Burnout: tackling mental exhaustion

Burnout is the body speaking out that something no longer works and when this happens, Rest. PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK

With the increasing revolution of the future of work and the integration of fast-paced and highly demanding workplaces, burnout has a grappling effect on employees and businesses, significantly affecting productivity and performance.

Recognising the detrimental effects of physical exhaustion and stress in our workplaces is crucial. Burnout is a state of complete shutdown, mentally, physically, and emotionally caused by workload demands, stressful work environments, long working hours, and pressure leading to anxiety.

This is afterward characterised by symptoms like withdrawal from what you enjoyed doing while at work, struggling with self-doubt, consistent mood change, substance and drug abuse – crisis dependency, and adopting out-of-the-norm behaviours like presenteeism which appears to work but is less productive.

Unfortunately, burnout speaks a lot about the workplace. Building a healthy workforce culture should be everyone’s responsibility with the support of the management in enforcing policies and frameworks that reinforce wellbeing and drive change.

Cognitive dissonance in the workplace leads to chronic pain, lack of appreciation, and suppression of energy and motivation toward work.

When managers fail to acknowledge employees’ contributions and values, it creates a toxic environment. It is important to foster a culture of appreciation to ensure employees find their sense of belonging.

By prioritising a supportive work environment, businesses can shape behaviours, influence norms, and focus on strategies that incorporate wellness like flex work arrangements and wellness breaks.

Wellness is, however, an individual responsibility and it is quintessential for employees at work, and even the remote workers to address their levels of burnout at an individual level as this will be critical in measuring particular coping mechanisms and tolerance levels.

The management’s responsibility would then be to ensure a conducive workplace environment for employees to thrive in a good organisational culture and ultimately a ripple effect on productivity and business results.

Navigating burnout in the workplace is a skill every employee should master to bounce back to work effectively.

A few ways of dealing with burnout would however be:

Take a step back – Maximise leave days and wellness programmes at work that would be essential. Learn to prioritise your health and love yourself a little more.

It’s also important to understand how your body works and learn when it’s strained and when it’s productive. Breaks are important to recharge and rejuvenate: going to therapy sessions, engaging in fun activities you enjoy and actively searching for mental freedom and wellness.

Burnout is the body speaking out that something no longer works and when this happens, Rest. Take time to connect with nature and your environment.

Practice mindfulness–  Have a safe space to practice guided meditation on YouTube or Spotify for an average of 10 to 15 minutes. This ensures your thought processes are clear for the day. We have the power to change everything about ourselves but it’s dependent on how we ignite the latent power from within us.

It’s important to take time to introspect deep within and ask yourself difficult questions. Learn to write down your thoughts and ideas. Journalling brings your cognitive ideas into reality.

Walk, exercise – Going out for a walk and exercising intravenously gives a dose of hope and positively influences mental wellness. Move on a regular basis; the brain stretches and learns to be the best version of yourself.

Plan every day in advance – Have a clear plan and schedule on how you plan to execute and commit to your daily tasks. Write them down clearly, the goals, roles, and the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). Always keep a prioritised list with a scheduled time block. This helps boost productivity. Organise your tasks by value and priority so that you can be sure of working on your most important tasks.

Networks support – Find the right networks and a community of supportive colleagues who you can share with what it is you are going through, and they can offer support and guidance. Mentors would also come in handy. Learn to communicate with clarity what you are comfortable with at work and what’s not. Season this with emotional intelligence as you will not want to burn bridges or rub shoulders with colleagues.

Finally, burnout is real but it is something that can be effectively dealt with. You should always be in the right mindset for you to be productive at work. Continuously practicing mindfulness helps attain intentional serendipity and self-awareness that ensures you deal with burnout, with so much grace and sobriety.

Ms Biamah is an HR practitioner with interest in tech talent management.