What The Experts Say About Burnout
Burnout is incredibly difficult to manage because there is always more work and always another deadline. There is always someone you are trying to please. There is always an opportunity to push harder and faster. But in the end, the people who suffer are you, your family, and your loved ones.
What is burnout?
According to the World Health Organization,1
“Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as 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.”
What are the symptoms of burnout?
Burnout affects every part of a person’s life:
Physically - Mentally - Emotionally - Spiritually - Socially - Financially - Professionally
Learn about the signs and symptoms of burnout here.
Professions with high burnout rates.
Burnout is very high in professions such as healthcare professionals, educators, spiritual care providers, such as pastors, emergency response workers, such as police, fire fighters, and paramedics, and corporate professionals, including those in the tech field.
At times, burnout may be related to Compassion Fatigue.
What the experts say about burnout.
Burnout is becoming an epidemic among pastoral, corporate, and emergency response teams.
According to The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),
“Job stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Job stress can lead to poor health and even injury.”2
According to World Health Organization,3
“Work-related stress is the response people may have when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope.
Stress occurs in a wide range of work circumstances but is often made worse when employees feel they have little support from supervisors and colleagues, as well as little control over work processes.
There is often confusion between pressure or challenge and stress and sometimes it is used to excuse bad management practice.”
“Research findings show that the most stressful type of work is that which values excessive demands and pressures that are not matched to workers’ knowledge and abilities, where there is little opportunity to exercise any choice or control, and where there is little support from others. Employees are less likely to experience work-related stress when - demands and pressures of work are matched to their knowledge and abilities - control can be exercised over their work and the way they do it - support is received from supervisors and colleagues - participation in decisions that concern their jobs is provided.”
Burnout, and the excessive stress that leads to it, can have detrimental effects on health, job performance, and familial and social relationships.
According to the American Institute of Stress 4
“Numerous studies show that job stress is far and away the major source of stress for American adults and that it has escalated progressively over the past few decades.”
“Increased levels of job stress as assessed by the perception of having little control but lots of demands have been demonstrated to be associated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension and other disorders.”
“The severity of job stress depends on the magnitude of the demands that are being made and the individual’s sense of control or decision-making latitude he or she has in dealing with them.”
“Scientific studies based on this model confirm that workers who perceive they are subjected to high demands but have little control are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.”
How stress affects and workplace wellness.
A Deloitte study of over 1000 respondents, 5
77% say they have experienced burnout at their current job.
91% say unmanaged stress or frustration impacts their work.
83% say burnout negatively affects their personal relationships.
According to The Mental Health Commission of Canada,
“Mental health issues in the workplace are among the top concerns for organizations of all sizes. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, one in five Canadians experiences a mental health problem or illness each year, equating to 500,000 employees unable to work every week due to mental health problems or illnesses.”6
“Problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than are any other life stressor-more so than even financial problems or family problems.”7
“95 percent of HR leaders said employee burnout is sabotaging workforce retention. The survey targeted HR managers and directors, vice presidents of HR, and chief HR officers—all of them working at organizations with at least 100 employees.”8
How has the pandemic affected burnout rates?
According to research coming out during COVID-19, this is how the pandemic has affected burnout.
Burnout is what happens when you have reached your limits mentally, emotionally, and physically. With billions of the world's populations now in lockdown as COVID‐19 sweeps the globe, burnout is still very much around—but it looks a little different right now. Coping with a pandemic can feel overwhelming and exhausting and leave you feeling drained or anxious or perhaps even both.9
The new Work-From-Home culture has created new opportunities but has also “obliterated work-life balance.10
“A lack of workplace support on top of already challenging circumstances can negatively impact workers’ mental health. Prior to the pandemic, just 5% of employed workers and 7% of unemployed workers said their mental health was poor or very poor. Now, 18% of employed and 27% of unemployed workers say they are struggling with mental health issues.”11
Prior to COVID-19, Burnout was referred specifically to workplace stress. Now, some experts include parenting, relationships, and care-giving in their definition of burnout. For instance, Psychology Today reports, “Jobs aren’t the only source of the chronic stress that causes burnout. Parents, partners, and non-professional caregivers can also experience endless exhaustion, feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities, or secretly believe that they have failed at their role. These forms of burnout are referred to as parental burnout, relationship burnout, and caregiver burnout respectively.”12
According to Microsoft's 2021 Work Trend Index, workers have seen a substantial increase in digital intensity. Their findings include: 13
Meeting time on Microsoft Teams more than doubled.
