Three years ago, the World Health Organisation acknowledged the significance of burnout as a growing problem by including it as an ‘occupational phenomenon’ in the revised edition of their International Classification of Diseases. Burnout is fast becoming a really serious problem, for managers, employees and organisations, but not everyone understands exactly what it is.

Whatever your understanding or experience is of burnout, it is pretty clear that the problem is not going away and we need to do more to be able to recognise burnout when it occurs and address it, or preferably avoid it from happening at all. If you’re leading or managing a team it is important to be able to spot the signs of burnout in yourself and others – ideally before it escalates. In this article we’re going to be talking about what it is, how to spot it and how to treat it along with some tips for preventing it in the first place.

What is burnout?

Burnout is a feeling of extreme fatigue, frustration or apathy which can arise after prolonged periods of stress, overworking or intense activity in the workplace. The phrase burnout comes from the idea of burning all of your metaphorical ‘fuel’ (i.e. your mental and physical energy) until there is nothing left to ‘burn’ and you’re all ‘burned out’. At times we can all get tired, stressed and frustrated with our workload. If you’re getting up and going to work and still getting things done you might not be burned out (yet!), but if you’re worried that you might be, then this is a clear indication that things are not good in general and you could be heading for burnout if you don’t stop and take stock of the situation or get help.

Signs of burnout

  • Fatigue, brain fog, lack of clarity
  • Lack of purpose – you feel like your work no longer matters
  • Becoming increasingly cynical
  • Lack of energy – both at work and at home
  • Making careless mistakes in your work, accidentally harming or injuring yourself, or breaking equipment
  • Feeling like you have no time to do the things you enjoy
  • Compassion fatigue – you’re too tired to care about anyone or anything including yourself
  • Mood swings – particularly frustration and irritability
  • Lack of concentration, struggling to be able to make decisions
  • Lack of motivation, feeling emotionally detached
  • Feeling deeply dissatisfied with both your job and your life in general
  • Feeling overwhelmed
  • Health issues, aches and pains, niggling problems, feeling under the weather in general

Physical symptoms of burnout

Burnout can take a toll on your physical health as well as your mental and emotional wellbeing. According to Metro, these 5 key physical symptoms may indicate that you are experiencing burnout and they should not be ignored:

  • Persistent headaches – caused by chronic stress
  • Stomach problems – caused by a gut imbalance or stress-related digestion issues
  • Weight gain – cortisol, the stress hormone, encourages your body to store fat cells, especially around your belly
  • Insomnia/disrupted sleep patterns – you may find it hard to get to sleep, wake repeatedly in the night, have anxiety dreams/nightmares or wake up way before your alarm. Conversely you may feel tired all the time and however much sleep you get you still feel exhausted
  • Always ill – stress can suppress your immune system, making you more susceptible to colds, viruses and other infections. Employees with burnout are more likely to take a sick day

If you’ve noticed some of these factors affecting yourself or one of your team members, it could be time to take action. When you or one of your colleagues is feeling burned out it can feel like a hopeless situation so it is vital to get some help or give reassurance that things can and will get better.

We can all experience a little stress at work from time to time, particularly if we are new or have just been given a new task or added responsibility. Burnout is different. It can arise after a prolonged period of stressful work or a brief period of high stress. It will leave you feeling powerless, hopeless and depressed. The feelings are present even when you aren’t at work and you may find yourself with a feeling of existential dread every Sunday night when you realise you’re about to head into another working week.

For some people, burnout can feel incredibly scary as they may feel so exhausted and overwhelmed that they don’t know how or if they will recover. They can’t afford to quit their job but they can’t see a way out of the situation they are in either.

What to do if you suspect you or one of your team members is suffering from burnout

In the short term, breathing exercises and positive reframing can help to reduce anxiety. Work out which aspects of the job are causing the issues and get some help to identify ways in which these might be addressed.

Thinking about the longer-term implications, take some time off, rest, eat well and take up a new hobby – exercise, meditation, yoga and being in nature can all help. If you’re not able to address the issues in the role that are causing burnout then consider reducing your hours or taking a new career path. This could be a good time to hire a personal coach to help you to decide your next steps. If you’re helping a team member, give them some time out to recover. See if you can find them a more suitable role within the team or delegate some of their more challenging tasks and make sure they feel supported.

How to avoid burnout

Some jobs are more prone to burnout than others, so if you work in a high-pressure industry with challenging or demanding roles, it is important that your employees are supported, and you take steps to reduce the risk of burnout. The following considerations can play a major role in how your employees deal with stress:

Address a lack of personal control

Something we touched upon in our recent article about becoming an accidental manager, your employees will feel happier if they have some creative control over what they are doing, so trust them to get on with it (without overloading them) and delegate some responsibilities.

Reduce the risk of consequences for failure

To err is human and it should be OK to make the occasional mistake at work, but if the consequences are higher – for example, a lawsuit if you get things wrong – then stress levels are likely to be increased, along with the chances of making a mistake. Lawyers and healthcare professionals run greater risks of burnout due to high stakes consequences and it’s important to for employers to shoulder the blame as much as possible if they can.

Offer praise and recognition

If people aren’t feeling valued at work then morale will be low, leading to feelings of cynicism and worthlessness. Make sure your team members get the recognition they deserve, with gratitude, praise and tokens of appreciation.

Make sure they’re getting some downtime

The pressures of a full-on working environment can cause you to explode if you don’t get a chance to let off steam occasionally. Make sure there are regular breaks and that the length of a shift corresponds with the amount of high-intensity work completed, i.e. shorter working periods for high-intensity jobs. If you enjoyed our recent article on the four-day working week, you may be interested to read that this is also being touted as a good way to address burnout so if you want to reduce staff turnover in a high-intensity role, then a reduction in hours could be an agreeable compromise and you may find your employees are more productive too.

Clear roles and requirements

If a team member isn’t sure what they are supposed to be doing, or the way that a task has been explained makes it sound like it is not even doable, then they are going to lack confidence and feel overwhelmed from the outset. Gaps in knowledge or experience can pile on the pressure at work, so make sure that you and your team get the support you need with training, coaching or mentoring.

Great leadership

Poor leadership is the one factor that will influence countless others – causing a domino effect in the workplace which places employees at higher risk of burnout. As a team leader, you can address many of these issues yourself, to ensure that your team members are getting the support that they need.

If you’re new to management then we can help you to get where you need to be with our CMI-accredited Management and Leadership training courses. If you value your employees, make them feel supported when they experience any difficulties and keep an open-door policy encouraging them to come to you with any concerns.  We know from experience that it is possible to find that balance and keep your whole team happy and healthy and avoid burnout altogether. Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself at the same time!

If you’d like to talk to us about taking some training we can help with everything from leadership to stress management. Email hello@develerate.com for more details.