Unidentified Burnout
I got back into work myself today, having my first client session after summer. It was a postponed session from before summer, as the company was going into workforce negotiations and a lot was up in the air. However, it was a pretty interesting session, where we discussed the current problems, with one of them being that a supervisor is out on burnout leave, yet has only been working at 50% for two years, due to burnout.
I don't know this guy.
However, while burnout happens, what I have come to realise over the years is that while the "workload" gets the majority of the blame, it is rarely the case. Instead, it is the work environment that is the major issue, where the environment where one thrives, can cause another to breakdown. As long as relatively acceptable, the workload can be quite high, and for some extremely high, if the environment is set up to support that kind of load, for that kind of person.
The reason that so many people burnout these days is that they aren't correctly identifying what it is that is causing their stress. The workload is easy to point to because that is the job, and it is made harder as stress increases to the point that even small tasks seem like mountains. But the person doing the same job alongside is fine.
The problem isn't the workload, it is the worker.
And no, I am not victim blaming here, but the fact is that people overestimate their abilities and when things aren't going to plan, it can't possibly be because they are lacking something, it has to be something else. So, they go on leave for a month, two month, or six months, but they don't do anything to change their abilities, so they come back refreshed, but the same - and the environment hasn't changed.
However, I boldly mentioned to my client today (as I am trying to get more work too) that one of the reasons that people should hire me, or someone like me for their key people, is that one of the services I provide is a changed environment for a short period of time, where the person has space to breathe, while discussing challenges and with the transparent goal to improve skill gaps. The environment they enter into is one of support, where they as an individual get what they need - someone to listen, someone to help them grow, someone who is helping them face the real challenges, not the perceived challenges in front of them.
And they don't burnout.
A supportive work environment is just as crucial for high-performance workers, as it is for those struggling. Otherwise, the high performers aren't going to reach their potential either and will end up getting increasingly high workloads of random tasks and roles from the people who are burning out. It sets up a cycle of destruction, burning and churning headcount at an increasing rate. And very few companies can afford a high staff churn, because not only is it expensive to onboard new people, but they can't attract the better workers, because their employer brand is shot.
On a side note, my client (who is a few years older than myself) mentioned the struggles with younger workers, and how they have low resilience and need the most handholding. But the same thing applies, they need support. But in my opinion, it isn't the support that they think they need, with more perks and money, and video games - they need people support. Most of them don't have strong and trusted social circles and as a result, they expect the workplace to provide social and emotional support as well. It isn't just a job for them, but they won't commit to it either, because they don't even commit to their friendships.
As I said to my client, back in the day when he and I were getting our first jobs, we knew exactly what it was for. The money. We needed the money so then we could go drinking with our real friends away from work. We had space with family and friends where we were supported and accepted and were able to vent, so we didn't need the work to provide that. This made us more resilient to the trials and tribulations of the workplace, because it was just a job. Our real lives were elsewhere.
Young people don't seem to be able to make a clear distinction in the way they act, even though they can vocalise their opinions clearly. Just like the burned out person blaming the workload, the young are misidentifying the causes of their suffering. Them. When you take every negative feeling as an existential crises and then confuse the catalyst of the feeling as the cause of the feeling, life is very stressful. They take everything personally, but don't take responsibility for the one person they should have some control over - themselves.
Mental health is on the decline globally, yet people are somehow expecting that it is someone else's job to make them all better. It is not. Sure, you can go on stress leave if you can get it, but unless willing to change yourself in some way, you may as well not go back, because pretty soon you will be off again, and again - and the gap between will get shorter and shorter. The workload can decrease, but at some point, what work are you actually doing?
However, there are plenty of ways to both manage stress and improve skills to feel less stressed, but it requires conscious work to make it matter. It isn't an overnight fix, just like the people with the resilience and skills to not get stresses working by your side, didn't get their abilities overnight. Humans are highly adaptable to environments, but we have weakened ourselves through culture and conditioning to be rigid, unflexing, and fragile.
Yet, few will agree.
Taraz
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I was working somewhere a year or two ago where the staff seemed to be under the impression that their work was a therapeutic institution rather than a job.
Precisely. I know many at my old work that thought the same. The entitlement is high.
I think it is a fact that although heavy workloads can lead to feeling overwhelmed, it usually comes down to the support system or the absence of one at work.
And also the state of the rest of their life. It is hard to perform at peak, if unable to manage all the other issues in life.
