How to Get Ready for the Big Changes We are Heading Towards in Business
What do you know about workplace burnout and burnout syndrome? What is burnout, what causes burnout and how can we prevent it? Let’s look at the bigger picture here and what causes burnout.
Imagine a Glass of Water…
I like to use the glass of water analogy. Imagine you have a glass, which is filling up slowly with the events of the last few years: pandemic, war, uncertainty, the rising cost of living, economic uncertainty, and adjusting to hybrid work. Let’s face it, even if you have sailed through the pandemic, the ongoing changes and uncertainty have taken their toll, not least on our health. And if we were to add to that glass a multi-crisis scenario, such as another pandemic and more intense climate disasters, the glass could potentially overflow.
Our glasses are filling up with uncertainty and we are not equipped to deal with it, because we still haven’t addressed the trauma we have been through and don’t know how to cope with being in a perpetual state of crisis. Now it’s starting to impact our work. If this goes on for a longer period of time, it may cause disengagement and cynicism and eventually lead to burnout.
In fact, a research study: Links Between Burnout & Moral Injury’ study from the University of Sheffield, has found a new type of burnout is emerging due to an increase in moral injury in a workplace setting. New research from Sheffield University, and burnout prevention consultancy, Softer Success®, has revealed that a new type of burnout is emerging this year due to moral injury and moral stress experienced in the workplace.
Sheffield’s Study
The study – which looked at how morally injurious events affect people in the workplace and how moral injury can contribute to burnout – revealed that moral injury and moral stress are causing a more intense type of burnout in people across many business sectors. This is far more challenging for people to overcome.
The findings revealed that whilst participants’ experiences of moral stress differed in source, severity and length, in the vast majority of cases, people felt they had no other option but to resign from their jobs because of it. This highlights that it is not just the original transgression that causes the injury but also that the lack of validation and support from their workplace leaders or peers exacerbates it.
Potentially morally injurious events are events that challenge an individual’s moral beliefs. It happens when something happens in the workplace that goes against an individual’s values and beliefs. They can be directly experienced, witnessed or learned about such as: a colleague’s transgression or betrayal; unfair redundancy selection; failure to act upon a whistleblowing complaint; and leadership humiliation, manipulation or control.
Cara de Lange, Founder & CEO of Softer Success® Comments:
“This new, more intense type of burnout could be behind some of the biggest workplace trends we’re seeing at the moment. Whether it’s The Great Resignation or Quiet Quitting, these phenomena are occurring because people can no longer work the way they have been.
“Contrary to popular belief, people aren’t actively choosing to disengage from work. It’s more the case that they’re struggling to cope with this ‘always-on’ hustle culture that we as a society have created, coupled with one crisis after the next. For example, a pandemic, a war, global warming, the cost-of-living crisis and more. This way of working combined with negative environmental factors is a recipe for extreme burnout, and it’s simply not sustainable.”
“This study is a further sign that we need to change the way we work by addressing moral injury and burnout structurally. The solution to this is to continuously scientifically measure and assess the risk of moral injury and burnout. To future-proof our businesses we need to rewire our brains to deal with ongoing uncertainty.”
“Organisations do all they can to deal with the symptoms of bad culture. But we need to think in a different way about organisational culture. We need to create flexibility and fluidity to create a healthy company. Going forward we need to align the ethics of organisations and their purpose with the world’s needs and problems, This can result in increased productivity and happiness. Organisations can do this with our diagnostic test- our business wellbeing assessment a 90 second psychometric test ‘A walk through the forest’. This scientifically identifies the risks of burnout & toxicity in organisations and provides immediate solutions to rapidly dissolve that risk'”.
Professor Karina Nielsen, BA, MSc, PhD, Chair of Work Psychology at Sheffield University Comments:
“In our latest study on moral injury in business, we found that those being forced to perform acts that went against their moral values tried to remedy such acts. All we spoke to had either left employment or were actively seeking new employment. Those who had left employment sought to make up for wrongdoing by either doing voluntary work or had set up their own businesses where they could ensure work was conducted according to their moral values, we call this moral repair.”
What is Burnout and What Causes Burnout?
Burnout, as described by the World Health Organisation, encompasses symptoms such as exhaustion, disengagement, and reduced productivity. However, the burnout people are experiencing in 2022 also includes symptoms such as moral stress, moral injury, cognitive impairment and emotional impairment.
- Moral Stress and Moral Injury – Damage done to one’s conscience or moral compass which can occur when someone engages in, fails to prevent, or witnesses acts that conflict with their values or beliefs. This can also occur when an individual experiences betrayal by people they trust, especially when this is perceived as avoidable or they are powerless to change it.
- Cognitive and Emotional Impairment – Can be the result of a traumatic event or toxic environment that violates a person’s moral or ethical code. This leads to brain fog, forgetfulness, slower reaction time and general inability to be engaged in present actions.
