Team Management: A Look at Key Signs of Burnout

Due to the change in environment and increased pressures for executives brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. Burnout at the workplace is on the rise. A 2020 study found that 4 in 5 Australian workers suffered burnout in 2020. This is higher than the global average and on the rise.

Defining Burnout:

The most consistent barometer of burnout in research is the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), which according to the ABC focuses on these key areas:

Workers can suffer:

• Exhaustion.
• Loss of empathy towards service recipients or cynicism directed towards one’s job.
• Reduced professional accomplishment.

Other research indicates that other symptoms of burnout can include: cognitive dysfunction, withdrawal and disconnection from the world and those around you, and reduced work performance (whether that be in paid work or in tasks you are responsible for at home), commonly accompanied by depression, anxiety and insomnia.

Responding to burnout:

It is important to look for the signs in ourselves and those around us, some of the ways that research suggests addressing the challenge includes:

• Applying de-stressing strategies: often it is hard to get rid of stress, so focusing on de-stressing is important.
• Addressing the predisposing factor of perfectionism: research also suggests those of us who are perfectionists are predisposed to burnout. Some areas that your team can work on include: approach a task with the goal of getting it done, not having a black and white result strategy, working with a mental health professional to advise on therapeutic techniques.

Quotes:

“…because of the pandemic, rates of burnout appear to be rising, especially since working from home means workers are often required to “do more with less” and be online and available 24/7, as well as homeschool children.” – Gabriela Tavella, research officer at the UNSW School of Psychiatry and Gordon Parker is Scientia Professor at UNSW