Mental health is as important as physical health. Good mental health allows people to cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively, and contribute to their community. – World Health Organization
May is Mental Health Awareness Month to highlight the need to prevent and manage burnout. Burnout can develop gradually and negatively impact employees and organizations when left unaddressed. It leads to extreme tiredness, lack of motivation, cynicism, poor health, and high absenteeism costs. Employee burnout is a serious issue that leads to loss of productivity, high turnover, and poor quality of work. As Mental Health Awareness Month aims to reduce stigma and promote well-being, it is crucial to recognize the growing importance of mental health support in workplaces.
To create a sustainable and innovative work culture, businesses must prioritize employee mental health and engagement. Promoting strategies around self-care, work-life balance, empowerment and access to resources can help prevent burnout and nurture a psychologically safe environment for all.
Overall, this article discusses the warning signs of burnout, the impacts of unchecked burnout, and evidence-based recommendations for companies and employees to build resilience and achieve optimal well-being. By raising awareness and enabling a culture of wellness at work, we can strengthen our workforce and support flourishing careers.
Warning signs of burnout
Employee burnout develops gradually “as a result of prolonged periods of stress, workload, and lack of renewal.” It shows up initially through subtle warning signs that often go unnoticed.
Some common signs of burnout include extreme or endless tiredness, “a loss of motivation and morale,” cynicism about work, irritability or impatience, difficulty concentrating or impaired decision-making, insomnia or restlessness, and frequent illness such as colds or flu.
As described by Leiter and Maslach, burnout progresses from exhaustion to cynicism and feelings of ineffectiveness. When exhausted from long work hours, “the quality of work suffers and dependency on drugs or alcohol may increase.”
Cynicism develops as a defense mechanism, creating indifference or detached attitudes towards work. As burnout progresses, employees may develop cynical attitudes toward their work to cope with exhaustion and lack of accomplishment. Cynicism creates indifference, detachment, or an unconcerned attitude regarding job responsibilities and performance. There is a loss of motivation and a loss of concern for the consequences of one’s work, quality of work, or productivity. Employees may express contempt through sarcastic comments or dark humor directed at their jobs, clients, or coworkers.
With prolonged burnout, deterioration in health (both physical and mental) occurs due to sustained activation of the body’s stress response. This further contributes to a “loss of creativity” and reduced engagement or productivity at work. If allowed to intensify unchecked, job performance plummets while medical costs rise, eventually culminating in high turnover rates. According to research, burnout decreases job satisfaction, increases turnover intention, and reduces feelings of personal accomplishment among employees.
Impacts of burnout
Burnout takes a considerable toll on both employees and organizations. For individuals, burnout leads to an array of undesirable health, social and job-related consequences.
Chronic stress from burnout compromises the immune system, increasing susceptibility to illness and disease. It also exacerbates existing health conditions like depression, anxiety, heart disease, or high blood pressure, and develops into more serious health issues over time if left unaddressed.
Burnout negatively impacts relationships with others as people become irritable, impatient, detached, or withdrawn. It leads to relationship conflicts, social isolation, and even relationship dissolution or divorce in severe cases.
On the job front, burnout leads to decreased productivity, ineffective performance, poor decision-making, lack of innovation, and reduced creativity or problem-solving ability. It results in lowered engagement, motivation, and satisfaction with one’s work.
For businesses, the costs of burnout are substantial including high rates of absenteeism, turnover, health insurance claims, and presentism (employees who are physically present but not productive). Estimates value the annual lost productivity cost of employee burnout in the U.S. alone at over $300 billion.
Replacing valuable talent is expensive, time-consuming, and detrimental to organizational knowledge, productivity, and quality of work. Frequent absences also disrupt day-to-day operations and the continuity of service or work. Rising healthcare costs associated with burnout- related conditions strain budgets and impact other areas like salaries, resources, and core business functions.