I agree that burnout is often more about the work environment than just the amount of work. People sometimes blame their job without looking deeper into what’s really causing their stress. It’s true that support, both emotional and professional, makes a big difference, especially when someone feels overwhelmed.
In today’s world, many don’t have strong social circles, so they expect work to fill that gap, but that’s not always realistic. Many people have a lot of things going on with them, too, apart from the workload from work. A lot of people are facing a crisis at home with their family, marriage, and other stuff like that.
At my place of work, I noticed that some colleagues, especially the older ones, do complain about work and would like to delegate tasks unnecessarily. Most of them usually give excuses of nursing one illness or the others while some of them have crises at home before coming to work.
We do this with most aspects of our lives. We look to blame others or our environment, without recognising the role we play in it.
It is rarely realistic. And if a person doesn't have strong personal relationships outside of work, they put additional stress on the relationships at work.
Illnesses and home issues are part of life. Some have more or less than others. But a lot of the younger generation who should be healthy and have good social lives, are ill and depressed.
Most jobs people find themselves doing isn't actually what they really needed to do but since the money is important they keep their choices aside and focus on the money even if it is surrounded with stress.
Burnout ! I hardly recount listening to this word before from my Dad's mouth or even while i was working. This is something that new GenX and GenZ have introduced due to their uneven lifestyle. I dont think that there is more tough life than what our elder lived, still they never complain, happily completed their tasks. The new generation with all comfort and ease at work still looks for excuses in "burnout. They dont have the approach or mindset towards their work. They just need the fun and entertainment rather than focussing on the responsibilities.
"Uneven lifestyle" is key. Most work environments are pretty structured - someone accustomed to an unstructured lifestyle might struggle, right?
Surely, there is no way out for them, neither they have the survival instinct to survive in such environment. Born and brought up in comfort and luxury, never understand the pain of hardship.
Out of interest @steemflow what gen are you?
Yes, people's ability to handle stress is different, I do believe some workplaces overload people and expect them to work at a ridiculous pace for the money.
Until you've experienced burn out yourself, it's very hard to understand.
However, what is dead right is creating support for workers to prevent them burning out, and sometimes this support is actually listening and facilitating reduction in workload. It's the pointless admin tasks, the meetings that could have been sent in an email - all of those little things that create mountains and prevent people doing their actual job - in my case, educating and supporting students.
I certainly agree that people need to take responsibility, but balance must be the key. You can't overload people and create kettles and then blame them when they can't survive. That kind of attitude is partly why people burn out in the first place, because they blame themselves, try to reach ridiculously high targets and expectations that are unfair and unsupported, feel like they have to do these things or they'll lose their job or the respect of their work mates or they're trying to maintain their own self esteem judging against others who 'seem' to be doing just fine.
When I burnt out I got up one morning and could not get out of bed. My mind had broken. I couldn't stop crying and I was terribly depressed. All the warning signs had been there for a while, but no one had listened nor cared nor identified - as long as I was performing, what did it matter? In retrospect my workload was insane and I should have said 'no, I'm not doing that' but I was scared of losing my job and being seen as incapable, which I absolutely wasn't - I was a super high performer and and excellent teacher. When I fell, school was great - they gave me time off, and I came back on a reduced workload. They sent me to a counsellor, which I resented (have you done hard drugs? what was your childhood like - wtf???) and made me feel like it was my fault.
So yeah, I'm all for supportive workplaces, but a supportive workplace doesn't overload people in the first place.
You raise so many points I hadn't even considered... the pointlessness of so many tasks surely contributes to burnout too. I get so frustrated when I don't understand why I need to do something.
It's utter insanity. Like having a meeting to read through a agenda for the next week or to be taught how to do something you've been doing for years and don't need to know. It's just justifying people's jobs. And it's hours and hours of time you could be doing your actual fkn job.
Have you ever thought that a lot of the pointless admin tasks and meetings are actually created by other people who are trying to protect themselves? Many are unable to handle their own emotional states but rather than discussing it and dealing with it, they "share the load" to others. And when it comes to meetings and emails, one of the problems is that a lot of people don't act on emails anymore.
But what is overload? If the majority can handle the load and some can't, should the load be lightened for all? Yes, overloading is bad of course, but what is the "right amount" when people are different? And then, if one person can lift half as much as another, should they get paid half as much?
