The first time the Burnout Syndrome was addressed in Uruguay was in a seminar organized by the then School of Negotiation – the old name of the Soft Skills Laboratory – on a date that can already be considered somewhat distant. It was in 2007 when we first dealt with the issue. The seminar was attended mainly by psychologists and human resources managers. For Uruguay, it was a novelty, and for us, it was the result of one of our anticipatory research projects. Of course, we had not discovered the topic, as it had been discussed in the United States for some time, but it had not been incorporated the way we did, as an issue that needed to be systematically addressed by Human Relations managers, and it was a problem that we needed to detect early in our employees, and in particular, take care of the work environment to maintain a climate that is now an essential topic within companies, where some curious topics like “happiness managers” have been introduced. By the way, before “happiness,” we need to worry more about internal climate issues and the set of problems within companies. For various reasons, in several analysis and consulting works, we have observed many cases of burnout in companies, some of them extremely serious. The worst part of this view is that the people responsible – it’s too easy to talk about “the companies” – seem to have not noticed the situation, which is very serious both personally and professionally.

Now, let’s talk about the phenomenon, which is what interests us in this blog article.

What is burnout, the causes behind it, and its consequences:

The basis of burnout is chronic stress that causes mental exhaustion. It is a process that begins with subtle symptoms and can worsen if not detected in time (and too often it is not detected, either due to incompetence or lack of attention to the issue). It is a collective responsibility, but particularly that of human resources managers, to conduct early detection of its appearance.

Burnout syndrome, or work burnout, is a disorder caused by chronic stress arising from excessive pressure at work. This process, which appears gradually, not only leads to fatigue and apathy, but stress also makes people more susceptible to illnesses, as it weakens the immune system.

Fortunately, mental health has gradually stopped being a taboo subject. By the way, the Covid-19 pandemic and increasingly, several prominent people openly express issues and difficulties that were once hidden. It wasn’t something widely known, and many people thought this was a symptom that exposed them to a sort of contempt, making them candidates for being the “odd one” in the company and the leading candidate for future unemployment. These situations feed into the problem and undoubtedly worsen it. In some cases, bullying or more or less subtle harassment is added, creating a vicious cycle that is almost impossible to break.

In 2019, burnout syndrome was recognized as a mental disorder in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) established by the World Health Organization. The World Health Organization describes it as a syndrome resulting from chronic work stress that was not managed successfully.

Work burnout is a special type of stress related to work, a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a lack of a sense of accomplishment and a loss of personal identity, warn experts from the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. By the way, the Mayo Clinic is not an institution that could be considered a “purveyor of smoke” as we sometimes think in the Río de la Plata region. It is one of the most important institutions in the world in health research and solutions.

We can see when it starts to manifest, but it is important to pay attention:

Burnout is a gradual process. It does not happen overnight, and although the signs and symptoms are subtle at first, they worsen over time. The negative effects extend to all areas of life, including home, work, and social life.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is characterized by three main signals:

• A feeling of tiredness, fatigue, or exhaustion of energy.
• Mental detachment from one’s own work or negative feelings towards the tasks being performed.
• A decrease in professional performance.

In this way, burnout is characterized by three factors: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a decrease in decision-making or initiative.

First, emotional exhaustion occurs when a person does not emotionally react as they should. When something sad happens, a person should feel sadness, and when something joyful occurs, they should feel joy. If there is no consonance between what happens and what one experiences, that is called emotional exhaustion, and it is what happens when one is not empathizing with the emotional circumstances around them.

Secondly, depersonalization occurs when the person with burnout begins to distance themselves from others or the group of people they relate to. They may perform their tasks efficiently, but without humanity, without contact with others. They do it mechanically; all their work and daily activity become automatic, devoid of human interaction. Additionally, interest in the tasks they perform disappears, almost like a “mechanical behavior” rather than a human one when facing the work they have to undertake.

The third aspect, related to the previous ones, is a strong decrease in performance since the person experiencing burnout reduces their initiative, their decision-making ability. That’s why it is considered a form of chronic stress.

