Why we need to normalise talking about Burnout

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I recently conducted an informal Instagram poll asking, “do you feel comfortable about talking about mental health at work”? Interestingly, 87% responded “yes” (although this may be more reflective of my follower demographic). This is interesting because Deloitte conducted its own survey on Burnout symptoms in which a whopping 77% of respondents reported feeling symptoms of Burnout. To put that into perspective, only 45% of the UK population are interested in football. This means that Burnout is no longer a niche mental health challenge affecting only the most overworked and stressed of the nation; this is a global pandemic in itself. If this isn’t enough reason alone to demonstrate why we need to normalise talking about Burnout, I don’t know what is.

Think about it for a second: if you’re in a team of four, it’s likely that at least three of you are experiencing some feelings of Burnout. If you’re managing a team of four, you’re probably not getting the most out of three members of your team because they’re feeling burnt out. Setting aside the fact Burnout is a hugely unpleasant and stressful experience as an individual, if you’re a pure numbers person think of the productivity lost due to Burnout. Unless we normalise it, we will forever be turning out suboptimal work by unhappy people. Sounds toxic to me. Especially when it’s so simple to fix.

How can we normalise talking about Burnout? Well by doing just that. If you’re feeling it, be brave and say it. To your partner, colleagues, friends, family, manager, whoever! Often, you’ll be surprised how much your own network will be ready to support you and the number of people who, when I’ve told them how I was feeling, said “oh yes, I’ve been there too” was genuinely astounding.

Likewise, even if you’re not feeling burnt out, it’s likely that one of your colleagues, friends, family or even boss might be. So, check in on them and really mean it. Listen to the answer and be present in your conversation. Just a friendly listening ear may make all the difference.   

But it’s not just at the individual level we can enact change. At the organisational level more can be done. Every company has All Hands and Meet the Leader sessions and we often ask our Directors, Senior Managers, CEOs about how they got to where they are. Often, we hear about the good stuff with milestones being promotions and they might say “this project was tough but it was all worth it!” We need to encourage them to balance this picture as most people will have burnt out at some stage. Encourage them to talk about when and why and how they recovered. Also make it acceptable for people to ask them about it too. And if you’re one of those leaders, don’t just give a glib “oh yes I was a bit tired but hey it was ok in the end” response. Be honest. We can break the Burnout symptoms top down and bottom up simultaneously.

Burnout isn’t just the elephant in the room, it’s trampling all over it! We normalise talking about Burnout by…talking about Burnout. Just like we talk about Netflix or football, we can make it normal to talk about Burnout. Start now.