Published on 12 May 2022

What is burnout?

It is often confused with exhaustion and fatigue, feeling overextended.  However, it is more than that.  It consists of three parts:  exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy.

Burnout is a syndrome that develops in response to problematic relationships between employees and their workplaces.

A poor alignment of organisational structures and processes with employees’ inclinations and aspirations creates tensions that “deplete energy, reduce involvement, and discourage employees’ sense of efficacy” (Maslach & Leiter 1997).

 

Have you been feeling overextended, disengaged and ineffective?

 

There are typically six areas of work life that may help explain imbalances that lead to burnout.

1 Values  

The ideals and motivation that attract individuals to their job. It is important for an individual’s and organisation’s value to align.
2 Fairness  

The perception of whether decisions at work are fair and if people are being treated respectfully, the extent to which the organisation has consistent and equitable rules for everyone.
3 Community  

The quality of an organisation’s social environment. People thrive in communities characterised by support, collaboration, and positive feelings.
4 Reward  

How consistent the rewards with the expectations of the organisation. This reveals whether the individuals feel they receive recognition for their work efforts.
5 Control  

The perceived ability to influence decisions that affect their work and gain access to necessary resources. This refers to the opportunity to make choices and decisions, to solve problems, and to contribute to the fulfillment of responsibilities.
6 Manageable Workload  

How people feel about their amount of work.  Work overload makes individuals unable to meet the ‘basic’ demands of their job. An unmanageable workload has long term-effects on an individual’s energy, involvement and effectiveness.

 

Ways to prevent or manage burnout

  • Values mismatch

    If you highly value something that your company does not, your motivation to work hard and persevere can significantly drop. Ideals and motivations tend to be deeply ingrained in individuals and organisations. When you’re assessing this element of burnout, you need to think carefully about how important it is to you to match your values with those of the organisation.

  • Fairness

    Think about whether you believe that you receive fair and equitable treatment. For example, do you get acknowledged for your contributions or do other individuals get praised and your work goes unnoticed? Does someone else get regular deadline extensions or access to additional resources when you don’t?

    If you feel that a lack of fairness exacerbates your burnout, start by speaking up. Sometimes individuals are unaware of their biases or won’t take action until you ask for what you want. You can request to be mentioned as a contributor, to give part of a presentation, or for additional time and resources. And if you still find that the response seems inequitable, you can consider bringing that up in a polite way: “I noticed that the other team got an additional week to work on their project that was originally due on the same date as ours. Can you help me understand why that’s not possible for our team as well?”.

  • Community

    Who do you work with or around? How supportive and trusting are those relationships? In many cases you can’t choose your colleagues and clients, but you can improve the dynamic. It could be as simple as taking the time to ask others how their day is going — and really listening. Or sending an email to someone to let them know you appreciated their presentation. Or choosing to communicate something difficult in a respectful, nonjudgmental way. Burnout can be contagious, so to elevate your individual engagement, you must shift the morale of the group. If you’ve found that once you’ve done all you can, others can’t improve or don’t want improved relationships, then you may want to consider a job change

  • Reward

    If the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards for your job don’t match the amount of effort and time you put in to them, then you’re likely to feel like the investment is not worth the payoff.

    In these instances, you want to look within and determine exactly what you would need to feel properly appreciated. For example, perhaps you need to ask for a raise or promotion. Maybe you need more positive feedback and face time with your boss. Or perhaps you need to take advantage of the rewards you’ve already accrued, such as taking the time in lieu that you earned during a particularly busy time at the office. Experiment to see which rewards would make what you’re doing worth it to you and whether there is the opportunity to receive more of those rewards within your current work environment.

  • Perceived lack of control

    eeling like you lack autonomy, access to resources, and a say in decisions that impact your professional life can take a toll on your wellbeing. If you find yourself feeling out of control, step back and ask yourself, “What exactly is causing me to feel this way?”. For instance, does your boss contact you at all hours of the day and night, and make you feel like you need to always be on call? Are the priorities within your workplace constantly shifting so you can never get ahead? Or do you simply not have enough predictability in terms of your physical or people resources to effectively perform your job?

    Then ask yourself what you can do to shift this situation. Is it possible to discuss the issue with your boss to establish better boundaries and not respond to messages 24/7? Could you come to an agreement that certain priorities will remain constant? Or could you have more resources if you communicated about what you needed? Once you’ve considered these areas, you can then see what you can do to influence your environment versus what won’t change no matter what you say or do.

  • Workload

    When you have a workload that matches your capacity, you can effectively get your work done, have opportunities for rest and recovery, and find time for professional growth and development. When you chronically feel overloaded, these opportunities to restore balance don’t exist.

    To address the stress of your workload, assess how well you’re doing in these key areas: planning your workload, prioritising your work, delegating tasks, saying no, and letting go of perfectionism. If you haven’t been doing one or more of these things, try to make progress in these time management skill areas and then see how you feel. For many individuals, especially those who have a bent toward people pleasing, some proactive effort on reducing their workload can significantly reduce feelings of burnout and provide space to rest.

Other ideas to consider

Changing work patterns- working less, taking more breaks, avoiding overtime work, balancing work with the rest of one’s life.

Organisational interventions  – such as group problem solving exercises to address problems that managers and employees identify in their work (reduce exhaustion and cynicism), implementing an individualised patient care model, get the team involved in the planning, design and implementation of interventions, job crafting.

Developing coping skills – cognitive restructuring, conflict resolution, time management, managing stress and building training, growth mindset.

Obtaining social support – both from colleagues and family  – civility training.

Utilising relaxation strategies – mindfulness meditation, centering and breathing exercises.

Promoting good health and fitness – fitness, diet and sleep etc.

Developing a better self-understanding – via various self-analytic techniques, counselling, or therapy.

If you don’t feel better, more in control, more engaged, then maybe it’s time to look after yourself and take some well earned leave.