Coming to terms with burnout

With the way many people work these days, you could be excused for suggesting that lots of craziness actually starts in the workplace!

The question is, are we driving ourselves too hard?

There is no simple answer, of course, and there is no single answer that’s right for everyone. But in general, with 24-hour online access, and with so many workers effectively being constantly on-call, it is no great surprise that manager burnout is becoming more of an issue rather than less.

So what exactly is burnout? Essentially it is a term used to describe feeling worn out and unable to carry on with a stressful activity. It is an extreme emotional state characterised by emotional exhaustion, a diminished sense of personal accomplishment, and cynicism.

Generally burnout refers to job stressors, resulting in mental health problems. In medical terms, it is defined as a three-dimensional syndrome, characterised by energy depletion (exhaustion), increased mental distance from one’s job (cynicism) and reduced professional efficacy.

The expression ‘burnout’ is really a shorthand term referring to a psychological situation that describes the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest, usually coming immediately after an extended period of overwork.

So what are the essential factors that appear to contribute to burnout?

1. Fears that the workload is continually getting heavier – not much light at the end of the tunnel;
2. Loss of individual autonomy, and a loss of trust and respect for your professional role;
3. Continual pressure to do more with less - to take on more risk, to decrease costs, to increase quality;
4. Inability to balance personal and professional life;
5. Decreased company or peer socialisation and collegiality;
6. Lack of positive and timely feedback from colleagues, customers, management or the owners of the company;
7. Difficulty in saying ‘no’ in both work and non-work activities; and
8. Unrealistic expectations from customers or employees.

Obvious signs of burnout:

• Instead of being reasonably bright in the morning, you begin to dread getting out of bed each day;
• You don’t care anymore about something you were passionate about;
• Inspired motivated creative people annoy you;
• Everything seems grey and pointless;
• You’re drinking more or eating more and probably enjoying it less;
• You find it hard to relax; and
• It seems impossible to do basic work you know you can do and that you have done well in the past.

Of course, burnout does not appear over night. There are stages. People often begin with high job satisfaction, commitment, energy, and creativity. And some remain in this honeymoon stage for a long time. But after the honeymoon, some people move to a stage where they are aware that some days are better than others regarding how well they handle the stress on the job. Some job dissatisfaction comes in, and they begin to experience some inefficiency and some additional fatigue.

It is the next stage where burnout really starts to raise its ugly head. Symptoms that are far more severe appear such as chronic exhaustion, physical illness, anger and depression. This is full blown burnout.

Over time these symptoms can become much more critical. Physical symptoms intensify and increase in number, and victims usually become obsessive about work frustrations. In severe cases, the symptoms of burnout become so embedded in the patient’s life, that they are more likely to be labelled as having some significant physical or emotional problem, than for it to be called ‘burnout’.