What Employers Can Do About Burnout
The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” and not as a medical condition. WHO defines it as a syndrome resulting from workplace stress that hasn’t been successfully managed and that has three characteristics:
- “Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
- Increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings or negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
- Reduced professional efficacy”1
In January 2024, Mental Health UK published The Burnout Report, which addresses the pressures and challenges people are facing both in and out of their working lives that lead to burnout.2 This report states that employers and employees share the responsibility of reducing burnout, and it sets forth many helpful suggestions for both employers and employers about how to reduce stress and burnout.
Just a few of the suggestions for employers set forth on pages 34 and 35 of The Burnout Report are:
- Conduct regular assessments of workplace stressors and burnout risks
- Provide employees with a wellbeing plan
- Promote open communication and a healthy work-life balance
- Avoid unreasonable workloads and deadlines, as well as excessive overtime
- Have and communicate policies and procedures addressing workplace bullying and harassment.
These are just a handful of the many helpful recommendations that The Burnout Report contains for employers battling employee burnout.
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