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Occupational burnout is an enormous concern in work life. Employees often go through excessive stress, long working hours, and constant pressure, leading to physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. Occupational burnout not only affects those who endure it but also affects the overall productivity of workplaces.
Organisations can help employees from occupational burnout in many ways, like developing safe workloads, encouraging employees to take time off, and providing access to resources like counselling. Turning employers into partners can help decrease stress in employees and globally maximise a healthy and productive workplace. Avoiding burnout takes a balance between work and life away from work, as an employee will need boundaries, breaks, and prioritisation of their workload while at work. It also helps to be healthy in terms of rest, exercise, and nutrition.
Occupational burnout, or workplace burnout, is a long-term state of emotional and physical exhaustion that is directly related to long-term stress in the workplace. It occurs when one is exhausted, stressed and drained from a work environment. This exhaustion is not just typical tiredness that forms after a long, hard day at the office. Rather, it occurs over time when multiple layers of unwanted work pressure and stress accumulate and can no longer be served. Usually, burnout occurs slowly and can sap a person’s energy, motivation, and wellness.
Burnout often arises for employees when they are either burnt out from being overworked, feeling unappreciated, or when they are trying to find the balance between their work and personal life . As a result, many employees grow frustrated, lose their ability to focus, and may even lose enjoyment in things they once enjoyed doing.
If not properly addressed, burnout can damage work performance and health and well-being overall. Knowing when to recognise the signs of burnout and properly managing stress levels of experience is important for health and overall success in long-term wellness and career.
Occupational burnout doesn't occur overnight. Instead, it builds up gradually when employees undergo extreme amounts of persistent stress, pressure, or when they do not feel supported in their work. The following are some of the common causes of occupational burnout:
Employees will suffer when they face an overwhelming number of tasks or responsibilities to complete. With constant pressure to meet deadlines or to go above their commitments, feeling overwhelmed is a common experience. The result of feeling overwhelmed is stress, which can lead to challenges in sustaining energy and focus throughout the work week.
Employees are burned out when they feel that their input is not valued on issues that impact their work. Therefore, having no access to controlling work tasks, work schedules , or work processes gives individuals a sense of vulnerability, which can damage their confidence and create stress in the workplace.
If the roles and responsibilities are unclear, employees will feel confused and anxious about their contribution. Confusion will create conflict, stress, and unhappiness because they will not understand their role outlines in their job description.
When an employee spends more time working than they do with family, friends, and interests, common workplace frustrations cause them to have nothing to recharge their motivations. With enough time, this leads to increased fatigue and stress from the job as the employee struggles to recharge their emotional state.
In any work environment, factors that cause negative conflict, gossip, or lack of support create stress and frustration in the workplace. These workforce factors lead to disengagement and emotional fatigue if the employee feels they are disrespected, feel unsafe in their workplace.
Employees are often faced with deadlines and demands to meet expectations. If there are constant and similar demands and expectations, there is also a possibility that employees become fatigued, lose their productivity , and at some delicate point, lose their well-being.
Burnout manifests itself in many physical, mental, and emotional ways. Recognising any symptom early allows employees to take proactive measures and ultimately prevent serious consequences. Here are some common symptoms, explained simply:
Employees are tired most of the time, no matter how much rest they get. This is more than physical exhaustion. Employees may still feel sore or tired even after they're done moving, and this won't allow them to focus, engage in a task, or complete the task efficiently. There are many reasons employees may feel tired, and often, they are not overworked or busy. It can affect their motivation over the course of the day.
As employees become disinterested due to burnout, their work performance will decline, and they will become less efficient. There may be particular tasks that seem to take employees longer and longer, to the point of missing deadlines. They could also blame an outside source for their failures rather than taking accountability for their contribution to the lack of effort. All of this boils down to a loss of motivation and a lack of focus.
Employees become detached and feel no longer excited about their jobs. Meaningful work can turn into frustration that detracts from their short-term and long-term goals . Employees may also lose interest in goals they have in hindsight (short-term) and goals they have going forward (long-term).
Workers suffering from burnout often become emotionally disconnected from work. Emotional detachment may appear as a disconnection from other people, or, in a broader sense, as a lack of emotional empathy, emotional numbness, or emotional disconnection, which also contributes to poor communication and social isolation at work.
Burnout often impacts attention and focus. Employees will have trouble making decisions, will not remember important information, and will feel less consistent with their daily obligations.
Stress and exhaustion impact physical health as well. Employees may experience headaches, body pain, frequent illness, or sleep problems, which adds to the difficulty of managing burnout.
Preventing professional burnout requires minor changes in lifestyle, work style, and organisational support. Here are some of the best ways to mitigate the risk of burnout and improve work and life:
Have set boundaries around work and personal time. Avoid working at home or working beyond the hours you've set for yourself. It's essential to allow yourself as much personal time as possible to recharge your mind and energy.
Actively managing your stress can be as simple as incorporating a few techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, or exercise, to help decompress. Furthermore, give yourself breaks so you're recharging your mental energy and avoiding overuse and burnout.
If you're simply working for hours without a break, you are limiting your productivity, increasing your fatigue, and risking burnout. Taking breaks during the day, and days off from work can add to where you've put your attention but are largely required to limit unnecessary fatigue overall.
Discussing your stress with someone in your life, such as family, friends, or co-workers, will help release some of the built-up stress. Having social support provides emotional support you can lean on and helps with the isolation that can often develop from work.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by workload or expectation, there is no harm in communicating with management. By communicating your concerns, management can help redistribute workload, offer new resources, or find flexible solutions.
