How to recognize burnout – What to do if you experience burnout

Emily, a financial manager, has been working 60 hours a week for several months to meet deadlines. She begins to feel constantly exhausted, both physically and mentally. Jobs that once seemed appealing now seem daunting, and you easily become irritated with your co-workers. Even though you are spending more time, your productivity is decreasing. Eventually, she started calling in sick so often that she felt like she couldn't keep going any longer and started thinking about quitting her job.

Emily is a victim of burnout. World Mental Health Day 2024 (October 10) is about helping people like Emily recognize when their work is affecting their health and taking steps to address it. The objective was to focus on workplace health.

Burnout occurs when job demands are high for an extended period of time and are not offset by sufficient mental and physical resources. In this situation, people can no longer recover from demanding jobs. Their energy is gradually depleted, leading to a state of mental exhaustion, a cynical and negative attitude towards work, and even poor performance.

In other words, people affected by burnout are unable and unwilling to fully function at work. Although burnout can occur in any job, it is most likely to occur in workplaces where demands are high and resources are scarce. It is a widespread phenomenon.

The country is on the brink of becoming a burnout nation, with 91 per cent of working adults surveyed experiencing high or extreme levels of pressure or pressure at some point in the past year, according to a report by the charity Mental Health UK. reported feeling stressed.

The report found that 20% of UK workers even took time off from work last year due to stress-related mental health issues.

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significant impact

Research consistently shows that a major cause of burnout is excessive and prolonged work demands. This includes, for example, high workload, job insecurity, role ambiguity, conflict, stress or stressful events, and work pressure.

Burnout has serious effects, especially those affected by burnout. Burnout affects everyone differently, but even mild symptoms (which can last for several years) can have a variety of negative health effects. These include work-related anxiety and depression, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, insomnia, headaches, and perhaps most alarmingly, increased mortality.

People with mild burnout are also at risk of developing more severe burnout and being unable to take time off from work due to illness.

Burnout is also a concern for organizations because it negatively impacts creativity, leading to higher turnover, increased absenteeism, and poor job performance.

Symptoms of burnout vary from person to person, and you may not fully realize you're burnt out until you're not just tired but unable to function.

People who experience burnout can feel drained of energy and feel overwhelmed by even small tasks. They distance themselves from their work, struggle with self-doubt, and develop cynical and negative attitudes toward their work and the people they work with.

When looking for symptoms of burnout, you can ask yourself the following questions: Do you mostly talk about your work in a negative way? Do you tend to not think about your work much and work almost mechanically? Does your work sometimes make you feel bad? ?Do you ever feel tired before going to work?Do you often feel emotionally drained during work?Do you always feel drained and exhausted after work?

To help recover and prevent burnout, work demands that cause fatigue and demotivation should be minimized. For example, reducing workload and work pressure and establishing clear boundaries between life and work can help reduce stressful job demands.

Job resources can also help reduce the impact of job demand. This includes job management, performance of various tasks, social support, performance feedback, professional development opportunities, and the quality of the worker's relationship with his or her supervisor.

When people have these resources in abundance, the relationship between job demands and burnout is significantly reduced because they help workers cope better.

recovery is possible

In this context, the opportunity to recover from work-related stress becomes a particularly important work resource. Recovery means setting aside non-work time for employees to relax and disconnect from work. This may include leisure activities where people can simply experience pleasure without feeling the pressure of competition.

Research also shows that job crafting is an effective intervention for burnout. Job crafting means that employees make small adjustments to both job demands and resources. Employees can reduce work demands by taking steps to minimize aspects of their work that are emotionally, mentally, or physically taxing, or by reducing their workload.

For example, you might look for a quieter place to work. You can also increase your resources at work by engaging in professional development, increasing your autonomy at work, and asking others for support, feedback, and advice. Over time, engaging in job crafting reduces burnout.

Organizations also need to do their part to reduce burnout. Various intervention strategies, such as stress management training, mindfulness-based approaches, or policies that allow employees to disconnect from work outside of normal working hours, are useful tools to combat burnout in organizations . conversation

Michael Koch is a reading specialist in human resource management and organizational behavior at Brunel University, London. Sarah Park is Professor of International Business at the University of Leicester.