director at employee assistance program AccessEAP. But it certainly isn't restricted to jobs that involve saving lives.

Any environment can become a burnout incubator. And often, managers play a role in creating the perfect setting for employee stress.

Managers create burnout conditions by pushing their employees to the limit. They tie long shifts to professional advancement, and ask employees to come to work no matter what, even if they feel sick, writes Jennifer Moss, author of “Unlocking Happiness at Work.”

As a project manager, it's your job to push your employees. But if you're creating an environment of intense competition and grueling expectations, expect signs of employee burnout to appear. They may seem irritable, frazzled or just checked out. Meetings can get contentious. You may sense that something is wrong with even your top performers. The problem is that those signs can be easy to overlook at first.

"Burnout is a gradual process. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it can creep up on you. The signs and symptoms are subtle at first, but become worse as time goes on," according to HelpGuide.org, a nonprofit mental health and wellness website.

The slow process actually gives you an opportunity. If you take action quickly, you could prevent those employees from disengaging completely or leaving the company for a less stressful opportunity.

Start a Constructive Conversation

While you may notice your employees changing by the minute, you won't know what's wrong—or have an idea about how to fix it—until you start collaborating.

If you sense a team-wide problem, hold a meeting and open up the floor for comments. Are deadlines unrealistic? Does the team need more control in daily decisions? Are days too cluttered with meetings? How is the noise level? Ask questions to get the conversation started, but let your team do the majority of the talking.

"Employees may not have a silver-bullet solution, but they can most certainly tell you what isn’t working, and that is often very helpful data," says Moss.

Don't be afraid to talk about workload. "Typically, if you or someone on your team has a full to-do list, then someone can step in to assist. By openly communicating needs and availability, the team can keep a pulse on its overall wellness," Suzanne Zuppello writes at visual collaboration platform Trello.

If you're not accustomed to using a participatory management or flat management style, these meetings can make you a little uncomfortable. By using this technique, however, you're giving your employees at least some influence over how work progresses at your company, says data scientist Jeffrey M. Stanton, Ph.D. That sense of power could be enough to lower stress levels.

Limit Off-Work Hours

Our wired world makes constant connection possible. When your team can't disengage from work, they tend to arrive to work in the morning just as tired as they were when they went home.

Start with a review of your company's communication policies. If employees are expected to answer work-related emails and respond to texts and phone calls after they’ve left the office, you’re courting burnout.

"Even though our constant connectivity technically allows people to do work at 11 PM after a long day in the office, that doesn’t mean they should. It’s important to create a culture with boundaries that allow people to unplug at the end of the day and get some sleep," writes strategy and management consultant Ryan Ayers.

If you're not empowered to change policy, talk up the benefits with senior management. Your advocacy could help others see why unplugging is critical for your team—and for the company as a whole.

"When your employees go on vacation and truly unplug, they come back with fresh ideas and even more enthusiasm. If you are always keeping in touch via email, Slack, or text, you are infringing on their well-earned vacation time and contributing to the burnout crisis," says Angela Roberts, CEO of U.S. Money Reserve.

Chances are, you'll need to do a little retraining to reassure your team that you don't expect around-the-clock attention to email. Plus, you may need to reinforce those messages when your staff heads out on vacation.

When a team member is away, look for others that can fill the gap. If that approach doesn’t work for your organization, consider a more radical option. Some teams close up shop entirely, allowing everyone to have one break at the same time, Kathryn Casna writes at Salesforce. You'll need to give your staff plenty of notice so they can plan ahead, but you won't have to function without key employees while they’re on vacation.

Consider Alt Workspaces

The days of offices packed tight with cubicles are fading. Some teams function best with flexible, offsite workspaces. If your team can collaborate without physical proximity, the freedom you dispense could pay off.

The benefit is most immediate for workers who spend a lot of time commuting, says entrepreneur Cristian Rennella. By allowing your team to work at least part-time from home, you're giving back the hours they would normally spend in transit.

It's tempting to fill that more work, but you should think of it as an efficiency boost. With a relatively distraction-free space, your team could do focused work that pushes your project forward. And if you don't schedule meetings on work-from-home days, your team could do yet more.

If possible, let team members decide when to take at-home work days. Ideally, you'll even allow your team members to set their own work hours.

"Autonomy gives your employees the ability to create and manage themselves in a way that allows them to cater to their personality and concentration style. Organizations may provide general guidelines or prioritization while still giving employees autonomy to perform their work in a manner best for them," writes the team at employee recognition solutions provider MTM Recognition.

Monitor Progress

After you unveil burnout-prevention strategies, measure their effectiveness. You can do so informally, by simply watching staff interactions. But a formal measurement program can help you really understand how your team is changing.

You can craft a formal measurement program by implementing the following procedures:

Have employees add self-care strategies during their annual evaluation.
Discuss progress on those resolutions in one-on-one meetings.
Offer support to ensure those goals are met. This might be providing a day off for an important event.
Reward staff for meeting their self-care goals, both privately and publicly.

Jay Miller, Ph.D., dean of the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky, follows an approach like this. His staff outlines steps that could boost morale (such as setting a fitness goal or devoting evenings to conversations with friends). In meetings, they discuss how they've been able to keep those commitments.

While he “believes that self-care must become a ‘professional practice skill’ that every employee develops,” Miller doesn't use these evaluations to determine whether someone gets a raise or promotion. You shouldn't either. Instead, think of these talks as a way to reinforce the importance of burnout prevention.

Practice What You Preach

Planning for burnout prevention is a lot of work, and that can leave you feeling a little stressed too. By prioritizing your own work-life balance, you can set a good example for your team.

"Manage your time effectively so your employees see that you take your commitment to work-life balance seriously. Don’t encourage your direct reports to leave at 5:30 p.m. only to stay late yourself," writes the team at Robert Half.

Be your own work barometer, and look for symptoms of overwork in your own life. Are you checking your phone instead of concentrating on family? Are your thoughts consumed by work?

Exhibit the behavior you want your employees to display, suggests CNN business reporter Kathryn Vasel. Participate in activities outside of work, and talk openly about why you do so. Lean on flexible work schedules when you need to, and highlight how they help you. "Managers need to set the tone when it comes to work-life balance," she writes.

How Project Managers Can Prevent — or Cause — Employee Burnout