If left unaddressed, the pervasive impacts of burnout on well-being, work performance, relationships, health, and finances can develop into a crisis that is difficult and costly to recover from. The key to mitigating these impacts lies in creating a culture of health, engagement, and resilience through proactive and responsive strategies to support sustainable careers and thriving organizations.
Overall, this section highlights the Multi-dimensional consequences of uncontrolled burnout to underscore why prevention and management of burnout should be a priority for any responsible and ethical workplace.
Strategies to prevent and manage burnout
To create a sustainable workforce where people can thrive, organizations must implement strategies aimed at preventing and managing burnout. Some key approaches include:
Practice self-care.
Encourage employees to engage in regular exercise, eat a balanced diet, pursue hobbies, and take all paid time off to which they are entitled. Promote work-life balance and discourage constant availability or “blurry” lines between work and personal life. Set clear expectations around response times outside of normal work hours and avoid camps or working remotely for long periods. Self-care recharges individuals and strengthens resilience in the face of increasing demands, workload, and industry changes. When people feel nurtured and supported in their well-being outside of work, they become reenergized partners in achieving business goals and
success during work hours. Nourished and balanced team members tap into more creativity, better decision-making, and greater productivity. The benefits of self-care for wellness, engagement, and performance resonate across both company and the country. Overall health and happiness fuel progress. Self-care simply makes good business sense.
Set boundaries.
Suggest that employees learn to say no in a constructive manner, limit after-hours contacts such as emails or calls, and unplug from technology during non-work hours. Help establish clear boundaries to avoid excessive work hours and work-life conflict.
Boundaries are essential for well-being, productivity, and preventing burnout. Some key ways to set healthy boundaries include:
- Learning to say no. Teach employees to say no in a polite yet confident manner when faced with unreasonable demands on their time or workload.
- Limiting after-hours contact. Recommend avoiding checking email once off work for the day and turning off notifications from work apps on phones and laptops.
- Unplugging from technology. Encourage employees to take periodic breaks from screens, laptops, and phones.
- Ensuring work hours do not creep. Address excessive overtime and long work hours which contribute to fatigue, poor health, lower productivity, and higher burnout risk.
- Enabling paid time off. Mandate the use of all paid vacation, sick and personal days. Vacations rejuvenate by providing an opportunity to de-stress and return with renewed perspective and energy.
- Modeling the behavior. Leaders and managers must demonstrate the boundary- setting behaviors and work-life balance they want to see.
Foster social support.
Highlight the importance of nurturing relationships with coworkers and support networks. Enable environments where employees can openly help each other, share anxieties, collaborate, and express appreciation. Strong workplace relationships and community counter the isolation and lack of feedback that can fuel burnout.
Some key benefits of fostering social support include:
- Reduced stress and anxiety. Connecting with others helps alleviate worries through sharing experiences, perspectives, and coping strategies.
- Improved well-being. Feeling valued, cared for, and as you belong enhances happiness, life satisfaction, and resilience.
- Increased productivity and job performance. When people feel their basic social needs are being met, they become more engaged and committed to their work.
- Better health and longevity. Social support is associated with a robust immune system, reduced inflammation, lower disease rates, and extended lifespan.
- Decreased burnout risk. Lack of feedback, social interaction, and meaningful relationships at work lead to feelings of lack of control, worthlessness, and exhaustion which fuel the development of burnout.
- Improved creativity and innovation. Exposure to diverse perspectives and new ideas, as well as psychological safety in sharing one’s own novel thoughts, breeds better problem- solving and innovation.
Improve work environment.
Provide flexibility and autonomy whenever possible, give meaningful feedback and challenge growth opportunities, appreciate good work and celebrate wins, and encourage open communication and delegated responsibility. Also, minimize excessive demands, distribute workload reasonably, and eliminate toxic behaviors. An ethical, optimized work environment boosts safety, satisfaction, and resilience. Some key ways to improve the work environment include:
- Providing flexibility and autonomy. Allow reasonable control over schedules and work methods when accountability is not impacted.
