Gympass, leader in corporate wellness, has published a free eBook to help employers understand and overcome burnout in the workplace.
The eBook (https://site.gympass.com/web/lp/gbr-burnout-ebook-lp) draws on insight and comment from a range of expert organisations and individuals including: Gallup, the World Health Organisation, Mindshine, Healing Clouds and Arianna Huffington, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global and Huffington Post who has herself experienced burnout.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the psychological meaning of “burnout” is associated with an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress. In other words, burnout happens when someone reaches their mental, emotional and physical limits. Common signs of burnout include:
- Feeling under-appreciated as a professional
- Detachment from the team and the company
- Challenges with establishing boundaries
- Not separating work and personal life
- Cynical or critical work behaviour
The impact of Covid-19 has put employers and employees under great stress with uncertainty at work and home combined with a wider social anxiety around the pandemic and restrictions beyond our control. The consequences of all this are directly affecting workplace wellbeing and performance, manifesting in a sharp rise in burnout symptoms.
It’s important to recognise that employee burnout is not a personal issue, but an organisational one, which affects every part of any business. According to Gallup, the top five causes for burnout exacerbated by the Covid-19 restrictions are:
- Unfair treatment at work
- Unmanageable workload
- Unclear communication from managers
- Lack of manager support
- Unreasonable time pressure
The good news is that all these symptoms can be addressed. The Gympass eBook offers constructive insight for HR executives and leaders on preventing and combating burnout in the workplace including:
- Identifying burnout as both a personal and corporate health issue
- Implementing supportive changes in the workplace
- Recognising that wellness culture and mental health always go together
Arianna Huffington likens employees to ‘corporate athletes’ who need a significant amount of recovery hours to perform at their best, just as sportsmen and women do. In the same way that training without recovery would be counterproductive and unthinkable for an athlete, working without respite and recovery will affect employees’ performance and health.
With guidance on implementing supportive changes in the workplace, having an open-door policy and endorsing a work-life balance, the Gympass eBook will help employers eliminate any stigma around burnout, empower their colleagues and turn ideas into good habits.
“Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, HR managers have needed to lead their employees through the difficulties and uncertainties faced at work and home,” says Luke Bullen, Gympass CEO UK & IE. “Initially the focus was on business survival and how to maintain effective work patterns and productivity from a dispersed and remote workforce. The ongoing challenge of working from home while taking care of themselves and their families has led to underlying stress and mental health issues rising to the surface.
“Research from our eBook shows that all companies with high instances of burnout have three aspects in common: excessive collaboration, weak time management and a tendency to overload their most capable employees,” says Luke. “By shining a light on these key risk factors for burnout in the workplace and offering constructive advice and guidance, we hope our eBook will help employers make organisational changes to acknowledge and ease burnout to improve the health of their employees and business.”
The free eBook can be downloaded here https://site.gympass.com/web/lp/gbr-burnout-ebook-lp
