Oct 29, 2020
Harriet Griffey
Oct 29, 2020
Burnout is a real issue and can be a problem even when working from home, so what do you need to know and what can you do to avoid it?
Now officially recognised by the World Health Organisation, burnout was previously considered a workplace problem. Now the workplace is at home for so many of us, its impact is being increasingly felt. It even has its own recognised test, the Maslach Burnout Inventory MBI and a new report published in October 2020 to coincide with Mental Health Week, Burnout Britain, highlights the stress of working from home, calling for the implementation of a four day working week as it was also found that working remotely meant workers doing more hours, not less.
The Covid pandemic has created something of a perfect storm for WFH stress, combining months of uncertainty, financial worries and for many the juggling of work and family in an environment not designed for both. Isolation from our colleagues and friends, communication issues caused by a newly-necessary reliance on technology and the blurring of work/life boundaries have also taken their toll. To say it's been stressful is an understatement and now we're being asked to accommodate more restrictions and gear up to the difficult winter months ahead.
In May 2020, CNBC reported that Google's CEO Sundar Pichai asked employees to take time off to address WFH burnout, in acknowledgement of the adjustment needed as the world's workforce continued in coronavirus lockdown. Bloomberg Businessweek also reported on 'pandemic-induced burnout', while for many healthcare professionals and frontline workers it was increasingly an issue and one recognised by the Society for Critical Medicine in the US, which produced its own guidelines.
Persistent, low-level stress keeps the body in a state of constant alert, its physiological symptoms a direct response to stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, effectively the same survival response of fright/flight/fight/freeze. These symptoms include increased heart rate, feeling jittery/panicky, insomnia and poor sleep, which can tip over into acute anxiety, depression and panic attacks.
We are highly adaptive and adjust to stress in the short term, but some of our maladaptive distractions alcohol, over-eating, binge-watching TV can make things worse. Continuing to function in a permanent state of 'high alert' isn't sustainable either, and without respite it becomes difficult for the body to recalibrate to a normal state. Burnout doesn't happen suddenly but as the result of prolonged stress causing physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. The old-fashioned term 'nervous breakdown' describes the body and mind's eventual collapse, and this is akin to what we call 'burnout' today.
Early symptoms of burnout may be low-key and manageable, but they're insidious in effect and cumulative, so if you are working from home it's important to be aware of this and take steps to avoid its occurrence.
Harriet Griffey