Why We Need To Talk About Burnout
Conversations about burnout are few and far between. Learn more about this phenomenon and the steps you can take to mitigate its effects.
Jacinda Ardern, who has served as Prime Minister of New Zealand for five and a half years, unexpectedly announced her resignation last week. She mentioned the challenging aspects of the role during her speech and stated that she no longer has the energy to satisfy it. Although many people were surprised by her announcement and departure, it has nevertheless contributed to the ongoing discussion about burnout.
This further shows that you are equally susceptible to burnout regardless of your position—whether you're an intern, a CEO, or a world leader—and the industry you work in. Considering its impact, it is crucial to understand the phenomenon of burnout.
With that in mind, we will examine burnout in detail in this article and learn some measures we can take to combat it. But first, let’s take a closer look at a work culture that fosters burnout and its effect on a generation’s well-being.
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Millennials and Hustle Culture
Hustle and hustle culture has gained enormous popularity in recent years, and millennials have been some of its most ardent advocates. Simply put, the culture emphasises the priority of one's work and implies that in order to succeed, one must put in long hours and sacrifice self-care. Furthermore, qualities like being busy, driven, and working hard are glorified.
We can better understand the adoption and widespread nature of this culture thanks to a survey conducted by The Finery Report, an Indonesian media outlet. According to the findings, 83.8% of respondents perceived overwork to be normal while 60.8% said that they felt guilty when they didn't put in extra hours.
Additionally, many participants indicated that they worked between 75 and 80 hours per week, which is double the conventionally accepted standard for a full-time job, which is 40 hours per week. Normalising long work hours as a sign of success and increased productivity puts an employee under unnecessary stress and increases their risk of burnout.
According to a Gallup poll, 28% of millennials frequently feel burned out at work, which represents a slight increase from the previous generation's 21%. Furthermore, 45% of millennial workers say they experience burnout occasionally, which indicates that 7 out of 10 workers experience burnout at work. These statistics have led many experts to consider millennials as "the burnout generation" as a result of these statistics.
This number is expected to rise in the future due to increasing work demands and pressures, necessitating more awareness, discussion, and understanding of burnout.
What Is Burnout?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is a condition caused by severe unmanaged workplace stress. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a medical condition; instead, one could classify it as a stress response. Since the term burnout is specific to an organisational context, the WHO asserts that its use to describe experiences in other contexts must be avoided.
According to Christina Maslach, PhD, a pioneer in the field of burnout research, burnout has three essential components. These include exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced performance; one is only considered burned out when all three of these symptoms are present at once. Let's examine these components in more detail to gain a better understanding.
a. Exhaustion and Energy Depletion
This element refers to the feeling of being overburdened and having depleted one’s physical and emotional reserves. Exhaustion can result from a variety of factors, including an increased workload, organisational culture and negative work setting (e.g. job sector, autonomy, hours, etc.).
As a result, you might constantly feel tired, dread going to work, not want to get involved in work, and find it challenging to start and finish projects.
b. Cynicism or Depersonalisation
Along with feeling emotionally expended, people may also feel distant from, cynical about, or detached from their jobs. These include a decline in your intellectual and emotional commitment to your work as well as an increase in the expression of negative, indifferent, or detached feelings toward various facets of your work. Workload, a lack of involvement in decision-making, and high conflict are some factors that can foster cynicism.
People you enjoyed working with or helping also start to come off as irritating and annoying. Your perception of work has changed and now facets that once inspired, excited and motivated you, no longer do. Furthermore, you might doubt the impact of your work and begin to question the motivations and goals of your employer.
c. Reduced Performance
This component refers to one’s feelings of incompetency along with feeling a lack of achievement and productivity. A few factors that contribute to this are inadequate support or feedback, unclear expectations, insufficient knowledge, and lack of time.
It's possible that you've noticed that the calibre of your work has decreased, and that, despite working harder each day, your results are not improving. In some cases, you might be able to maintain your performance, but it will require more focus and effort than before. These factors may in turn diminish your confidence in your abilities at work.
The aforementioned factors can significantly affect a person's life, particularly in terms of their physical and mental well-being as well as their work outcomes. According to research, being burned out lowers psychological well-being while increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, sleep disorders, absenteeism, and intention to quit one's job. Even though the effects of burnout can be severe and adversely affect many aspects of our lives, there are some strategies you can use to recover from it.
What Can You Do to Reduce Burnout?
Burnout is not just a personal issue; it is also one for organisations, with factors like workload and corporate culture playing major roles. Although an organization's policies can be very helpful in preserving the well-being of its employees, you as an individual employee can take the actions listed below to safeguard your well-being.
a. Unplug From Work
With the rise of remote working options, the lines separating work and home have blurred in the post-pandemic world. As a result, many of us work at home way before or after the designated “core working hours”. This is supported by a study that reveals 81% of professionals in the US alone admit to checking their emails after work hours, giving the impression that they were never off the job.
We must learn how to unplug from work in order to reduce this. There are numerous ways to accomplish this, but let's focus on the two most popular ones. The first is short vacations. According to a Cornerstone survey, 87% of workers say they feel less stressed after three-day vacations than they do after long vacations. This is because in shorter vacations they are not faced with the pressure of picking up the slack and as a result are able to relax during their time off.
Secondly, make an effort to refrain from responding to business calls or emails after office hours. If you have trouble stopping yourself from opening the email app, set an app timer or uninstall it when you get home from work. According to research, this detachment after work hours can aid in lowering psychological stress, boosting life satisfaction, and improving job performance.
b. Prioritise Your Health
Practising self-care and putting your health first is one of the best ways to mitigate the effects of burnout according to experts. This can help in replenishing your physical and emotional resources along with aiding in your ability to focus on the tasks at hand.
You can accomplish this in small steps by paying attention to your diet, altering your sleeping patterns, engaging in spiritual activities, engaging in cardiovascular or resistance exercise, crafting, or partaking in any other activity you find enjoyable. You can also try to incorporate mindfulness into your routine either through meditation, journaling or practising gratitude which too can help.
c. Rethink Your Work
While practising self-care and taking breaks from your work can help you feel less worn out and cynical and perform better, it's also important to recognise the things that make you feel more burned out. It's critical that you speak with your supervisor if you experience excessive workloads or unreasonable deadlines.
Additionally, discuss with them your future plans for managing your obligations and schedule with them. Although discussing your schedule and workload can be very challenging, it is preferable to do so before becoming overworked and uninterested in your job.
d. Seek Help
Psychologist Adam Borland, PsyD, suggests that seeking professional help can be really beneficial to tackling burnout. He says that the safe space during sessions not only allows you to express your worries openly but also provides you with an avenue to receive unbiased feedback from a trained professional.
Reach out to your family, friends, and coworkers as well; research suggests that their support may help lower the negative effects of burnout. In addition to this, make use of employee outreach and assistance programmes if available at your work as they too can help you manage your stress and burnout effectively.
Work is a major stressor in our lives, having its own set of demands and challenges. Thus, it is essential to ensure that our approach to work, be it taking part in the hustle culture or taking regular breaks, does not increase our already high levels of stress. While implementing the aforementioned steps can assist you in mitigating burnout on an individual level, organisations must also recognise the impact of workplace stressors. The development of organisational policies that address employee burnout will also pave the way for a workplace that prioritises employee wellbeing.
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