Burnout is on the rise. Our frenzied work styles and the increased pressure to produce have taken their toll over the years. Now the confusion, anxiety, and isolation of the pandemic had added to the problem.
A 2018 Gallup study found 23 per cent of people feel burned out at work often or always. A poll before the pandemic took effect, by Blind, an anonymous workplace community app, recorded 61 per cent of professionals considering themselves burned out. A few months into the pandemic, that rose to 73 per cent.
Interestingly, the World Health Organization, which globally has overseen the coronavirus pandemic, has also labelled burnout as a pandemic. It defines burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
- feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
- increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
- reduced professional efficacy.
“Burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life,” WHO cautions.
As well as sometimes confusing what burnout is, we can easily slide into believing four common myths about burnout that New Zealand consultant Suzi McAlpine identifies in her book Beyond Burnout.
The first myth is that burnout is all about the person – not the workplace. That puts too much onus on the individual to prevent, treat and recover from burnout in the workplace. The notion of individual responsibility is accentuated by the many articles on the internet and tips on television shows, from yoga to mindfulness to resilience courses, or better workplace habits like developing priorities and learning to say no to requests. Those strategies can be helpful but she stresses they are not enough – nor is it merely the individual’s responsibility to tackle burnout.
Burnout is bigger than the individual. We operate in an ecosystem and usually that’s the cause of burnout. If the water in a goldfish bowl becomes contaminated, it’s not the fish who are responsible for being sick.
Treating burnout as an individual responsibility leads us to miss the systemic issues causing burnout. It also makes it easy for us to overlook those in our organisation who are also suffering from burnout but are hiding it and still pressing forward. It means we don’t treat the root causes of burnout and leave the individuals suffering to feel they are at fault, adding to the stigma of being burned out.
The second myth follows from that last point: People who suffered from burnout are presumed to be mentally weak or poor performers who can’t handle stress. “In many cases it’s quite the opposite. In fact, it may be that the highest-performing, most dedicated, and passionate workers are most at risk from burnout. A five-year study in the UK, released in 2017, found that the mental health of 20 per cent of the top-preforming leaders of British businesses was affected by corporate burnout,” she writes, noting burnout has even been described as “overachiever syndrome.”
High performers may be more at risk of burnout because their personal thirst for excellence creates pressure to be perfect and their willingness to always take on more means sacrificing work-life balance. But again, that ignores the organization and surrounding ecosystem. High performers are often the ones assigned the most challenging projects and the breaks between those projects tend to be short. No matter how busy they are, the assumption is they can do more and should because they will produce top quality work. As the saying goes, “If you want something done, give it to the busiest person” – and McAlpine adds, the highest performing.
The third myth, when we start to feel signs of burnout, is that we can just take a holiday or few days off and everything will be hunky-dory again. But in a 2018 American Psychological Association survey of more than 1,500 U.S. workers, two-thirds of respondents said that the mental benefits of a vacation had disappeared within a few days of their return.
“Rest and a complete break can help people start the process of recovering from burnout. But it’s not enough on its own. Sometimes it’s not enough, period,” she says.
“One of the common markers that someone is suffering from burnout is that they’ll take a break or go on holiday but return to work just as exhausted. Their tank can’t fill up. Their batteries can’t recharge. They’re still exhausted, despite the break. Burnout can’t be solved merely by taking a holiday.”
It’s like the fish in contaminated water. Take the fish out, and it will recover. Put it back in the same bowl and the symptoms return. “If we continue to put burned-out people back into an organization with exactly the same conditions, it’s unlikely you’ll see them rebounding any time soon,” she notes.
The fourth myth is trickier because it has elements of truth: Burnout is caused by stress or working long hours. But stress doesn’t necessarily cause burnout – indeed, stress has a positive side, such as when we are in a stretch assignment and flourish. What counts is the length of exposure to stress and the intensity. Short bursts can be fine, even if high intensity. Long-term exposure to high amounts of stress is more likely to lead to burnout. So there can be a link to stress but we shouldn’t be too quick or too general in our assessment.
Similarly, long hours in and of themselves do not necessarily cause burnout. But there’s a link: When we work long hours over a long time and those long hours are combined with other burnout-causing factors — such as a lack of resources or little control over the job you’re charged with — then the chance of burnout increases.
The red flags that can signal burnout are chronic exhaustion, cynicism or detachment, along with a reduced sense of accomplishment and personal efficacy. Someone suffering from burnout is likely to display a combination of signs pointing to those factors. But it may not be easy to discern, for the individual or that person’s boss. McAlpine suffered from burnout and says “looking back on my own experience, it was clear these red flags were furiously flapping in my face — I just couldn’t see them. And neither could Nick, my manager.”
Leaders need to educate themselves on the signs of burnout for themselves but also their teams since they oversee aspects of the ecosystem. Burnout rarely happens to just one person. She encourages you to look for patterns in your team as well as individual instances of greater exhaustion, absenteeism, increasing frustration or cynicism, or reduced personal inefficacy. Talk openly with your team about the signs of burnout in a way that is supportive and non-judgemental. She urges you to even bring mental wellness conversations into your one-on-ones. Ask: On a scale of one to 10, where one is terrible and 10 is awesome, how would you rate your wellness (including mental wellness) right now?
If it strikes you personally, practice self-compassion. That doesn’t mean ignoring self-reflection – you may need to rethink your work situation. But don’t, like her, fall into the self-blame game, which made it worse. Reach out; don’t try to fight burnout on your own. Talk to your doctor and if you are comfortable your manager or HR. Look at what you can control and influence in this situation, and what small, proactive or positive things you can do to help. Realize that recovery from burnout won’t happen overnight but she assures you that recovery will occur, in time.
“Burnout doesn’t go away on its own. And it certainly won’t go away unless you address the underlying issues causing it. Whatever you do, don’t ignore burnout and think that if you just dig deeper into your already depleted reserves and soldier on, it’s going to help, or that you’ll endure and get through it. Putting your head in the sand and changing nothing is a sure-fire tactic to take you further down the burnout road. It will cause more damage, too — potentially to your career, your health and your personal relationships,” she says.
Her book is an excellent guide to burnout, looking at all aspects, thoroughly, and explaining what organizations, leaders within those organizations, and individuals can do to reduce the burnout pandemic.
