Burnout is on the rise globally. Is your organisation addressing symptoms or root causes ?

Research evidence and statistics demonstrate that Burnout is on the rise gobally and is strongly correlated with toxic behavior, such as toxic behaviors from Managers or Heads of departement: is your organisation addressing symtoms or root causes? Why is burnout on the rise globally when employers have actively invested into well-being initiatives at work?

A not so good observation:

Though employers around the world have invested unparalleled resources in employee wellbeing and mental health initiatives since the Pandemic, Workplace burnout has been on the rise globally since 2021, and is now at an all-time high according to a February 2023 research by Future Forum pulse , a quarterly survey of more than 10,000 desk workers in 6 countries: US, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the UK. The report points out that two types of workers are more at risk of burning out than others: women and lworkers under 30 years of age. Another report by Gallup published in 2021 revealed thatwomen have always had higher burnout levels than men and notes that the gap has doubled since 2019.

When the covid-19 pandemic stroke, it exacerbated employee health and wellbeing challenges, and employers immediately responded with concrete actions to ensure their people are protected and safe. As part of the Mckinsey Health Institute Employee mental health wellbeing survey conducted in 2022 across the globe, 80% of HR leaders reported that employee wellbeing is a top priority in their organization. Yet, the phenomenon is rising, and burnout is globally on the rise and persists. What seems to be the issue or what is being missed/ is a fair question for corporate leaders to ask ourselves.

This spike on burnout noted in all reports, despite employers’ active actions, makes it an interesting phenomenon to look at more closely from a Human Resources strategic standpoint.

What is burnout ?

But first let’s try and dissipate the confusion around what burnout is. Before we dive into the official definition of burnout, it is important to note that burnout is considered an occupational phenomenon and not a medical condition by the World Health Organization. This means that it is a factor that influences health status and is not an illness or a health condition.

According to the World Health organization, burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is illustrated by three indicators:

• Some Feelings of energy decline or exhaustion.

• Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and

• Reduced professional efficacy.

Statistics of burnout among Women.

A most recent survey by Deloitte on burnout conducted in 2023 among 5000 women workers across 10 countries including 500 women from South Africa, notes that while a slight decline in burnout numbers is noticeable globally in 2023 compared to 2022, working women across the globe continue to suffer heavily and widely from burnout. In South Africa for example, it is reported that 40% of South African women feel burnt out, while 51% feel their stress levels are higher than a year ago.

Statistics of Burnout among HR executives

The HR function, one of the core functions in the driver seat when it comes to addressing people matters in organizations is not exempt from suffering burnout themselves. Un article by the Society of human resources Management (SHRM) reveals that Burnout and exhaustion are widespread in HR, with 42% of teams struggling under the weight of too many projects and responsibilities, according to a survey of 726 HR practitioners in seven countries”in 2021.

Because the HR profession has been swamped with working on numerous initiatives and programs as a response and in the aftermath of the pandemic, HR teams have since dealt with increasing pressure and heavy challenges that fueled workplace burnout among HR professionals with all resources and attention going to employees and HR clients, and not much attention directed to the people whose duty was to “care” about others in the organization. The pandemic exacerbated a sense of duty within the HR function and an environment in which admitting that one was emotionally exhausted or burned out, was not an option and a fear that this could be perceived as weakness emerged among HR professionals together with a stigma attached to this exhaustion syndrome.

A analysis conducted by provider of HR software solutions Lattice, revealed in their report ‘The State of People Strategy” an ironic fact: “The team tasked with upscaling the rest of the organization is critically understaffed itself.” Their report revealed that “among HR leaders who said they were emotionally exhausted, more than two-thirds blamed it on being overworked, and more than 40 percent said it was because they needed additional headcount to meet their business goals.”

A statement by Sharon Kittredge, vice president of people at streaming platform Agora resonated with me and particularly grabbed my attention. She said: «Nobody was really taking care of HR while we were running around like headless chickens trying to make sure everybody else was OK…. HR is the place where stress goes to live in an organization »

You can imagine how heavy of a burden it can be for HR teams to admit to experiencing emotional exhaustion at the peak of workload and when the entire organization looks up to them. Sadly, many suffered in silence and bore the consequences alone and only very few found the courage for self-care and time out while often being isolated or stigmatized.

What may be missed by organisations in their strategies promoting mental health ?

The insightful analysis by the mckinsey institute found that while many initiatives to deal with mental health and improve well-being were put in place more than before, many employers focused on individual level actions that remediate symptoms but do not address root causes. Interventions such as facilitated leave policies, increased wellness benefits, training on time management and productivity, and enhancing the offer for counselling and psychological services, among others, were numerous. But often, the critical role of the workplace atmosphere and management actions, decisions, and behavior in reducing burnout and supporting employee mental health and well-being was often underestimated. Yet research published by the Wharton Press ( Paula Davis, 2021, Beating burnout at workshows that the recurring causes cited by employees who suffered burnout are unreasonable workload, low autonomy, unfair treatment, lack of social support and the feeling of always being on call. These causes are not ones that wellbeing initiatives can address, rather a systematic approach and strategy to decrease the prevalence of burnout by intentional managers who create the right environment for their staff.

A growing body of evidence by numerous researchers and organizations, including the Mc Kinsey report, and a research by Gunnar Arronson et Al (A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and burnout symptoms, demonstrated that, while high levels of job support and workplace justice were protective for emotional exhaustion, high demands, low job control, high work load, low reward and job insecurity increased the risk for developing exhaustion. In summary, there is strong technical evidence that negative workplace factors such as toxic behavior is strongly correlated with the prevalence of workplace burnout.

Therefore organizations that continue to focus on interventions that do not address toxic behavior for example, will continue to pay an increasing high price for the prevalence of mental health issues among their workforce.

By Dorcas Manou-Assoko