Burnout Is a Growing Crisis. Here’s How You Can Prevent It.

Burnout is not new. A pre-pandemic study by Gallup found that nearly 70% of employees polled said they experienced burnout at least some of the time. Nearly a quarter reported feeling burned out at work often or always. Add the past three years of increased volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in our work and personal lives, and burnout is now at crisis levels. 

What exactly is burnout? It’s more than stress, which isn’t always a negative state. Sometimes stress can be invigorating. It’s also more than overwhelm, although that could be an early warning sign. Organizational psychologist and author Adam Grant defines burnout as, “persistent, impairing emotional exhaustion. It stems from too many demands—and too little control and support.”

In burnout, the emotional exhaustion is paralyzing, and it negatively impacts our health, relationships and work. What’s more, it’s not just individuals who suffer. Organizations are reporting increases in employee sick days and turnover, and decreases in engagement, creativity and performance. 

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to avoid burnout. There are also effective actions leaders can take to protect their teams from experiencing burnout. They are as follows:

Protecting Yourself

• Check in with yourself frequently. Assess your stress level and take note if you’re feeling yourself moving into overwhelm territory. Dr. Brené Brown’s most recent book, Atlas of the Heart, is a helpful resource for this work. It helps people get clarity about their state of mind by putting words to eighty-seven emotions that define what it means to be human. 

• Speak up. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, get support. Talk with your supervisor. Move deadlines, if possible. Get help from colleagues, and then return the favor when they need it. And they will need it. We all do.

• Set boundaries. Your time and energy are finite resources. When you’re being asked to take on more, consider three questions: Does it need to be done? Does it need to be done by me? Does it need to be done right now? No one will manage your workload for you. They’re trusting you to know your capacity and your ability to deliver on your commitments.

• Get grounded. Do something every day that activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which moves your body and mind into a place of calm. You can do this with just 10 or 15 minutes of meditation, mindful breathing, playtime with your kids or pets, or a walk. If you feel you don’t have time, see “Set boundaries” above.

Protecting Your Team

• Create an environment of psychological safety. In our go-go work culture, the perception that we can’t handle our jobs is shame-inducing. The pressure not to appear weak or irrelevant when we’re in struggle keeps us silent, which compounds the problem. Let your team know there is no shame in needing help, and prove it with your actions.

• Use your empathy skills. Check in with others, but don’t just ask how they’re doing. Instead, ask questions that give you cues into their well-being and state of mind. Understand their workload and challenges. Find out if they’re taking care of themselves. Get present to their pain. Let them know they are not alone.

• Lead by example. It’s not only the successes that matter. Be transparent with others when you find yourself heading toward burnout, and share what you’re doing to combat it. Your vulnerability will give others permission to come forward with their struggles.

• Give immediate support. Streamline processes. Shift some of their work to other timeframes or people. Release them from non-urgent meetings. Provide more clarity, if needed. When we’re overwhelmed, it can be hard to see the solutions in front of us. Even just one or two adjustments can make a big difference. 

The way we work is undergoing massive changes, many of which have been accelerated by the pandemic. Individual contributors and leaders alike have a tremendous opportunity to help shape the future of work. To make empathy, vulnerability and authenticity the norm in our workplaces would be a huge leap forward for the health and sustainability of businesses and teams.