- Giving meaningful feedback and opportunities for growth. Conduct constructive conversations, mentorship programs, and periodic reviews to discuss progression, key wins, areas for improvement, and opportunities for advancing in the role or developing new skills.
- Appreciating good work and wins. Express gratitude frequently through both formal and informal recognition. Celebrate milestones and achievements, however small.
- Encouraging open communication. Promote a culture of safety, trust, and support where everyone feels comfortable bringing ideas, concerns, mistakes, or problems to leadership and team discussions.
- Delegating responsibility. Empower employees by delegating meaningful work and trusting capable individuals or teams to own projects, decisions, and responsibilities.
- Minimizing excessive demands. Ensure reasonable workloads that can realistically be completed while maintaining quality, efficiency, and health/well-being. Do not overload staff or create unrealistic expectations to drive short-term gains at the expense of safety, sustainability, and high performance over the long run.
- Distributing workload reasonably. Balance workload distribution, avoid overburdening certain teams/roles and not contributing enough through others.
- Eliminating toxic behaviors. Do not tolerate bullying, incivility, harassment, aggression, or other destructive behaviors which undermine safety, communication, and productivity.
Access mental health resources.
Promote the use of employee assistance programs, counseling services, and other resources for easing stress, anxiety, depression, or other difficulties. Reduce perceived stigma around these supports and cultivate a culture where seeking professional help is viewed as a sign of wisdom and self-care. Access to support protects well-being and prevents problems from compounding or developing into crises.
Some key benefits of providing mental health resources include:
- Improved well-being and productivity. By making support easily available and reducing stigma, more individuals will receive necessary treatment for conditions impacting their health, relationships, work performance, and quality of life.
- Cost savings. Untreated mental health issues often lead to presentism (reduced on-the-job productivity), higher healthcare utilization, and job turnover which cost significantly.
- Enhanced safety. Some conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD or suicidal thoughts pose risks if not addressed by professionals.
- Improved retention. By demonstrating a commitment to employee well-being and mental health, the organization retains valuable talent and knowledge that would otherwise be lost due to unaddressed issues, poor culture fit or job dissatisfaction.
- Reduced stigma. A culture where seeking help is promoted and modeled by leadership helps eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health support.
- Better health and lower disease rates. Conditions like depression, anxiety, stress, addiction, and chronic pain are best managed through integrated approaches combining medication, therapy, self-help strategies, and lifestyle changes as recommended by licensed professionals.
Leaders and managers play a critical role in enabling these strategies through communications, policy changes, resource allocation, coaching, and leading by example. A focus on preventative practices and early intervention builds a mentally healthy organization where people choose to work, remain working and perform to the best of their abilities. With the right approach and commitment to well-being, businesses can establish a competitive advantage through a sustainable, engaged, and innovative workforce.
It’s a wrap
Preventing and managing burnout necessitates a joint effort between employees and leadership to implement strategies for sustainability and well-being. Practicing self-care, setting boundaries, fostering social support, improving the environment, and ensuring mental health resources work together. Each supports both individual and organizational health.
Self-care recharges; boundaries enable focus; social support reduces isolation; an optimized environment boosts safety and satisfaction; resources manage difficulties. Prioritizing well-being builds resilience, engagement, and high performance over the long term. It attracts and retains top talent through a culture where people choose to work and contribute at their fullest potential.
Overall, well-being and mental health matter greatly for businesses, communities, and society itself. Making them a priority leads to winning outcomes all around. With the right approach and commitment, unlocking human potential and flourishing is within reach. Well-being at work makes good business sense.
This year, let’s resolve to prevent burnout before it starts. Let’s promise to protect well-being as enthusiastically as we pursue productivity and profits. Making health and sustainability a priority is a path to high performance and lasting success. When people feel seen, supported, and able to contribute at their fullest potential without consequence, innovation thrives. Engagement rises. Loyalty builds. Results follow.
