5 surprising signs that you might be struggling with burnout
Tell me if I have this image of burnout right; a desk piled high with papers, a person buried in amongst them. That person looks unkempt; messy hair, hands running through it in agitation or gripping their forehead in pain. Their desk is a mess, they are clearly completely out of control, surrounded by endless coffee cups and you can feel the pain and fear rolling off them.
That’s what you think burnout looks like, right?
Sorry, you’re wrong.
Take a look around you, whether you are on your commute, sitting at your desk or idling at the supermarket. Count four people. One of them is experiencing burnout right now, and another two of them have experienced burnout recently.
Are you one of them?
According to a 2018 Gallup poll, 23% of people surveyed reported experiencing feeling burned out at work ‘very often or always’ and another 44% reported experiencing burnout sometimes. For those of you doing the maths, that’s 67% of people, or essentially two thirds of the working population. Is it any wonder that the Stevenson/Farmer review, Thriving at Work, estimates that poor mental health costs the UK economy £99billion each year, £42billion of which is a direct cost to employers and half of the total cost due to the lowered productivity of presenteeism in affected workers.
Look around your office; 67% of your staff, your employees, your colleagues, are experiencing burnout to some degree or another.
So what are you missing?
Here are 5 surprising signs that you might be struggling with a burnout issue
1 - A quiet office
If your team is usually buzzing, sharing ideas and interacting and recently they have fallen a bit…flat, well you might be looking at burnout. Withdrawal at work is usually one of the first signs that someone is struggling with cynicism and detachment. This has a knock-on effect to other staff, and like a pebble in the pond, that withdrawal and disconnect starts flowing out to others. Sometimes it’s just all too quiet.
2 - An increase in ‘those’ jokes.
You know the ones. About how management couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery or how no-one cares about the team. You’ve noticed that the people around you are near the knuckle more often, the humour more savage and abrasive. Key to burnout is the issue of detachment and it often comes with a pointing of fingers, rightly or wrongly. After all, as my training manager once said ‘Darling, we are ALL busy’…
3 - Earlier starts and later finishes
The work is piling up and what are you going to do, leave it there? When the 9-5 slips to an 8-5.30, a 9-8 or longer then this suggests that there is a systemic overwork issue, but could also point to lowered productivity over a longer period of time. Right there, hitting points 1 and 3 of the World Health Organization’s definition. See also; late night laptop work, emails after 9pm and the commute communications.
4 - More cakes, muffins and doughnuts around the office
I’m a feeder at work. I also regularly bought treats to apologise to my colleagues; for being snappy, for how much work I’d had to hand to them. I used to hand over my filing to my secretary with a bag of chocolate raisins on top. Sweet treats are often used as shorthand for apologies, for team building and to prop up the energy levels when people are beginning to flag. There’s nothing like sugar to add a level of comfort to a uncomfortable team.
5 - Low level absenteeism.
Leaving early to get to that physio appointment because you cannot shift that middle back pain? A series of low level colds and viruses that seem to reverberate around the office? An increase in migraines, tension headaches, days working from home due to tummy bugs and IBS flare ups? Staff taking odd days of holiday to catch up on life admin or rest? Running through the office coffee stores at an alarming rate?
These low level but regular physical symptoms are often an early warning system that someone is working too hard and has been doing so for too long. Low level absenteeism supports ongoing presenteeism; this is like sticking a plaster on a broken leg and simply maintains the status quo of struggle, without descending into full absence. Anecdotally, this kind of situation can go on for years before my clients have eventually been signed off sick, quit or left the industry altogether.
Burnout is classically presented as the end of the road but, for most professionals, it is simply a fluctuating set of symptoms that are treated on a low level.
And frankly, that’s kind of shit, isn’t it?
It’s time you get clear on what burnout is, how to identify it and how to start creating effective change.
I’m delivering my corporate training session, the Burnout Prevention Session, to a group of individuals on Thursday 27th february at 8pm. Maybe you don’t want to wait for your employers to book me, or you are self employed. Maybe you just want a sneak peek at what so many people are talking about!
The session itself will be recorded and the replay made available to you, so reserve your place even if you can’t attend live. You will also receive a workbook of my slides and 7 days unlimited access after the training session to ask questions, follow up and get further recommendations and support.
Sound good? Tickets are £25 per person and, just like my corporate training sessions, strictly limited to 25 people.