maintain peak performance while expending more energy , concentration or effort than normal in order to do so .
Individually , these symptoms can be attributed to an array of circumstances , but if all of them are present in you or a member of your team , then burnout is to blame .
How ( and How Not ) to Respond One of the reasons it ’ s so crucial to understand the particular effects of burnout is that addressing it requires a different approach than , say , simply supporting a team member who ’ s having an isolated rough week . Due in large part to the focus placed on mental health in the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic , organizations and their leaders have attempted to address burnout and other stress-related issues by offering , for example , greater flexibility in scheduling or access to employee assistance programs .
But self-care has also been emphasized as a key aspect of employees ’ response to the kinds of conditions — inside and outside of the workplace — that have contributed to a rise in burnout . And though practicing meditation or setting aside time for treasured hobbies can certainly affect employees ’ well-being in a positive way , Neda Gould , a Johns Hopkins University psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor , said in an interview with USA Today that self-care strategies can help , but they are not a substitute for broader , employer-led changes to the workplace at large . 2 “ If the source that is creating that burnout is work , that burnout is going to remain largely , and so the institution needs to make changes as well to create a more healthy work environment ,” Gould explained .
In the same article , University of California Berkeley psychology professor Christina Maslach — also a leading burnout researcher — pointed out that we can easily make the mistake of focusing on self-care as the way to deal with burnout , rather than recognizing it as one component of a broader solution .“ What we really lack is a concerted effort to figure out what would be some of the things we can do that would create a better environment for people to actually operate in ,” Maslach said .“ And often that means talking to the people who are actually doing the job and finding out what is driving them crazy and what is going fine .”
Over the past couple of years , many spas have established institutionalized practices , such as routine check-ins , anonymous comment boxes or group meditation sessions and mindfulness rituals intended to provide avenues for sharing exactly those kinds of work-related positives and negatives , while also providing some relief from what can easily become a burnout-inducing grind in an environment where fewer employees are handling a larger workload due to the current surge in demand for spa services . For leaders , accepting responsibility for the role the workplace plays in creating burnout is key .“ Burnout and loneliness … are often mistakenly treated at just the individual level ,” said Constance Noonan Hadley .“ People are told to practice self-care or reach out to a friend or family member for support . While not bad advice per se , these steps are likely not enough . These are workplace problems , not worker problems . The environment is triggering these responses in employees .”
To address burnout , leaders must educate themselves about what is really going on with their workforce . Scheduled check-ins can help , but Hadley recommends making things more formalized .“ Instead of generic culture or engagement surveys , companies should collect targeted data on these issues . This is not easy , because loneliness , and to a lesser degree , burnout , are socially stigmatized . People are reluctant to admit these experiences for fear of being viewed as weak or dysfunctional ,” she said .
Measuring Burnout Christina Maslach ’ s research led to the creation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory , the tool most commonly used by researchers to diagnose the degree to which burnout is affecting people in a given setting . Aside from a heavy workload , which is the most common predictor of burnout , there are five additional areas of work life that predict burnout with roughly equal success : l Control : Does a worker have enough autonomy ? l Reward : Does a worker receive social recognition ? l Fairness : Is the workplace fair ? l Community : Is there a toxic work environment ? l Values : Does the work challenge a worker ’ s ethics ? Asking these questions of employees at all levels of the spa and responding openly to the answers as an organization can go a long way toward reducing the stigma that Hadley cited . Of course , employees must also feel a sense
1 Plata , T . ( 2022 , April 14 ). Work Burnout Signs : What to Look for and What to Do About It . The Brink : Pioneering Research from Boston University . other . Retrieved May 4 , 2022 , from https :// www . bu . edu / articles / 2022 / work-burnout-signs-symptoms /.
2 Mayorquin , O . ( 2022 , May 2 ). Experiencing Job Burnout ? Self-Care Can Help , But It Isn ’ t Just Your Problem to Solve . USA Today .
Retrieved May 4 , 2022 , from https :// www . usatoday . com / story / life / health-wellness / 2022 / 05 / 02 / what-is-job-burnoutstress / 7411686001 /.
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