It’s normal to feel stressed at work from time to time. But for some people, the stress becomes all-consuming, leading to exhaustion, cynicism and hatred towards your job. This is known as burnout.
Burnout used to be classified as a problem related to life management, but last week the World Health Organisation re-labelled the syndrome as an “occupational phenomenon” to better reflect that burnout is a work-based syndrome caused by chronic stress.
The newly listed dimensions of burnout are:
- feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
- increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
- reduced professional efficacy (work performance).
In the era of smartphones and 24-7 emails, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to switch off from the workplace and from those who have power over us.
The new definition of burnout should be a wake-up call for employers to treat chronic stress that has not been successfully managed as a work health and safety issue.
How do you know if you’re burnt out?
If you think you might be suffering burnout, ask yourself the following questions:
- Has anyone close to you asked you to cut down on your work?
- In recent months have you become angry or resentful about your work or about colleagues, clients or patients?
- Do you feel guilty that you are not spending enough time with your friends, family or even yourself?
- Do you find yourself becoming increasingly emotional, for example crying, getting angry, shouting, or feeling tense for no obvious reason?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, it might be time for change.
These questions were devised for the United Kingdom Practitioner Health Programme and are a good starting point for all workers to identify if you are at risk of burning out.
(You can also complete the British Medical Association’s online burnout questionnaire, although it’s tailored for doctors so the drop-down menu will ask you to select a medical specialty).
Top Comments
It's a tough one! I'm definitely burnt out at the moment and my workplace is sucking all of my energy and leaving me detached in other areas of my life too.
I think it's felt pretty wide spread among a lot of industries, but it's tough times at the moment. There isn't as much money being made and a lot of employers are piling on the work to existing staff to save money.
I know in my job specifically, we are all over worked but almost been made to feel like we should be grateful to even have a job. But in my industry it's slow and there isn't a lot going, so you do what you do to pay the bills.