Burnout can be terrible, as can depression and many other mental aspects of life. But at the same time, I believe we are using them as crutches and excuses more often, or we are getting to that state earlier when the load may not be that high. Change the environment, and we will change also. The environment has changed massively in the last few decades, but we haven't learned how to deal with all the changes in and out of work.
I disagree. It's obvious when the whole workplace complains about the workload, morale is low, bitching is high. It's also obvious that some people may handle high stress, but it doesn't mean everyone else should. It's obvious when people are asking for reasonable things, like less meetings in a term that don't do anything to enhance performance or culture.
I hope you aren't implying I used my burnout as a crutch or excuse. I don't think most people do - burnout is very real and documented, not just some one not handling an ordinary work environment because they're weak.
Of course. There's 500 staff at my school resentfully looking at people in exec positions earning twice as much to give everyone else more work to do to justify their positions.
Not acting on emails? Perhaps in your line of work, but I don't see that here. There's nothing more insulting that getting an email and then having a meeting that goes over the email. That's just stupid beyond belief, like reading from PowerPoints.
I don't know Taraz, we are probably speaking from totally different experiences in different workplaces and different cultures. Perhaps sweeping statements about workplaces and burn outs and solutions aren't where it's at.
Haha, huge surprise, but I don't agree.
I don't think people are more fragile. I think the problem is that we're not including the societal stress alongside the workplace environmental stress.
Burnout is awful, and you're right, while the workload itself can cause burnout, it's unlikely to be the sole contributor. Two people can do the exact same job, but maybe one has a less stressful home life, has less physical medical issues, has less mental medical issues, has more support networks generally, has more friends in the workplace, sees more potential for career progression, etc. There's a ton of factors that all contribute. I've definitely suffered from burnout in the past, and it can take months to years to get back to normal.
People see younger generations as fragile, but I think in truth, we just accepted a lot of abuse that we shouldn't have, because we thought it would help our career progression. Younger generations are more courageous because they're less willing to put up with the abuse we did AND it's obvious companies have no loyalty whatsoever so there's no point in killing yourself for your career. Companies will always try to get as much out of you as possible and we're at fault for not pushing back enough, so now the next generation has to... just like our grandparents did.
I couldn't agree more. .and it's also that 'youre weak and can't hack it' that leads to people burning out in the first place, feeling they are not good enough or can't ask for help.
Whose job is it to take care of societal stress?
I agree - but whose job is it? Should the workplace adjust workload because an individual is incapable of managing their personal life? In my line of work, I spend a lot of the time talking about personal life with people, because that is the biggest factor affecting their work life. It isn't the workload.
You eat poorly and you aren't going to be able to physically perform at your peak. Socially and mentally for decades, we have created an environment of terrible nutrition. Should the workplace enforce rules about how much social media a person can consume, how much exercise they need to do, how to manage friend and love relationships? That stress outside of work is self-inflicted.
People talk about work-life balance. It is bullshit, there is no such thing. There is just life.
It's not about fixing societal stress, it's about being aware of it and accommodating that stress.... because if you don't, then you burn out your employees and have to then shell out more money to re-train new resources, and lose all the investment and knowledge.
At the end of the day, it becomes self-selecting... companies that accommodate flexible work schedules, achievable workloads and provide clear career progression will end up with the best people and be more productive... and the companies that see employees as something to be exploited will be less productive.
Companies that can accommodate people going through stressful moments will retain staff for longer - there's a clear profit motive for actually looking after your staff.
There absolutely is work-life balance. If a company expects you to answer calls at all hours and demands you finish an amount of work that takes 120 hours a week, they'll burn everyone out and have to retrain everyone. Workload isn't the only contributor to burnout, but it is a contributing factor. If the company expects that no one answer calls after 5pm or weekends, and provides deadlines that can be achieved with 40-hour work weeks then they'll keep staff for longer.
Of course, there is always the caveat that it all depends on economics... people put up with a lot more abuse when unemployment is high... and companies become very accommodating when unemployment is low.
Who do you think makes the rules at work? Robots? Those people have personal lives outside of work also. They understand life stress, because they also live. The problem for many individuals in the workplace is that they think they are the only individual.
Perhaps you are used to the culture in the US where they just fire people indiscriminately - that is not how it works in Europe. In many cases, the company is stuck with underperformers and are forced to support them, even if their issues are self-inflicted.
Nope. It is still part of life. You can choose to work like that (many do) or choose not to. The choice is yours. I don't know any company that would do that kind of thing though. Not a single one.