Meeting duration increased by ten minutes.
Microsoft Teams users sent 45% more chats per week. After-hours chats increased by 42%.
What does the future look like?
According to Microsoft's 2021 Work Trend Index, the "Next Great Disruption" is Hybrid Work. These are some of the trends they noted: 14
High productivity is masking an exhausted workforce.
Leaders are out of touch with employees and need a wake-up call.
Gen Z is at risk and will need to be re-energized.
Authenticity will spur productivity and wellbeing.
How do you know if you are burned out?
Take our free Burnout Assessment.
How to deal with burnout.
The following are burnout prevention and burnout recovery strategies.
Comprehensive workplace culture transformation to ensure the longterm health of the organization, leadership, and employees.
Management training in Burnout prevention and Compassion Fatigue to assure essential support for all employees.
Effective Work-From-Home strategies.
Stress management and Mindfulness training, workshops, and coaching.
Resiliency education with practical and applicable integrated exercises.
An effective self-care plan using a holistic framework for comprehensive well-being.
Workplace and lifestyle boundaries training for a cohesive work-life balance.
Evidence-based assessments and policies.
Bring our burnout prevention workshops to your workplace
About the Author
Bonita Eby is a Burnout Prevention & Organizational Culture Consultant, Executive Coach, and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc., specializing in burnout prevention and wellness for organizations and individuals. Bonita is on a mission to end burnout. Get your free Burnout Assessment today.
References
Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International classification of diseases. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
Stress...at work (99-101). (2014, June 06). Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/default.html#What%20Is%20Job%20Stress?
Occupational health: Stress at the workplace. (2020, October 19). Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/ccupational-health-stress-at-the-workplace
Workplace stress. (2021, February 09). Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.stress.org/workplace-stress
Workplace Burnout survey. (n.d.). Deloitte United States. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/burnout-survey.html
Canadian employees report workplace stress as primary cause of mental health concerns. (2018, July 5). Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/news-article/13522/canadian-employees-report-workplace-stress-primary-cause-mental-health-concerns
Stress...at work (99-101). (2014, June 06). Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/default.html#What%20Is%20Job%20Stress?
Wilkie, D. (2023, December 21). Workplace burnout at “Epidemic proportions.” SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/workplace-burnout-epidemic-proportions
Queen, D., & Harding, K. (2020, August 17). Societal pandemic Burnout: A COVID LEGACY. Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7362153/
Davis, M. F., & Green, J. (2020, April 23). Bloomberg.com. Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-23/working-from-home-in-covid-era-means-three-more-hours-on-the-job
Reynolds, B. W. (2020, August 21). FlexJobs, mental Health America SURVEY: Mental health in the workplace. Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/flexjobs-mha-mental-health-workplace-pandemic/
Burnout. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2021, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/burnout
The next great disruption is hybrid work-are we ready? (2021, March 22). Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work. Contributors George Anders, Dr. Fereshteh Amini, Assembly, Callie August, Dr. Nancy Baym, Darcy Cain, Anbu Chinnasamy, Dr. Mary Donohue, Murat Erer, Godfrey Dadich Partners, Amber Hoak, Dr. Sonia Jaffe, Karin Kimbrough, Jonathan Larson, Laura Lorenzetti Soper, Ronnie Martin, Hannah McConnaughey, Gale Moutrey, Plain Concepts, Loren Pokorny, Sharat Raghavan, Dr. Sean Rintel, Colette Stallbaumer, Kim Stocks, David Titsworth, WE Communications, and Jessica Voelker.
The next great disruption is hybrid work-are we ready? (2021, March 22). Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work. Contributors George Anders, Dr. Fereshteh Amini, Assembly, Callie August, Dr. Nancy Baym, Darcy Cain, Anbu Chinnasamy, Dr. Mary Donohue, Murat Erer, Godfrey Dadich Partners, Amber Hoak, Dr. Sonia Jaffe, Karin Kimbrough, Jonathan Larson, Laura Lorenzetti Soper, Ronnie Martin, Hannah McConnaughey, Gale Moutrey, Plain Concepts, Loren Pokorny, Sharat Raghavan, Dr. Sean Rintel, Colette Stallbaumer, Kim Stocks, David Titsworth, WE Communications, and Jessica Voelker.