Rethinking Workplace Burnout

Jennifer’s latest article for SHRM, Rethinking Workplace Burnout, challenges leaders to shift their thinking about workplace burnout as an individual problem and make burnout prevention in the organization a priority. She offers five steps to begin the process of shaping a burnout strategy, which should be separate from a well-being strategy.

1) Recognize Burnout

Burnout is included in WHO's ICD-11 as an occupational phenomenon, defined as follows:

Burnout 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.

The six root causes of burnout are:

Unsustainable workload

When employees are overworked, there is a snowball effect wherein poor performance resulting from a high workload causes additional stress for employees, further intensifying their burnout. Employees that report always having too much to do are more than twice as likely as others to experience work-related burnout. This can lead to chronic stress and is highly detrimental to mental health.

Perceived lack of control

Micromanagement often leads to burnout. When a role lacks autonomy, novelty, variety, and structured flow, employees are likely to feel unfulfilled and burnt out. A Swedish study cited in The Burnout Epidemic found that employees with a higher level of influence and control over their work reported less depression, less absences, and lower levels of symptoms of almost all health indicators.

Insufficient rewards for effort

Employees require incentive to perform at their best. Many roles require employees to go above and beyond, stretching themselves thin at the cost of their mental and physical health. Some fields, such as healthcare or policing, have very demanding hours and allow little time for rest. In these types of roles, employee appreciation and adequate compensation are especially crucial to sustain employees’ wellbeing.

Lack of a supportive community

Community fosters a sense of belonging. Considering how much time we spend at work, it is so important to feel comfortable and supported in that environment. Practicing gratitude and taking the time to share appreciation for one another, for example in thank-you meetings, are ways to build a positive company culture and strong community, resultantly enhancing performance and reducing burnout.

Lack of fairness

A lack of fairness, or organizational justice, is generally a structural issue. Bias, favouritism, unfair policies, unfair compensation, and poor treatment by managers and/or coworkers all hinder the employee experience and foster a culture of unfairness. Having effective complaint mechanisms in place, responding to all employee inquiries promptly, and a corporate strategy around fairness are conducive to a healthy work environment in which employees are less likely to burn out.

Mismatched values and skills

Prior to the 2008 recession, one in five people were overqualified for their role. That figure has since increased to one in four. This is significant because overqualified employees report higher rates of depression, anxiety, and burnout than their appropriately qualified counterparts. Over-qualification and a resultant negative job attitude is bad for morale and performance, and often results in burnout. Organizations should hire the right fits for their openings, meaning that the employee’s and company’s goals and expectations are aligned.

2) Ask Better Questions

When creating ways to combat workplace burnout, it's important to put measurements in place. One option is to use the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which analyzes burnout explicitly.

If you have an existing survey with targeted questions about burnout, do those questions also ask for anecdotal feedback about what is at the root of the stress? If so, you're on the right track. If not, Jennifer presents five steps to start measuring burnout more effectively. 

3) Pick Your Battles

Using the data more effectively is the next step to prevent burnout and improve your company's wellness strategies.

4) Enrol Your People

As you approach next steps, remember that the company's employees have shared their personal experiences and likely feel vulnerable. The choices HR makes next are consequential to the success of the pilot and will require emotionally intelligent leaders to see them through.

5) Create a Culture of ‘Try”

As employees change how they tackle burnout at work, it's necessary to create a safe space where people can fail forward. But this time, remove the word "fail" and boldly claim a "culture of try" instead. When you make that distinction, it creates a workplace full of self-compassion and empathy, traits found in the most successful and innovative teams.

Conclusion

We’re calling on leaders to completely rethink their approach to burnout, and recognize that a burnout prevention strategy is critical for a healthy and high-performing organization

For more information on how we can help organizations to better understand burnout and prevention, contact us - we’re here to help.