Burnout in business is a growing issue. How are you handling it?
Burnout in business is a big issue. According to the Health and Safety Executive, in a press release for World Mental Health Day (Monday 10 October 2022), around 17 million working days are lost due to stress, anxiety, or depression every year in Great Britain. Stress is thought to be responsible for almost half of working days lost. And these are only the figures for reported time off. Many people struggle on with work-related stress and do not take the time off that they need.
Overwhelm, stress, exhaustion, and burnout exist on a continuum. A little bit of stress is not a bad thing; it can stimulate us to action if experienced in small amounts. We are not supposed to live permanently in the parasympathetic ‘rest-digest-heal’ state. But we aren’t supposed to constantly live in the sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ state either. And far too many people do, especially senior executives under pressure in these challenging times.
Real burnout is a state beyond exhaustion, in which you deplete yourself to the point where you cannot adequately recover and in which, paradoxically, you often keep going. It poses a threat to long-term health and well-being, and it isn’t recognised enough.
The symptoms of burnout
When an individual is in the throes of burnout, breaks are not refreshing, daily tasks feel overwhelmingly impossible, fun activities are rarely experienced as fun, and challenges begin to feel insurmountable. Your nervous system goes into overdrive, and you may experience a chronic ‘buzzing’ feeling in your body or feel tired all the time. Here are some signs to watch out for in yourself, your colleagues or your loved ones:
Running on empty - or being precariously close to it
Reaching for yet another caffeinated drink to get you through the next hour
Being permanently tired
Fighting the feeling that you’re on the verge of being out of control
Regularly feeling overwhelmed
Needing time off from work
Fighting the thought that you’re barely coping
Running on adrenaline, with stress a near-constant companion
Being unable to switch off in the evenings or at weekends
Not sleeping well
Shallow breathing
Poor digestion
Feeling tense
Regularly hitting the roof
Numbing your emotions using alcohol, food, shopping or binge-watching shows
Working to a lower standard than you know you’re capable of
An inability to focus
Chronic health issues
Anxiety
Making your colleagues feel like they’re walking on eggshells around you
Struggling to find any joy in life
Experiencing three or more of these indicates that the mind, body and emotions are out of balance.
The difficulty and dilemma of burnout in business
When we are under a bit of stress or pressure, many of us perform at our peak. A short burst of adrenaline and cortisol (the hormones that kick in and create the fight/flight response) can spur us on – athletes and performers of all kinds know this well.
The issue in business is that, where an athlete or performer will have the chance to rest and recover in between these high-stress moments, most executives in the corporate world are expected to be on top of their game 24/7. There is with little chance to wind down, unplug and recover – and this has only worsened in recent challenging times.
Ultimately, the long-term effects of burnout, which include being signed off from work, sometimes for prolonged periods, or performing at a level far below what you are capable of, are hugely detrimental to yourself and your business. A report by Deloittes has suggested this could be costing UK employers around £56 billion a year.
Burnout is becoming more prevalent in part because of the increasingly fast-paced world in which the boundaries between work and the rest of our lives have become more and more blurred, especially since the pandemic.
What policies and support do you have in place to recognise the potential for burnout in your business? Do you think you might be on the edge of burnout yourself? If you’d like to discuss how executive coaching can help you manage or avoid burnout, then get in touch.