The Workplace Coach

You may be old enough to remember that immortal line in Highlander (the original) when Kurgan announces to everyone in church “I have something to say!! It’s better to burn out than fade away!!”. I’m not suggesting that Kurgan is a role model, nor that we should look to emulate his actions… after all it did end with him losing his head. We do however have to be proactive about dealing with burnout.

The topic of burnout at work is getting quite a bit of attention lately. Burnout is the emotional, physical or mental exhaustion that people experience as a result of working too hard or for too long without the necessary time off to recharge. Interestingly, only 46% of people who suffer from burnout say that overwork, or workload, was the key contributing factor to their condition.  

“Burnout has been steadily rising since May 2020 and we have now hit a critical threshold. As it currently stands, people and organisations are being set up for failure, since high burnout leads to lower morale, more mistakes, and a lack of engagement with work.” — Dr. Sahar Yousef, Cognitive Neuroscientist, UC Berkeley.  

If workloads are not the culprit, then what are the things that are contributing to this epidemic of burnout in the workplace? For the most part, it’s the psychosocial hazards that are going to be the most likely causes of burnout, particularly if they are sustained over a prolonged period of time. The new Model Code of Practice identifies 14 psychosocial hazards and any one or combination of these could cause burnout in your team.

People most at risk of burnout typically feel as though they have:

• Little to no control over their workload
• Little to no recognition of a job well done
• Unclear job expectations
• Unreasonable or overly demanding job expectations
• High-pressure work environments
• Too much work—specifically when it leads to less time to do the things they enjoy outside of work

What does burnout look like?

Burnout will manifest differently for different people but in general it’s going to be a combination of mental, physical and emotional symptoms which will appear as one or more of the following symptoms:

Mental burnout: 

• Dreading work
• Lack of interest or motivation
• Decreased sense of accomplishment
• Uncontrollable procrastination
• Feeling incapable of coping with new challenges

Physical burnout: 

• Exhaustion
• Chronic stress
• Inconsistent sleep habits
• Sudden, frequent health problems, ranging from headaches and colds to mental health illnesses like depression and anxiety

Emotional burnout: 

• Cynicism at work 
• Irritability or anger at work
• Suddenly and intensely disliking your job
• Feelings of hopelessness at work
• Feeling like you should isolate yourself from others

The good news is that an observant manager will recognise these signs and is in the perfect position to prevent or reverse many of the common causes of burnout. The bad news is that many managers will not only be the unwitting cause of the burnout (due to the psychosocial hazards listed above) but they are also likely to interpret the burnout as a performance management or behavioural conduct issue that needs to be addressed through a formal process. This usually just makes things worse.

Here at The Workplace Coach we help managers to:

• Become more aware of their leadership styles,
• Understand how they personally impact the people in their team,
• Eliminate or mitigate the psychosocial hazards in their team, and
• Deal confidently with people challenges, like burnout, as soon as they start to become apparent.

If you feel that someone in your team might be burning out, or is at risk of doing so, then contact us as soon as possible. We are here to help.