What is burnout at work?

Long-term chronic stress can lead to a complication known as burnout. The World Health Organization describes it as an ‘occupational phenomenon’ and not a medical condition. However, burnout can be a risk factor for mental health disorders like anxiety and depression. Other characteristics of burnout include:

• Feeling mentally distant from your job
• Feeling depleted of energy on a long-term basis
• Physical issues such as aches and pains, or loss of appetite

The causes of stress in the workplace

According to the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the top causes of stress that can lead to burnout at work are:

• Employees not being able to cope with the demands of their role
• Employees not having enough autonomy in their role
• Employees not being provided with the right information or support
• Employees lacking in understanding of their responsibilities
• Employees disengaging from business aims and core principles
• Issues such as workplace bullying and/or harassment

With high levels of employee burnout in the UK and British employees working more than the average European employee by two hours each week, workloads appear to be a major culprit of stress. Additionally, almost 50% of employees working from home reported that they feel at risk from burnout.

Which employees are most at risk?

Certain departments may be at increased risk of burnout. Human resources professionals experience emotional fatigue. Talent leaders in addition to managing their own risk of burnout are closely linked to managing that of their teams. Often deeply involved in finding and retaining staff members they are in a top position when it comes to feeling the effects of stress at work.  This may be due to global talent shortages. Recruitment is also known as a high-pressure environment, which can lead to burnout.

Middle manager burnout may also be due to the nature of the role. This is as they can feel pressure from both senior management and the teams they manage. When middle managers do not feel supported or included as part of a team, this can lead to decreased morale. Also, their jobs may be most at risk during lay-offs. This lack of job security can make middle managers anxious to work overtime and maintain unsustainable performance goals.

What are the consequences of burnout?

If an employee’s burnout is left to persist, then it can have consequences both for an employee’s professional growth and your business performance. Effects of burnout can include:

• Decreased employee performance
• Decreased employee engagement
• High staff turnover
• Increased staff absence
• Employee mental health issues
• Conflict between staff and management

Being able to spot the signs of burnout can help prevent it from having a negative impact on both your staff and business. In this next section, we’ll look at some of the ways that you can spot burnout in the workplace.

Tips for recognising the signs of burnout at work

The signs of burnout may emerge gradually. Also, not everyone shows the same signs of burnout. However, if an employee is showing some of the signs below, it may be because they are burning out:

• They are becoming forgetful
• They are starting to make mistakes in their work
• Their attitude towards work is becoming negative
• They aren’t participating as much in meetings or team discussions
• They are regularly taking sick leave
• They are struggling to complete their workload

It’s useful for leaders to recognise the signs of burnout in their employees. This is so that they can monitor and deal with the situation effectively. However, you can also teach employees to look for signs of burnout in themselves. Some questions employees can ask themselves include:

• Are they working longer shifts than usual and taking on a lot of overtime work?
• Is their workload becoming too much to handle?
• Are they taking on responsibilities that go beyond their original job description?
• Are they experiencing harassment or bullying?
• Are they finding it difficult to switch off once they get home from work?
• Is it becoming increasingly hard for them to come into work?
• Are they experiencing any physical signs of stress, such as new aches and pains?
• Are they feeling increasingly critical or pessimistic about their role in the workplace?

If they answer yes to most of these questions or even a few of them, then your employees may be experiencing stress or burnout.

How can you prevent burnout?

If you believe that an employee is experiencing burnout, it’s paramount to deal with it as quickly and as effectively as possible. If it is left unchecked, the employee could leave their role or their performance could suffer. Below, we explore some ways for leaders to help prevent or manage employee burnout:

Creating an effective culture of wellbeing

Creating a culture of wellbeing means seeing your employees as your most important asset. Consider looking at what your employees’ top priorities are. They might be looking for perks and workplace benefits such as:

• Increased flexibility
• Work-life balance
• Unlimited holiday pay
• Gym memberships
• Extended parental leave
• Free therapy
• A pet-friendly workplace

Studies show that emphasising employee wellbeing not only improves hiring and retention, it can also increase business value. This means that promoting a culture of wellbeing in addition to helping your employees can also help your business grow. 

Creating a culture of transparency

Employees can often experience burnout when they feel unsupported by management, or when their workload is unfairly high. Fostering a trusting environment means that employees can discuss concerns about their role with management openly.

Consider empowering employees so that they feel confident asking for flexible working arrangements, a raise or other employee benefits. In creating a culture of transparency, employees may also feel able to discuss their symptoms of burnout with you or their manager. Open discussion on bullying and harassment in the workplace can also help managers identify vulnerable employees and resolve conflict.

Taking a distributed leadership approach

Senior management may experience burnout due to intense workloads and pressure to execute business strategy. More businesses are taking what’s known as a distributed leadership approach to counteract this. This approach involves giving more power and responsibility to leaders of smaller teams. 

Within this approach, leaders of small teams gain the opportunity to learn new skills, collaborate with senior management and they can use resources how they see fit. In turn, senior leaders shoulder fewer responsibilities. Instead, leaders work as central guides for small teams, providing advice and skills training opportunities. While this approach may not work for all teams, it can be a way for business leaders to prevent burnout in senior management.

Introducing recharge periods

If your employees work long shifts, consider introducing small recharge periods throughout the day. By breaking up their day into smaller chunks, you can help an employee’s work days become more manageable. 

Recharge periods can be associated with a designated space. This could be a time-out room with games or a quiet room for employees who are feeling overwhelmed during busy periods throughout the day. Or, perhaps employees can interact with an emotional support animal on some days. Consider decorating the room with comfortable seating options and houseplants.

By spotting burnout early, you can help prevent increased turnover and staff disillusionment. It’s also important to remember that some employees are more at risk of burnout than others. Human resources staff and middle management are particularly at risk of burnout, due to high-pressure environments and responsibilities. Analysing, asking questions and opening the discussion is an entrance point to creating measurable policies to manage burnout and alleviate some of the pressure from your employees.