Burnout is a term that has been used by many to describe feelings of fatigue and lethargy experienced during the middle of the year.
In recent years, the term “burnout”, which refers to the stress that employees experience at work due to increased demands on their health, has become more common. This became even more evident in 2020 when employees were under increased pressure, faced with uncertainty, and had to deal with an increase in workload due to Covid-19.
Burnout is now recognized as a global condition by the World Health Organization.
The WHO has identified the following symptoms as common signs of burnout:
- Feelings of exhaustion or fatigue
- Increased mental distance from the job
- Feelings of negativism and cynicism about one’s work
- Reduced professional effectiveness
Burnout is only defined by the WHO as stress at work. This means that employers must acknowledge their role in prevention. Burnout and work-related stress are often viewed in some industries as a “part of the job”, or even a necessity, due to the challenges of the pandemic.
How to manage burnout
Burnout is a recognized occupational phenomenon. It is evident that employment is a factor in its occurrence. The employers are best placed to intervene and prevent burnout from occurring or to provide support to those who are burned out. Some may believe that burnout is something personal and only a person can deal with. However, this attitude can cause burnout to become prevalent in the business, and have a negative impact on retention, productivity, and growth.
Employers can:
- Assessing the workload and working hours for imbalances and ensuring employees receive the support needed to achieve targets
- Assuring employees receive the necessary training to perform their jobs efficiently
- Avoid creating situations where employees are forced to work long hours or take their work home.
- Encourage employees to take annual leave and rest breaks
- Assuring that cover is available during an employee’s leave, so they do not feel the need to “log in” to avoid having a backlog of work upon their return
- Working from home or flexible working is an option.
- Employees can express their concerns by keeping the “open door” policy.
Burnout can have a negative impact on retention, productivity, and growth.
Burnout symptoms: How to recognize them
Like those who suffer from poor mental health or burnout, people with these symptoms will vary from person to person. Burnout can be a result of chronic stress at work.
It is difficult to manage burnout because the symptoms can be similar to those of depression, stress or other mental conditions. The managers will need to identify behaviors that could be linked to burnout or poor health and support their teams.
Burnout can manifest in many ways.
- Physical symptoms include feeling tired, being sick constantly, having a change in sleeping patterns, or experiencing frequent headaches.
- Behavioural Symptoms – such as procrastination and withdrawal from others.
- Emotional symptoms, such as a feeling of failure, lack of motivation, cynicism or a negative perception, can be accompanied by emotional symptoms.
Supporting Employees with Burnout
Burnout can cause employees to feel worn out and beyond caring. They may not even realize that this is the case.
Managers who identify any of these symptoms or notice a change in the employee’s behavior should take action to determine the cause to ensure that they are fulfilling their duty of care to their employees.
First, invite the employee for a meeting. This can be done remotely, if necessary, and discuss symptoms. Ask them if they need any support at work. At this point, it may be difficult to determine whether an employee is stressed out or burnt-out.
Managers must be ready to ask the employee a variety of questions, or to refer them to a professional who can assist in this classification. However, managers are not expected be experts in burnout.
Prevention is always better than cure, as the saying goes. According to reports, this may be the reason why the founder of dating app Bumble decided to close down all offices temporarily to “allow staff members to de-stress” and “focus on themselves”.
It was reported that the decision was made due to a “collective burning out” across the company – probably because of the increased demand for the services provided by the app.
It is a way to deal with burnout, and prevent the situation from getting worse. Not all businesses are in a position where they can close their offices. Therefore, it is important to look out for symptoms and deal with the problem on a case by case basis.
Raising Awareness
While some employees and managers may be familiar with burnout as a medical syndrome, it is likely that there will also be employees who are unaware of the condition or simply dismiss it as not important. Employers must raise awareness about burnout and its negative effects, as well as how to manage it when it occurs.
This is important not only for managers, who are responsible for the burnout of their teams, but also for employees.
Employees will recognize burnout symptoms if they understand what it is. This will enable them to alert their manager if they feel burnt out. Burnout awareness can be part of an organization’s existing awareness and wellness schemes or it can be a separate initiative, like training and awareness days, that focuses on this issue.
Takeaway
Burnout is a symptom that is caused by chronic stress at work.
Managers must speak with the employee to determine the cause of the burnout. They will also need to assess workplace practices in order to pinpoint the reasons why the employee feels burned out. The employee may have an impossible workload, be working long hours, or lack the support to perform key aspects of their job.
There are many workplace stressors that can be identified. Once they have been identified, the manager should agree to the management of the cause to make sure the employee does not experience chronic workplace stress.
