Work Burnout: Causes and Signs of Burn Out and How to Manage it

Occupational health & wellbeing

Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. It can occur when you experience long-term stress in your job, or when you have worked in a physically or emotionally draining role for a long time. Find out more…

Topics such as stress and support in the workplace are areas that employers are wise to focus on. After all, a positive workplace is a more productive one, both financially and emotionally. So how do employers recognise when their employees may be experiencing burnout? In this blog, we’ll focus on what burnout is, how it can be recognised, what burnout means for the business and most importantly how an organisation can prevent or support an employee experiencing burnout.

The term burnout was broadly established in the 1970s when a psychologist (Herbert Freudenberger) began using the term to describe a group of symptoms he saw in himself and some colleagues including exhaustion, frustration and diminishing interest in the work. Interest in the area of burnout grew and there are now thousands of published research papers on it!

Depending on your description, the definition of burnout can include: failing, wearing out or becoming exhausted by excessive demands on energy, strength or resources. Do you ever feel as if you’re wearing out or becoming exhausted by the unreasonable demands on your time and energy on the job?

According to research conducted by Westfield Health, close to half (46%) of UK workers are close to burnout. Those working from home experience it slightly more than those going into the workplace.

Knowing if someone has burnout can be tricky as some symptoms could be a sign of something else. However, if we start by dividing symptoms into three main areas: physical, behavioural and emotional, you may notice some of these in your own life.

Physical symptoms can include things like exhaustion and fatigue, struggling to shake off a cold or other physical condition, frequent headaches and upset stomach, sleeplessness and shortness of breath.

Behavioural symptoms can include things like irritation, frustration, snapping at people, an inability to hold things in, and frequent thoughts of packing the job in and quitting.

Emotional symptoms can include things like feelings of paranoia as if everyone in the office is talking about you, the sense that it doesn’t matter what you do anymore which may increase risky decisions at work, feeling stubborn, rigid, or depressed, or a sense of being out of control.

It’s important to remember that although some of the symptoms may be physical, burnout is generally caused by emotional demands, not physical ones. Burnout usually occurs due to mental strain and fatigue so doing something physical such as walking, exercising, or playing outside with the kids can be a way to give the mental side of yourself a break.
As a line manager, some important signs to look for include:
• How much work is your member of staff taking home?
• Are they constantly checking emails in the evening or answering the phone on days off?
• Is your member of staff someone you would describe as extremely dedicated and committed to their role, perhaps overly so?
• Do they have very high expectations of themselves?
• Do they prefer to spend time at the office rather than home or out and about?
• Are they signing up for excessive amounts of overtime?
• Do they mention that their work is boring, meaningless or out of control?

These can all contribute to burnout as the brain isn’t getting a chance to take a break and switch off.

Certain types of people may be slightly more prone to experiencing burnout than others. These may include those who feel the need to ‘overgive’ and always be available, to be the ‘go to’ person in the office, the one everyone relies on, etc. Those who are in the ‘giving’ professions such as teachers, police officers, medical professionals, social workers, etc. can be at risk as their occupations naturally involve frequently giving to others. However, regardless of the type of business a person works in, if they are always ‘on’ and available for others they can also be at risk.

So what does this mean for your business if you have burnt-out employees?

• Lower productivity – can be due to apathy and no longer caring ‘I’m just here for the paycheck’ type attitude
• Lower quality of work – fatigue may make it difficult to focus
• Disorganised – feeling stressed can impact people’s time management and cognitive skills
• Wasted time – a lack of motivation can culminate in employees playing games on their phones, online shopping or chatting with friends instead of focusing on their work
• Attitude – negative, cynical, or pessimistic
• Poor health – it will be harder to bounce back from colds, flu, or muscle pains, for example, and therefore employees may be absent more frequently
• Turnover and resignations –believing that by getting out of the situation they will have the break they need.

How to help prevent and support your employees who may be experiencing burnout:

1. Prevention is always more efficient and cheaper than treatment, so being aware of some of the signs and symptoms discussed above is the first line of defence. So check in promptly if you notice a change in attitude, more errors in their work, neglecting personal care, etc., rather than waiting for it to become a full-blown issue.

2. If you want to take a deeper dive, consider using a screening tool such as the one on Mind Tools. https://www.mindtools.com/auhx7b3/burnout-self-test However, this is to be used as a guide only, not a diagnosis.

3. Creating your own staff survey specifically looking at some burnout areas can give you a good idea, especially if it’s anonymous. Organisations such as Response can help with this.

4. Ensure managers are aware and trained in signs of burnout and how to recognise and address it (Response Occupational Health can help)

5. Are employees connected – for example are there regular one to ones, are there regular weekly or bi-monthly meetings to engage staff? If not, how could you create this? With remote workers, this step is even more crucial.

6. Does the company use an EAP (employee assistance programme) such as Response to signpost members if they are feeling overwhelmed? Talking to a professional therapist can be a game changer for the staff and their team and line managers.

7. Is there any unresolved conflict within the team? This can be mentally draining and lead to various behaviours such as mental exhaustion, lack of sleep and even leaving the organisation.

8. Asking ‘how can I help’ is thoughtful. However, if a person is experiencing burn out they may be unable to think of a good answer to that question. Offer some specifics to which they can say yes or no such as ‘do you need to work some flexible hours for a few weeks, would you like me to assign Darren to finish that project,’ etc.

Remember, burnout doesn’t go away on its own it will only get worse if ignored. For further ideas and solutions to your burnout questions, don’t hesitate to contact Response Occupational Health team