I hardly took a break in the first couple of years of my corporate career.
Focusing too much on my learning curve, coupled with the fact that I was the youngest in the projects, made me hesitate to ask for a break. It ultimately came to bite me when I caught a bad fever requiring two weeks to recover. The 15-day break made me think about my work ethic.
I realized that my body was signalling me to take a rest.
In the post-pandemic era, mental health has caught centre attention on various public forums, chief among them being workplace burnout.
This is because for most developing and developed countries, a relatively large proportion of the population constitutes the working class.
Burnout, in its purest sense, is the physical, mental or emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. It is broadly defined by the three dimensions of efficacy, exhaustion and cynicism.
We start feeling exhausted and extremely stressed about even the minute things in life, leading to fatigue, sadness and anger.
One of the primary causes of burnout is excessive job demand. Employees are often expected to work longer hours, meet tighter deadlines or are burdened with excessive responsibilities.
This can lead to chronic stress, which manifests as procrastination among employees. Result? A cycle is formed, leading to even more responsibilities in a short period.
In addition, personal factors like job insecurity, lack of support from friends or colleagues, lack of a decent social life, or a negative work environment can also lead to workplace burnouts.
Studies have revealed that burnout is a major contributor to increased alcohol or substance misuse among people in the last decade.
The most common consequence of burnout is job withdrawal- either absenteeism or ‘presenteeism’ with an intention of leaving the job or actual turnover. For those who continue with the job, it leads to lower productivity and effectiveness.
People start feeling disassociated with the organization they work in, are less enthusiastic about opportunities they are presented with, and are less willing to exert efforts in achieving the organisation’s goals.
When experiencing burnout, they start feeling uncoupled from the organisation’s basic values. It ultimately leads to a zero-sum game where neither the organization as a whole is progressing nor it is helping the employees.
There are increasing calls from government agencies and private organizations to address this rising global issue. Still, there is a big challenge in testing the effectiveness of intervention programmes to ameliorate burnout.
While there are no concrete remedies to burnout, this problem requires marrying structural resources with organisational support and individual-led interventions.
Organizations should ensure a safe, adequately-supplied environment for the employees, which can help foster their capacity utilization. Investing in training, coaching and mentoring of employees can be useful in removing any job security concerns among employees, imparting a feeling that the organization cares about their employees.
Additionally, conducting regular group or individual discussions with employees has been fruitful lately. They allow employees to open up about their feelings.
Periodic outings, offering flexible work arrangements have also achieved success in reducing employee attrition.
Most importantly, employees should set boundaries between work and personal life. Exercising, meditation, socializing, and seeking help from mental health professionals are some ways they can reduce work-related stress.
There is an urgent need to realize that it is okay to step back when you can not take it anymore.
It is only when rejuvenated that we bounce back stronger.