By this point, I don’t think anyone needs me to point out that life, work and the combination thereof are pretty stressful.  Whether we’re talking home schooling, remote working (and never ending connection problems), being isolated from our friends and family, financial instability, furlough or sky high caseloads, we are experiencing more stress and more stressors than ever before.

However, the way we respond to these stressors has changed over the past year.  In lockdown one we were all about the Zoom pub quizzes, catching up on group facetime calls and arranging socially distanced dog walks.  How many of those same things are you doing?  How many of the keep in touch concepts you created for the team are still in place, and effective, 11 months on?

Burnout arises as a result of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed and affects engagement, morale, productivity and the health of the individual experiencing it.  Whilst it’s not the end of the road for anyone, it’s effects are insidious, undermining the confidence of the individual, affecting the team as a whole and reducing availability, productivity, billing, profitability and potentially giving rise to staff turnover costs for the firm.

Unfortunately burnout can be even tougher to spot from a distance.  Here are some of the more subtle, and surprising, signs of burnout that you can look for in even the most remote of workers.

Keeping, and billing, odd hours

The most obvious sign of burnout is someone who seems to be working longer and longer hours, but somehow becoming less and less effective.  Whilst traditionally we might have sat this person down and talked about focus and time management, noticing changes to an individual’s billing or the times that they are working can be a key indicator of burnout behaviours. 

Plenty of lawyers are trying to fit their chargeables around homeschooling commitments right now, but pay attention to the date stamp on their time recording, when they’re sending emails.  Are they arriving at times or on dates that would raise a red flag in more normal times?  Is their billing dipping without reasonable understanding, or their non-chargeable and written off WIP rising?  Both could be signs of staff struggling with productivity, lacking energy and focus or dipping in confidence.

The complaining stopped

We all know some people who are endlessly cynical, and for some of us it’s how we cope with the job, but if you’re hearing a defeaning silence from previously chatty corners, you might want to pay more attention.  As we struggle with the exhaustion of burnout, something called ‘increased mental distance’ creeps in.  This often shows up as active complaining or negativity, the former top biller who becomes the firebrand, but it can most often show up as withdrawal from discussions.  Who are the members of the team who previously showed up to the work Zoom drinks and shared gifs on the WhatsApp group who are now conspicuously quiet?  What about the workers who say ‘I’m fine’ and not a lot else, keep their videos switched off on Teams or no longer engage in banter?  Pay attention to them, they could be slowly sinking.

The status quo is suddenly stressful

Problems seem to arise out of nowhere, usual practices have now become a big problem or workers are volatile and reactive to seemingly commonplace issues like a small problem, client whinge or new files?  When the status quo suddenly seems to cause eruptions, it’s likely that these people have been paddling furiously to keep up and have reached their limit, almost anything could set them off at this point.  See also, the staff who cry when complimented or for whom simple decision making is now overwhelming.

This is the ultimate expression of working too hard for too long and urgent action needs to be taken to support the affected people, but it’s important to remember that this has most likely arisen over time, and quick fixes are unlikely to get to the root of the problem.

Spotted these problems and want to know what to do next?  Here’s three quick action steps that could help make all the difference:

Ø  Make sure to feed back the positive far more than the negative.  In isolation, communication is more important than ever and raising the ratio of positive to constructive or negative comms is absolutely vital (not least because it’s been a while since most of us have had some pure, lovely news or feedback!).  It’s never a waste of time to publicly congratulate someone, tell the team how brilliant there are or get on a group Zoom to show off your new puppy. 

Ø  Get proactive.  We’ve temporarily lost the ability to watch and wait and as problem fixers we are notoriously bad at asking for help.  If you wait for your staff to tell you they need help, you’re waiting far too long.  Book pastoral care calls.  Ask what you can be doing to support them.  Model your own vulnerability to encourage others to share.

Ø  Invest.  Time.  Money.  Attention.  Resources.  I know that now is a time that we feel the need to batten down the hatches and wait the storm out, but you’re unlikely to have a healthy and happy team who will thank you by the end of it if you simply wait for better times.  Investments don’t have to be big; a mandatory wellbeing call once a month can cost as little as one to two chargeable units per person, but could pay dividends.

Leah Steele is the founder of Searching for Serenity, a mentoring and training business focused on helping professional understand, manage and reverse burnout and to create sustainable careers and live that they love.  A former lawyer herself, Leah knows the pressures of chargeables, client concerns and coping with long hours and brings real, meaningful and practical support to individuals and companies alike.  Find out more about her work or book an no-obligation discussion around your team’s needs at www.searchingforserenity.co.uk