¿What are the causes of work burnout?

Experts from the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. explain that work burnout is not caused by a single factor, but rather by a combination of multiple variables. Some of the causes that lead to burnout include:

• Lack of control. The inability to influence decisions that affect your work, such as schedule, tasks, or workload, can lead to burnout. The lack of necessary resources to perform tasks can also be a cause, leading to not only burnout but also anger and frustration.
• Unclear work expectations. If it is unclear what degree of authority we actually have or what the supervisor or others expect from the task, it is likely that we will feel uncomfortable at work. To achieve emotional well-being, turning pain into suffering largely depends on us, and that is what we must avoid.
• Dysfunctional dynamics at the workplace. Perhaps there is someone at the office or workplace who harasses us or our colleagues, or we feel undermined by our peers, or our boss unnecessarily interferes with the work we do. All of this can decisively contribute to work stress.
• Extremes of activity. When a job is monotonous or chaotic, constant energy is required to maintain focus, which can lead to fatigue and burnout.
• Lack of social support. If we feel isolated at work and/or in personal life, we may feel more stressed.
• Work-life imbalance. If your job requires so much time and effort that you don’t have the energy to spend time with your family and friends, emotional burnout may come more quickly.

Numbers and perspectives from those who experience it:

The cost of burnout is estimated at over $125 billion per year in the United States due to lost productivity and increased healthcare costs. Globally, it is estimated that economic losses reach $322 billion per year. These figures show that burnout not only has a negative impact on workers’ mental health but also on the global economy.

Employees who feel that their bosses are not committed to their well-being are 70% more likely to experience burnout and reduce their productivity by up to 50%.

A Gallup study found that 23% of employees experience burnout very often or always, while 44% experience it sometimes. This means that burnout is a common problem in the workplace and affects a large number of workers.

Additionally, other studies show that 3 out of 5 employees have been negatively impacted at work due to burnout, including a lack of interest, lack of motivation, and low energy.

2 out of 3 full-time workers have experienced burnout at some point in their career, while 86% of remote workers have experienced it in their tasks.

To conclude the view, which is already quite concerning, 90% of employees who participated in a survey reported experiencing some form of burnout during the last year. This survey was conducted by the consulting firm Visier, which published an extremely interesting study titled “The Burnout Epidemic Report 2021/2022.”

What treatment can be applied for burnout?

There are a series of habits and actions that can be applied to daily life to help reduce mental exhaustion, especially in its early stages when symptoms are subtle. However, when symptoms appear, it is recommended to consult a medical professional, a mental health specialist, and/or a stress medicine specialist.

Dr. Fernanda Giralt Font, a specialist in stress and burnout, provides a series of recommendations to cope with tense situations:

• Learn to detect when we are getting stressed. Stress has various manifestations, ranging from physical symptoms (pain, muscle tension, digestive problems, high blood pressure, and muscle tension, among others), emotional manifestations (such as irritability and dissatisfaction), and cognitive-behavioral manifestations (problems with attention and memory, performance blocks, and isolation).
• Learn to recognize when demands exceed what we believe we can handle and detect these manifestations to intervene in time.
• Modify the environment by including things that relax you and make you feel better. Going out to eat with friends, organizing a special weekend, and eliminating issues that promote distress (such as not drinking caffeine, not working in bed, for example) are great practices.
• Organize personal time by setting priorities and separating what is urgent from what is important.

To prevent burnout, it is important for companies and organizations to care not only about the well-being of their employees but also to take preventive measures. As always, the measures must necessarily be anticipatory. It is true that there has been significant progress in recent years. A study by international consulting firms Kronos and Future Workplace shows that 95% of HR leaders believe burnout is a key problem in their organizations and that they must pay more attention to their employees’ mental health by implementing the most appropriate prevention systems.

Finally, if symptoms progress, it is essential to consult the specific professionals. By the way, the company or organization should analyze the situation, take action, and especially analyze whether it is an isolated situation or recurring situations. This will provide very important clues on how the necessary actions should be implemented.