The causes and costs of Burnout, a growing menace in the modern workplace
Due to rising workplace stress, driven by several factors including
=> The way we use technology which can cause 'digital fatigue' with the sense of being "always-on" and excessive screen based meetings
=> Collaboration culture which fills the day with 'busyness' and interruptions leading to out of hours work and little time for undistracted focus work
=> Focus on short term outputs leaves little time for leaders time to invest in developing their teams, leading to stagnation and cultural drift
Burnout is BECOMING A REAL PRESENT DANGER AND SABOTEUR TO MANY ORGANISATIONS
But what actually does it mean?
The term was first coined in the 1970s and extensive research has been done on it since. Burnout is a medical disorder recognised by the WHO and classified with an ICD code - (International Classification of Diseases). This classification is used by healthcare professionals to translate diagnoses, symptoms, and causes.
Burnout is a "prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors defined by 3 dimensions of exhaustion"
=> Overwhelm
=> Cynicism and detachment
=> Inefficiency
There are 6 pre-conditions for burnout
1. High job demands
2. Low control
3. Low reward
4. Lack of fairness
5. Misaligned values
6. Lack of community
Modern workplaces are triggering all of these things - cost cutting pressures, remote working, poor collaboration practices, values erosion, over use of digital tools, and this is costing companies heavily in LOST PRODUCTIVITY
People are burning out younger and younger, our recent publication ‘Generation Z in the Workplace: Closing the Expectation Gap’ explores the mental health problems that are ballooning with this generation.
The Resolution Foundation (2024) found that in 2023, 1 in 20 young people (aged 18-24) were economically inactive due to ill health, with 1 in 3 young people experiencing some form of mental health disorder, up from 1 in 4 in 2000. Only 52% rated their wellbeing as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
Gen Z now report higher levels of mental health problems than all other generations, with 42% of 16 to 25 year olds reporting a diagnosed condition and 94% experiencing mental and emotional struggles at least once a month.
The good news is BURNOUT IS PREVENTABLE and REVERSIBLE.
Would you be interested in a webinar on burnout prevention for either leaders or young employees?
Would you be interested in being a co-development partner for a solution that evaluates your organisations’ collaboration habits and employee experience and spots the causes of burnout before they become a problem? Use the ‘Contact Us’ form if you would.
This article was written by Mark A King. You can follow him here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/markkingbravo/