2022 Burnout
There are some key signs to look out for which suggest you may be experiencing the new 2022 type of burnout:
- Feeling ashamed or embarrassed by events that have happened in the workplace.
- Feeling more fatigued.
- Constantly procrastinating.
- Feeling fearful or anxious during the day.
- Unable to switch off from work, unwind or relax.
- Having intrusive thoughts about work or worries.
- Thinking of worst-case scenarios especially when exposed to negative news.
- Feeling disinterested and disengaged in work/your day-to-day life.
- Emotional, mental and physical exhaustion.
How Individuals Can Prevent and Overcome This New Type of Burnout and Burnout Physical Symptoms
There is of course general advice for treating burnout symptoms. These can include; learning to say no, setting boundaries, and taking time to calm our minds). But, there are also other ways to prevent and overcome this new type of burnout, according to burnout specialist, Cara de Lange.
These are some methods on how to prevent burnout:
Get Ready for the BIG Changes We are Heading Towards in Business by Rewiring Your Neural Pathways
With training, scientists have now shown we can literally rewire the neural pathways that regulate our emotions, thoughts and reactions. This can help us adapt to the ongoing uncertainty in the world. It can take time but the key lies in changing your brain’s automatic response to a scenario. Positive Future Planning – writing out a future script that has a plan on how you navigate the uncertainty can also help. Expressing gratitude, showing and practising empathy for others, and self-compassion are key ways to change your brain’s neural pathways and your brain’s automatic response to things that are a source of your frustration.
Set Wellbeing Goals
Whether it’s a quick 5-minute meditation, a walk on your lunch break, a jog after work or making sure you eat a healthy breakfast on weekdays, setting wellbeing goals is a fantastic way to look after both your mental and physical health. Having and sticking to goals can also provide a sense of structure and achievement in difficult times.
Finish Work on Time
Taking time off is a common piece of advice given to burnt-out individuals. But, actually finishing work on time regularly can have an enormous impact on your wellbeing and happiness at work. Although not always possible, it should be the rule, not the exception. If you find yourself working late every day, this could be a prevailing cause of burnout.
Take Control of What You Can
Often when a moral injury is experienced there is a feeling that we have no control. So it is important to take back control of what you can. We may be dealing with worldwide uncertainty but what can you do yourself to take control? Tune into your inner wisdom. We need to use our inner genius as well as science to change the way we work. For example, changing the way you think about crises. Instead of sitting in fear, ask yourself what is good about this? What are the positive outcomes? Can this be good for the environment or our wellbeing?
The full report on a new type of burnout can be accessed and you can find out more about this topic in Cara’s podcast, Work Reset Revolution.
If we do not continuously measure the risk of burnout and mitigate that risk by rewiring our neural pathways to deal with uncertainty, the chances are that when a multi-crisis scenario arises in the next months (another pandemic & climate crisis at the same time for example) businesses are NOT prepared.
So How do We Get Prepared?
How can the workplace support employees effectively to avoid or strongly reduce the negative effects of job burnout?
Organisations must focus on quantitative and qualitative insight into the below areas to combat the negative effects of burnout syndrome:
- Burnout risk assessment (assessing overall team risk but also Employee engagement, productivity and moral injury). The Softer Success® well-being assessment is a good tool for this.
- Overall mood/satisfaction rating of the organisation.
- Real-time employee feedback.
- Process/organisation improvement.
- Wellbeing strategy efficiency.
This allows organisations to be able to IDENTIFY issues, COMMUNICATE and ENGAGE employees on preventative initiatives and EVALUATE their efficacy on a real-time basis.
There are already changes being made in this area.
Here are Some Initiatives From Corporates That Support Employee Wellbeing:
- 4-day week trials.
- Mental Health ambassadors/champions/advocates.
- Programmes to support Mental Health First Aiders.
- Proactive Employee Assistance Programmes.
- More face-to-face meetings.
- Team building exercises.
- Personality profiling courses for teams.
- Financial wellbeing support.
- Salary increases due to the cost-of-living crisis.
- Wellbeing holiday incentives.
However, one of the biggest causes of job burnout is workload (according to the OK Positive aggregated data analytics survey of 500 users). This means that we need to look at structural organisational changes. This can include regularly measuring burnout and wellbeing by being part of business goals.
It might be in your company mission or statement that employee health is important, and it looks great. But if your company overlooks an ‘always-on’ culture, ridiculous overtime, bullying in the workplace, or a hostile environment, then this statement means little to employees, and it’s probably contributing to their job burnout.
Employee wellbeing must become a non-negotiable business goal in order for your organisation to engage and retain staff. This isn’t just about surveying employees about their happiness at work. It’s about actually looking at the results and asking your people what’s missing. This might be flexible working hours, working from home, or ‘time out’ spaces. You most likely can’t implement every request, but is there a prevailing request your employees are asking for that would increase their wellbeing at work?
