Ryan Senter
Management Services Committee Member
Hibbs ElectroMechanical, Inc.
The pressure to do well at work can be motivating, but if not channeled correctly, it can become overwhelming. Combined with the challenges life brings outside of work, that overwhelming feeling can transform into stress. Stress typically leads to a negative state of mind and can result in burnout or even other more serious mental or physical health problems.
What is Burnout?
Although the term is regularly and broadly used, burnout can be difficult to describe. According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, “burnout” is defined as “physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance, and negative attitudes towards oneself and others.”
Most doctors and experts agree that burnout is not an actual diagnosable medical condition, but rather, more of an occupational phenomenon. Burnout is most frequently associated with the workplace, but it can occur in other areas of life, such as parenting, caregiving and relationships in general. Research suggests individual factors, such as personality traits and family life, influence who experiences job burnout and to what degree they experience it. Regardless of the preferred definition, the symptoms of burnout are real and must be acknowledged.
Symptoms, Causes and Effect of Burnout
We all have temporary changes in attitude and energy level and some of us face an illness from time to time. However, when poor attitude and lack of energy go from few and far between to regular intervals or even become chronic, we need to acknowledge this pattern, work to overcome it and possibly seek professional help.
According to the Mayo Clinic, some of the symptoms of burnout include experiencing mood swings, a change in sleeping habits, the inability to concentrate, lack of energy, using food, drugs or alcohol as coping mechanisms, unexplained headaches, stomach issues or other physical complaints.
The causes listed for burnout are a lack of control or resources to do your work, unclear job expectations, dysfunctional workplace dynamics, extremes of activity, work-life imbalance and a lack of social support.
They go on to state the consequences of burnout are excessive stress, fatigue, insomnia, sadness, anger, irritability, alcohol or substance misuse, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and an overall vulnerability to illness.
How to Overcome and Prevent Burnout
There are a lot of expert opinions on how to begin to overcome burnout, such as open communication, doing relaxing activities and getting regular exercise and sleep, all of which are good practices for a healthy lifestyle. The “work-life balance” term is thrown around a lot these days and appears to be a popular emphasis for most work-related problems. Many articles, blogs and posts suggest giving people more time off as a magical solution. However, our company believes we must keep in mind “balance” is the operative word in the phrase “work-life balance.”
We must recognize stressful situations can come from either work, home or both. As a part of our culture, we say “if it is good at home, it will be good at work and if it is good at work, it will be good at home.” As humans, we have successes and struggles that play on our emotions. Although we do not want unnecessary drama, we understand keeping work and home separate is difficult, if not impossible. We expect our team to help each other navigate the emotional quotient.
We discuss how people can use work as temporary relief to struggles at home or home for those struggles at work. Our supervisors are asked to be situationally aware, and if they see a teammate’s dog has died, or their kid is sick or are having an issue with their significant other, we want to assign them a job we know they will knock out of the park from an efficiency, quality and safety standpoint. We want them to feel the success of a job well done that will carry over and give a more positive outlook, and potentially, a better outcome to the difficulties at home.
Our management and supervisory teams understand their primary role is removing obstacles, whatever they may be, that keep our teammates from doing their jobs effectively. As mentioned before, good communication is a key to success within company dynamics and relationships. We discuss with our team that good communication can come in many forms, and we train for awareness of non-verbal cues.
Yes, we believe ample time off from work to stay engaged with family or recharge individually is an important part of helping prevent or relieve burnout, but we feel it is equally important to ensure our teammates understand how they add value to individual and company goals. The company direction and objectives need to be clear, and our teammates need to feel they have a part in determining those outcomes and what needs to be done to achieve them.
Related Reference and Training Materials
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