But when it comes to workload, who decides what is enough or too much? On a production line it is pretty easy to compare, but for knowledge workers, there can be massive discrepancies in ability, but each individual thinks they are very similar to the person next to them.
And I believe far less contributing than most individuals believes.
Companies are companies, they are always going to look to increase profits by squeezing more work out of less people. However, people seem to use this as the rule as to why they can't cope, even if it isn't happening to them, or isn't the core reason for their struggles.
We have created a society where people keep substituting what they want for what they need, and it just happens that what they choose is the most convenient option. Blaming workload is convenient - but it doesn't mean it is the core reason.
Yeah, the US viewpoint versus the European viewpoint might be the sticking point between our opinions on this... in the 6 years I've been at my US company, I've gone through 3 or 4 major restructures where hundreds or thousands of people have been let go... and the workloads of all those people is constantly dumped on the people who remain.
The culture says that they respect work-life balance, but then managers are constantly pushing deadlines that can only be achieved by working way more than 40 hours a week. All the managers I know are in meetings all day, then go home, spend time with their families and then spend another couple of hours replying to all the emails they couldn't respond to during the day. My manager is awesome, but is constantly, constantly a bottleneck because their workload is way too much.
I genuinely know people that don't go for managerial positions because they don't want to work all those extra hours for not much of a pay bump.
My wife often worked 16 hour days maybe a third of the time.
I think American companies often demand long, long hours. China does as well... I'm not sure if you've heard of 996 (a thing US companies want to adopt) where lots of Chinese companies expect their employees to work from 9am to 9pm 6 days a week. I've heard South Korea is similar.
In Australia I've worked for lots of different companies, and some government agencies, and in some places everyone is out the door at 5pm, and others there's still lots of people around at 8pm. I do wonder if your harsh view of your peers is because you started your career in Australia and have imported your work ethic to Finland?
The company I worked for had people on both sides. Americans came and went frequently and likely had an average tenure under two years. Europeans were more around the 6-12 year average.
This sounds like something that Trump would push for, whilst the rest of the world is looking at 4-day weeks.
I don't think so. Most of my professional life has been here in Finland and I used to have less of a work ethic. I think the difference might be that coming to Finland where things are harder in many ways and I started a business, I know what it is to have to work hard in order to survive, with no safety net. I had to grow up and what I found was, I am a better, more rounded person for it - not just with work.
If Trump keeps devastating the US economy and unemployment skyrockets, 996 could very well become the norm.
Honestly dude, I can't imagine starting a business in another country. I was never allowed to start one in the US because of my visa, and it made things hard because for the first few years we were paid less because we were visa-holders, but I'm glad I didn't have to navigate the US federal and state tax codes for businesses, healthcare, etc.
Obviously I haven't shared your experiences, but you don't seem to respect workers in Finland, especially younger ones, I imagine there has to be some level of resentment there since you literally had to work really hard to survive, and they just... don't.
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My son doesn't seem to be experiencing burnout after three years at Amgen, and his work is 100% remote... I think it depends on the personality of the young person as well...
Personality and also other factors in their environment. Your son might have a great personality for being remote, or he might have a great environment that supports him outside of work - work is a job that facilitates his life - it isn't his life. Or, it is his life and that is how he wants it :)
Yes, it's a person's responsibility to protect, improve, and resilient their mental health. As you said, mental health doesn't become protected and resilient overnight. This is the reward of months, even years, of investment. The best activity to build stress tolerance is exercise. Regular exercise acts as a barrier against stress.
Dear @tarazkp !
Are you a counselor who helps people heal their mental and physical stress and wounds?😯
I'd tend to agree with that. I know the few times that I have come close to burnout it wasn't because the work was necessarily hard, it had more to do with the mental space I was in and the motivation I had. Then there are other times where it's just the volume of work, not the difficulty of it.
The environment does play a bigger role than people realize. You can have the same job, same workload but completely different outcomes depending on the support and culture around you.
There's much truth in your post, as I can say from first hand experience. I came out of the burn-out differently than how I went in, changed a lot of things in myself. It was never the workload, it was indeed the environment for me. Me supporting people who didn't have my back when I needed it, in a nutshell.
The social part is very important. Creating that environment of camaraderie at work takes time, but is worth it, if everyone has more or less the same balance of values, and support each other when necessary. As a leader, one can contribute a lot to that, setting the frame for the rest to move within, strict, yet understanding and fair.
Thank you for this post, made me realize that I have actually come a long way in the last 18 months.
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