- A few years back, the World Health Organization
officially recognized the concept of burnout
as a medical phenomenon.
And this did a lot to shift the conversation,
to shift the conversation away
from putting the onus on individuals to fix themselves
and towards the organization.
Because what we know is that it's organizational cultures
that typically create burnout.
In almost every instance,
it is the responsibility of organizations
to solve the burnout crisis
that is happening in so many workplaces.
A recent Gallup poll found that these
are the top five causes of burnout in the workplace.
Number one, unfair treatment at work.
Number two, an unmanageable workload.
Number three, a lack of clarity in your role, in your job.
Number four, a lack of support or any communication
from your supervisor or senior leaders.
And number five, unreasonable time pressures.
Now, there is no simple solution
to solving burnout in the workplace
because it is a very complicated topic.
It's a complex topic with many tentacles.
It requires you to take a step back
and take a hard look at your cultural norms, at your values.
Are you truly living your values out loud?
It requires you taking a serious look
at your supervisory and leadership training,
or perhaps lack thereof.
It's about looking at the expectations
that you have of employees, and are those realistic.
Now, without question,
you should still be investing
in stress management practices,
in resiliency practices, in healthy workplace practices,
like good eating and creating time and encouragement
for employees to get physical exercise.
And working in a good environment
and creating things like meditation rooms
and mindfulness practices can do wonders.
As can adding a little bit of fun to your workplace.
So creating that humor room or humor first aid kit,
or that ministry of silly walks corridor,
where people are encouraged to walk in a silly way,
like the old Monty Python skit.
Those are all really important.
Bringing in a humor trainer or speaker.
I happen to know a really charming, adorable one.
So doing those things is really, really important.
But at the same time,
you need to look at the source of burnout issues.
You need to look at the root causes
and not just manage the symptoms.
And even if you aren't a supervisor or leader,
you can start this very important conversation
in your workplace.
You may have to start the conversation
as a frontline employee,
because this is too important
for everyone's physical and mental health.
So start the conversation by raising awareness
about the issue of burnout in your workplace.
Consider forming a team
to look into unhealthy practices in your workplace.
What is causing people to burn out
in your workplace, in your particular team?
Get to the root of the problem.
Ask questions like, if we had $5,000 to spend,
to make a healthier workplace,
where would we spend that money?
How would we spend that money?
Sometimes asking questions like that
lead to very interesting ideas and solutions.
And you'd be surprised by how often the solutions
have nothing to do with things
that you have to spend a lot of money on.
It isn't always about big investments
or spending a lot of money.
They're often really simple solutions
and they very often, frankly,
have nothing to do with spending more money.
Another great idea is to create a "jobstacle" committee,
a "jobstacle" committee that looks at job obstacles.
Obstacles that are getting in the way
of people being their best
and bringing their best selves to work every day.
So what about you?
Are you experiencing burnout in your workplace?
Have you wrestled with this in other jobs you've had?
How have you dealt with burnout in your organization?
Please leave a comment in the comment box below.
This is a really important topic.
And if you haven't yet subscribed
to my Inspiring Workplaces channel,
please hit the subscribe button.
Join our growing community
as we talk about inspiring, rocking, fun, happy,
humor-filled workplaces that rock.
Which I think I already said, but you know,
it's kind of important, so I'm saying it twice.