HEALTH: Burnout at work

Tips on coping and recovery

In order to manage burnout and eventually overcome it, the first step is recognising that you are experiencing it. As the people we spoke to have noted, this can be very difficult — especially if burnout leads you to increasingly isolate yourself from others.

Also, if colleagues and peers are facing a high amount of work related stress and fail to recognise that they are close to burnout, it can make things even more difficult.

However, one way of getting to the root of the problem is by sharing your experiences with others.

Robin told us that it was through speaking to friends that they realised they were experiencing burnout — and that their peers were experiencing it, too.

For Sarah, the understanding that she was in burnout mode also came from speaking to a friend.

“I reached out to a friend who was in a similar position, who mentioned she felt all her resources were completely depleted, she mentioned feeling burned out and I thought: ‘That’s it! I’m exhausted and feel I have nothing left to give to my work,'” Sarah told MNT.

What happens once you recognise that you’re experiencing burnout? Where do you go from there? Kat Hounsell advised breaking the cycle of isolation. “Ask for help, you don’t need to battle burnout alone,” she said.

“Good workplaces will have supports in place for when team members need help, but they’re not always well communicated.”

“Find someone at work (who) you trust, and ask what’s available, (such as) a confidential (employee assistance program) system, occupational health support, even flexible working opportunities.”

“Give yourself permission to take time off,” said Hounsell.

The next step in breaking through burnout is to make more time for yourself — with intention. All the people who spoke to MNT about their burnout experience said that carving out some time to do something enjoyable on a regular basis really helped.

“Taking time off and away from work helped! It was difficult to escape these (negative) feelings after hours and at the weekend without activities such as sports and playing music, although feeling low on energy could make these hard sometimes,” Douglas told us.

Robin, Sam, and Sarah all said that taking up running helped them feel better both physically and mentally, motivated them to get out of the house regularly, and helped keep their minds off work related problems.

But any activity can be helpful, as long as it’s something that you can use to relax and feel better. “There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to taking care of your mental and physical well-being,” said Diggory.

“So to start with, it’s essential to give yourself permission to take time off work and enable yourself to build your inner strength.”

“If you imagine you’d broken your leg, you wouldn’t expect to get on with life as normal without taking appropriate rest and recuperation, until you’d built up the physical strength you needed.”

Not just an individual responsibility

Although everyone should try to set healthful boundaries in their work life, to learn to say “no” when workload becomes overwhelming, and to ask for help when they need it, the responsibility of preventing and overcoming burnout does not only rest with the individual.

Organisations must also put into place systems that will foster employees’ well-being, so that they are able to stay healthy and productive.

“At an organisational level, one top tip is for the business to accept that burnout happens, and that a culture that fosters well-being and good mental health is a must-have. A foundation building block is to conduct regular stress risk assessments (and act on the output),” advised Hounsell.

Diggory agreed. “I believe the solution (to tackling burnout) is reliant on organisations implementing a well-being strategy to nurture a mentally healthy culture in their workplaces; a happy business starts with managers and their staff,” she told MNT.

Yet she added that people can take some steps in preventing burnout, particularly by “replac[ing] the ‘shoulds’ with ‘coulds.'”

For instance, she said that if you find yourself thinking, “I could work more,” instead, try telling yourself: “I’ve worked a lot today, and I deserve a break. I’ll preserve my energy levels for my family (and) friends, and then feel at my best for work tomorrow.”

She challenged our readers to reassess their thought patterns, asking them, “What choice will you make today?”

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