To reduce burnout, you must maximise yourself. There is increasing evidence o the theory that burnout is primarily due o organisational forces than a deficiency of personal resilience.
The health care sector has been bravely battling the spread of the epidemic during the last six months working 24X7 without a break. It may seem paradoxical to look to health care to address wellbeing. It has burnout rates of 50% among doctors and nurses. But it is precisely for this reason that the healthcare industry can be seen as a blueprint for mitigating the burnout.
The medical landscape
Training in medicine has always been considered as an ascetic journey with 100+ hours common during training. However the increased attention of the negative impacts of such strenuous work schedule on personal health, well being has resulted in informal work-hour restrictions.
There has also been an increased amount of burnout related publications. This increased attention resulted in
- a) increased measurements of well being and
- b) structural changes in the working.
Lagging corporate landscape
The corporate world was doing the exact opposite. Many in the finance industry reported working for 80 to 120 hours with some clocking close to 150 hours.
Yale law professor, Daniel Markovits, in his book The meritocracy trap points to various examples in the corporate world and informal rules to be followed like check emails during holidays and till 2 Am on Sundays(Apple), sending out midnight mails followed by text mails (Amazon).
The current epidemic has made employee welfare more important than ever. The WFH has resulted in social isolation and deteriorating mental health. It has also resulted in work spilling over beyond office hours erasing the boundaries between work and home, an expectation of endless availability.
It is time that companies pay attention to this issue. To begin with, they can take small steps to improve workplace culture like encouraging true out-of-office separation, scheduling breaks between meetings etc.,
The trade-off
This constant pressure has many adverse effects. One major concern is diminished performance as a result of this continuous pressure. The performance declines due to impairment of attention, multi-tasking, and decision making. In short overstressing employees causes a reduction in their ability to perform at higher levels.
Also, a work environment not conducive to work or wellness causes burnouts leading to a decreased effort, productivity and turnover. Turnover is associated with increased recruitment costs, onboarding and lost productivity form vacancies. It also results in loss of trained talent.
Learning from health care
The health care sector is becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of burnouts. By encouraging the health care workers to spend 20% of their time in what they find meaningful protects them from burnouts. Another initiative is to encourage them to join professional development programs to further their knowledge.
This need for continued development and meaningful work can be extended to corporate work also. It is also important to provide job flexibility and leadership training with clear career progression opportunities. The new generation of workers expects a work environment that reinforces their well being and helps them achieve better work-life balance.
Putting it all together
A helpful framework for understanding wellbeing can be found in Job Demand-Support-Contol model. This examines the relationship between job strain, decisions and social support. Healthy work occurs when there are high work control and strong support. Workforce wellbeing hinges on providing employees with sufficient control over their work while also providing tools to successfully complete the work.
- Develop an infrastructure: Incorporate wellbeing into the corporate structure. Wellbeing interactions need to be both reactive and proactive by establishing an organisational priority. Appoint one member from the top leadership team as chief wellness officer to serve as change agents to promote wellbeing across the organisation.
- Create a framework Clear vision for success requires a framework and guiding principles. Use any suitable model to establish organisational alignment by delineating the three core wellbeing priorities.
- Measuring wellbeing Several validated wellbeing measures have emerged. measuring the success of wellbeing measures would help determine which interventions are most effective.
The unprecedented pressures of the current time require a unique response and it is up to the organisation to take the required steps to promote the wellbeing of its workforce and ensure longterm prosperity.
What Health Care Can Teach Other Industries About Preventing Burnout
by Daniel Marchalik HBR 2020/10
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