Why Burnout Matters and What Workplaces Can Do About It
Throughout Dr John Chan’s career working in the talent management space across the globe, he identified that creating a stable and sustainable work culture is essential for high-performing teams.
By sustainability, John is referring to the needs of the organisation being balanced with the needs of the people; designing jobs that allow people to thrive in and outside of work.
And this is something leaders have to be really intentional about. You can get an amazing, high-performing group of people together, but they won’t make a fantastic team unless the system they’re working within is sustainable.
Otherwise, there’s a danger of employees becoming exhausted, disengaged, and less efficient. In other words, people burn out.
To find out why burnout is becoming increasingly common, and to discuss what workplaces can do about it, I invited Dr John Chan to join me on the Ideal Day podcast. John is a Managing Director and Head of Research at Infinite Potential, an independent not-for-profit think tank dedicated to researching and finding practical solutions to address some of the most pressing workplace problems.
Their research shows that the rate of burnout has steadily climbed over the past five years, with 38% of people experiencing burnout in the last year alone. We know that something about our modern work culture isn’t working, but it’s not 100% clear what the best path forward is.
5 Ways to Manage Organisational Burnout
Once someone is experiencing burnout, it’s really hard for them to recover. Burnt-out people will likely experience loneliness and lower self-esteem, alongside potentially other mental health issues, and it can take years to get out of that.
So prevention is where companies should focus their resources. Organisations take a huge risk by not addressing it, as when it happens to one person, it’s likely to have a domino effect throughout the company.
In this post, you’ll learn about what burnout really is and why it’s important to have strategies to mitigate it, alongside learning ways to help prevent burnout within workplaces.
1. Understand what burnout is
Although the increased media coverage on burnout has thankfully brought more eyes to the topic, this also means the term burnout has become interchangeable with anything stress-related.
John explains that we need to be really clear about what burnout means if we want to explore the possible solutions.
To start with, WHO defines burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, and John explains it has three identifying factors.
Firstly, we can identify burnout with perhaps the most obvious symptom; the physical and mental exhaustion it causes. However, equally important, is that burnout leads to increased feelings of disengagement from work, which is when we feel cynical about our job. A sign of disengagement could be someone who does what they needs to do, but doesn’t talk much to others or partake in anything outside of their to-do list.
Research shows that workplace cynicism can lead to a mass exodus from crucial sectors such as healthcare and education. For this reason, it’s essential to find solutions for the disengagement that burnout causes, and not just the exhaustion.
The third factor of burnout is professional inefficacy, which John describes as when someone used to feel confident in their work, but now makes more mistakes and has trouble concentrating. This can lead to a downward spiral in self-worth, which only makes things worse.
These three levels of burnout - exhaustion, disengagement, and inefficacy - feed into each other and can be hard to combat.
John also notes that women have always experienced higher levels of burnout. However, this year, men’s levels have decreased while women’s have increased even higher; the gap is only getting bigger. So this is something else to consider.
2. Be mindful and experiment.
We created the systems that are burning everyone out, which means we can change them. And it takes all of us, at every level, to help change that.
John reminds us that we’re at a crossroads, and no one has the perfect answers to prevent burnout - so be suspicious if someone tells you they have all the answers. No amount of AI or one-on-one meetings is a magical cure.
Instead, be open to trying things, learning from them, and then trying something else. John has seen this as the best way to find out what works for you and your organisation.
3. Focus on prevention by building good connections
One-to-one relationships between employees and management are key to preventing burnout. John found there was a huge perception gap within these relationships, where 68% of managers thought that their employees’ wellbeing was the same or better than last year, whereas the majority of people said it’s got worse.
So solid communication is really important to understand what’s going on.
To start with, talk to your team about their workload. Ask your teams, what can we do to make your job demands sustainable and, if needed, how can we take things off people’s lists to make them sustainable.
Don’t just talk about outcomes in one-on-ones, but ask how people are feeling while completing the work. Find out what people’s career goals are, how they’re doing outside of their job, and if they’re having the chance to use their strengths at work. In addition, remind employees about the impact they have on others. All individuals, not just management, should know they have a role in changes within a company and the ability to influence.
Trust is also essential if we want to make the most of these conversations. When employees feel safe, they’re also more likely to bring up early stages of burnout, so you can tackle it before it becomes too complex.
John also notes that high-performing leaders work within organisations that truly allow them to lead, not just manage. Too often, management can feel like an add-on to somebody’s already existing workload, rather than leadership being the majority of their role. High-performing teams will be intentional about which tasks leaders should no longer do, to make space for them to guide others.
Finally, leaders need to be able to model the behaviour they wish to see in others; if you care about others’ mental health, you have to help teams manage their workloads… but also display that behaviour. Don’t reward behaviours that lead to burnout, such as working late or over the weekend, and also stick to these boundaries yourself.
4. Build team connections.
When you have a strong, connected team who are really supportive of each other, that’s one of the biggest mitigators of burnout.
Knowing people have your back and will support you when things get tough, and vice versa, makes a huge difference. So leaders need to be intentional about prioritising these connections; often when workplaces get busy, these strong team relationships are one of the first things to go.
It’s also really important to know what your non-negotiables are and set boundaries to vigorously protect them. For one person, their non-negotiable might be to leave work in time to pick up the kids from school and have dinner with them, so they need to set up boundaries around what time they leave work.
Well-connected teams will share this information so they can work with one another to make sure everyone’s non-negotiables are met. The more we understand about each others boundaries, the better we can protect them.
5. Be flexible.
Flexibility is crucial if we want to aid one another to be our best selves at work. As individual teams, we can come to agreements that work for everyone. For example, one team might decide not to have meetings on Fridays, so they can put that time aside to learn new things or finish things up, allowing everyone to begin their weekend worry-free.
John also explains that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to the ‘work from home’ debate. There’s no perfect number of days to come into the office. Instead, look at what tasks people are doing, and see what environment is best suited to those tasks and the individual doing them.
For instance, if someone comes into the office only to be in Zoom meetings all day, that is not beneficial. Similarly, some people focus better at home when working on individual projects, whereas others get more energised by being around others within the office.
The most important factor is that people need to find value in coming in, such as collaborating with teammates and building connections. Earn that commute, rather than making people come in for the sake of it.
Summary
Once individuals are suffering from burnout, it has a huge knock-on effect on both their mental health outside of work, but also the company as a whole. So creating workplace cultures that mitigate burnout is essential for building high-performing teams and better wellbeing.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for preventing burnout, we can mitigate it by prioritising well-connected teams, so we’re better equipped to protect one another’s boundaries, support each other, and ensure no one’s workload feels unmanageable. Flexibility aids us in making sure the work culture works for everyone, and we can be willing to experiment with different systems when something isn’t working.
For more resources on burnout and tools for preventing it, visit infinitepotential.com.au.