It describes three components of employee burnout:

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion.
2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job.
3. Reduced professional effectiveness.

The symptoms of burnout can be physical, emotional, and behavioural. According to Leiter and Maslach (2005) symptoms can include:

• Being constantly overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted.
• Change in sleep patterns.
• Passion has faded and has been replaced by negative cynicism.
• Loss of confidence.
• Nagging doubts about your self-worth.

If you are experiencing symptoms of burnout, I encourage you to speak to your GP or healthcare professional as a first port of call.

The research carried out by Leiter and Maslach suggest that the possible causes of burnout include:

• Workload: where your workload might be too much, too hard, too urgent, or even too boring.
• Control: there may be a perceived lack of control where you have an inability to influence decisions that affect your role or the tasks you are doing.
• Reward and recognition: where you are experiencing problems with the reward and recognition you are getting from your job.
• Community: you might have difficult clients or feel undermined by your own colleagues and team members. Your manager micromanages you!
• Values mismatch: this is where your own personal values do not align with the values of your employer. This can increase stress levels.

Burnout in the workplace not only impacts the employee but has a knock-on effect to the employer. According to McKinsey (2023), burnout impacts an employee’s physical and mental health. There is a decline in their work performance, and they have low job satisfaction and work productivity.

For the employer, there is increased rates of absenteeism, greater attrition, lower engagement, and productivity.

According to a survey carried out by Gallup in 2020, where employees are experiencing burnout:

• They are 63% more likely to take a sick day.
• Half as likely to discuss performance goals with manager.
• 23% more likely to visit hospital.
• 2.6 times more likely to look for another job.
• 13% less confidence in their performance

If you feel you are experiencing burnout, it is time to act. Firstly, recognise the signs of burnout.

Then seek support. Speak to somebody about what you are experiencing. Take care of both your physical and mental health and consider the strategies for alleviating burnout.

I will consider some possible strategies for alleviating burnout. This list is not exhaustive, but it is a starting point.

Workload problems can be because of long hours, too much work, too little work, or work that you consider too complex or boring.

Where you have too much work, firstly consider what is within your control to alleviate the problem. Consider in your daily routine, what tasks you can drop, delegate and delay? Any tasks that cannot be dropped, delegated, or delayed, should be actioned.

Where you are working long hours and your work is taking over your personal time, it is worth setting boundaries and learning to say “no”. If you find yourself consistently saying “yes” to more and more work tasks, ask yourself what you are saying “no” to. For example, if you are saying “yes” to working late, you may be saying “no” to your gym class or putting your kids to bed at nighttime. Often, if you are saying “yes” to work, you are saying no to yourself.

Leaders often encourage team members to take time off if they are overwhelmed with work. While that may be helpful in the short term, it does not get to the core of the workload problem. It is worth considering, what is the cause of workload problems among your team. What conversations can you have to support those team members. As a leader, what is within your control to solve these problems?

The word “control” can have many different meanings especially when it comes to burnout. However, I will consider a perceived lack of control when it comes to micro-management in the workplace. Micro-management can cause a lot of frustration. You may be unable to make decisions as you see fit, or every part of your day needs to be accounted for. Firstly, consider why the micro-management might be happening. Try and have an honest conversation with the person who is micro-manging you. Start gently, by highlighting their micro-managing tendencies. If this does not work, consider escalating the issue.

As a leader, if you lean towards micro-managing your team, it is worth considering the learning opportunities you are depriving them of by controlling their work. By giving more autonomy to your team there will be an upfront investment in your time and mistakes will be made. Mistakes are an opportunity for learning. This will free up your time in the long run allowing you to take on more stretch projects.

When it comes to reward and recognition, it is important to consider what is within your control. For example, having a conversation with your manager about how you feel about your current reward. Negotiating a raise in salary can be within your control.

For leaders, you should give timely and effective recognition to all team members. Ensure time is put aside to praise and recognise the team, giving details as to what they have done that deserves recognition. Reward should go hand in hand with recognition.

This is where you might be experiencing issues with relationships at work, be that with clients or colleagues. In some cases, issues with relationships arise from poor communication or a conflict.

When it comes to communication skills, take some time out and reflect on your own communication skills. I often hear clients say, “well he should know I can’t work late on a Wednesday as I have training”. In the words of George Bernard Shaw “The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that is has taken place”.

When it comes to conflict resolution, there are lots of tools that can be used. A favourite of mine is “switching perspectives”. Take some time to reflect on the specific conflict from your own point of view. Then, switch perspectives and consider the conflict from the other persons perspective. Finally, consider what an independent third party would say about this conflict. This can help gain some clarity on the situation.

Burnout is often the result of the stress we experience when too much of our time is spent on something that is not aligned with our own personal values.

It is worth spending time getting clear on your values. Then, identify the values of the company you work for and your colleagues. It may become clear if your own personal values are misaligned with that of your employer.

If you are experiencing burnout, it is time to act. Seek support from a trusted colleague, family member or health care professional. Look to see what is within your control and how you can alleviate burnout.

Leiter, M., & Maslach, C. (2005). Banishing Burnout. San Francisco, USA: Jossey-Bass.

Mckinsey & Company. (2023). What is Burnout. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-burnout

Gallup. (2020). Gallups Perspectives on Employee Burnout: Causes and Cures. Available at https://www.gallup.com/workplace/282659/employee-burnout-perspective-paper.aspx