Burnout: Individual Perspectives and Strategies to Reset

Last year McKinsey reported that “Employee burnout is ubiquitous, alarming—and still underreported.” Nearly 50% of the respondents from both corporate and government set-ups reported burnout symptoms in this study and it was speculated that this number would be higher since the most burned-out employees would have already left their workplace. In a McKinsey report aptly titled, “The Great Exhaustion”, it was reported that employees who were anxious about hybrid work were the ones most burned out, especially if there was a lack of plan for post-pandemic hybrid work. According to the Microsoft’s October 2020 Work Trend Index report, India had the second-highest percentage of workers facing burnout in Asia.

What about personal experiences of burnout and the responses from the managers and leaders? Here are some recent tweets.

June 30, 2022: “Emotional burnout is very real. Don’t beat yourself up for having limits and boundaries” – Charlie Knight

May 2, 2022: “Told my boss that I’m experiencing severe burnout and he told me not to take stress [thumbs up sign inserted]”. – Nisha Ann Ashok

Apr 30, 2022: “Stop recommending therapy for burnout without acknowledging and addressing the institutional problems that cause burnout. You’re unfairly placing the onus on individuals for surviving in a hostile environment. Systemic change is the cure for burnout.”  — Lawren is Openly Black

Apr 26, 2022: “Many of us are in burnout not because we’re doing too much, but too little of what feeds us.” — @drthema – Ore Nicole

Personal conversations

Based on some personal conversations with employees in the corporate world engaged in both remote and hybrid work, some common responses included the following

A: “I felt burnout more during remote work. Now [I am] happier to be back. Communication gaps made us more tired and burnt out.

J: “Change was good earlier when there was a shift to remote work but now it is better to be back.”

H: “What takes 30 min in person took nearly 2.5 hours remotely.”

R: “Burnout was more in remote work with blurring of boundaries of office and personal time. But not having to travel was good [too] as it saved 1 to 2 hours each day that could be used for office work or personal time.”

T: “I liked remote work more. Productivity is more in remote work. Even though there are some gaps in communication, it may take longer than in-person. Eventually, we have to go back to work full-time.”

Factors leading to burnout

According to Gallup’s  research findings, the following five factors correlated strongly with employee burnout in the workplace

1. Unfair treatment at work: This includes facing bias, favouritism, and mistreatment, and inconsistently applied compensation.
2. Unmanageable workload: This includes long working hours, having several tasks to finish or having difficult tasks that the employees cannot manage. It is not just about long working hours as employees who are engaged and have job flexibility may work long hours and not perceive it to be unmanageable and experience burnout.
3. Unclear communication from managers: Managers do not provide employees with information for them to work effectively. This information includes role expectations, partnerships, processes, and impact of the employees’ work.
4. Lack of manager support: Without the backing of their managers, employees are likely to be feel neglected and lack confidence, especially under challenging conditions.
5. Unreasonable time pressure: Both unreasonable time pressure and deadlines can snowball into a major issue for employees as they play catch-up with their successive assignments. Unreasonable time constraints are likely to be imposed by leaders or managers who are not aware of the time taken for high quality work. Therefore, this time allocation needs to be examined carefully and performance standards should be fair for the employees so that they can aim for excellence and not settle for mediocrity.

Manager burnout

Managers also face burnout, which can adversely affect the entire team and the organization. If the managers get burnout, the employees cannot hope for much. According to Gallup’s research, managers are even more likely to experience burnout than the people they manage. Therefore, manager burnout has to be tackled first if the organization and the employees are to develop resilience in contexts like the pandemic and the uncertain times that follow it.

Managers face five major challenges: (i). Unclear expectations with multiple competing priorities; (ii). Heavy workload and distractions; (iii). Job stress and frustrations; (iv). Less focus on their strengths as most of their time is devoted to managing others; and (v). Frustrating performance reviews whose accuracy and fairness they are doubtful of.

What can be done?

• For managers
  • According to Gallup’s research, managers play a key role in preventing burnout and improving work engagement. Since managers play a key role in providing antidotes for burnout for the employees, it is essential to first address manager burnout.
    • Clarify expectations (priorities, barriers) and involve managers in decision-making
    • Right-size workloads and giving managers autonomy and flexibility as long as they achieve their outcomes
    • Emphasize collaboration and reduce stress by having a wellbeing program specifically for managers
    • Remember that managers cannot do it all, as a recent HBR article noted in the current context of remote and hybrid work. The authors of this piece warn of a “looming crisis” for managers as their work has changed substantially in this new context, but they are also expected to fulfil the earlier roles of performance feedback, hiring and laying off, salary decisions, and career development. There is a power shift (from “me” to “we”), skill shift (from task overseer to performance coach), and structural shift (from “static and physical” to “fluid and digital”). Telstra split the management roles into two categories- Leader of people and Leader of work.
• For employees
  • Great managers proactively share information, ask questions, and encourage employees to share their thoughts. Employees are made aware of their responsibilities, priorities, performance goals and expectations
  • Reduce demands. Stop overloading teams with stressful tasks and expect one person to do multiple jobs. Vacations and perks are not the answers. Neither are yoga or teaching “learning to say no” strategies kind of band-aid solutions.
• For everyone at the workplace
  • It is not an individual problem and needs compassion for both self and others. Be kind to yourself. Help others when you can and get help when you need. Research show that both other and self-compassion can reduce burnout.
  • Burnout is lower in cultures of care and compassion where there is affection and caring for others in a work setting.
  • Differentiate between toxic and healthy work cultures.
    • A toxic work culture has been cited as one of the top reasons for employee burnout. A toxic culture is also believed to be driving the Great Resignation noted recently. A toxic corporate culture is ten times more likely to impact the attrition rate than compensation.
    • A toxic work culture glorifies workaholism and a lack of sleep. A healthy work culture expects a good quality of life and employees are encouraged to place emphasis on wellbeing.
  • Perks like performance bonus and incentives have been shown to lead people to prioritize work over family and friends as they spend more time with clients and colleagues and enjoy it less. This can be a recipe for burnout as not spending time with family and friends has a negative impact on psychological and physical wellbeing.
  • Do you use holidays to recharge or celebrate festivals? If work is exhausting employees so much that they use this time to recharge themselves, then it is likely to be a burnout culture. A healthy work culture should not leave anyone drained.
  • Do not dismiss fun as unproductive. Research shows that people who view leisure time as unproductive and wasteful enjoy it less and more likely to be anxious, depressed, and stressed.