With productivity pressures growing, many global leaders are investing huge amounts of time and resources on cutting-edge tools to enhance their efficiency, from generative AI to virtual and augmented reality. 

With that said, for leaders to make the most of the opportunities presented by these new tools, they first need to turn their attention to the wellbeing and efficacy of the employees using them, said Dr John Chan, Managing Director at Infinite Potential, during an address at AHRI’s recent NSW State Conference.

“[As leaders], we can’t do all the great things that we want to do and help people unleash their potential if the environment they’re working in is not healthy or sustainable,” he says.

“Look within – look at the policies, the processes, what you’re doing. If you can improve that, you’ll instantly improve [employees’]  activity and quality of life.”

Chan recently co-authored a global report on the state of workplace burnout, which found that almost two in five employees (38 per cent) currently report experiencing burnout – a similar level to last year, and a 27 per cent increase since 2020.

Significantly, the report also uncovered a gap between how managers perceive their people’s wellbeing and how employees themselves reported on their wellbeing.

The report, which surveyed over 2000 participants across 43 countries, found that almost seven in 10 managers (68 per cent) say employees’ wellbeing is the same or better compared to 12 months ago. Meanwhile, 45 per cent of employees said their wellbeing is worse in the same period. 

“There are two reasons that we’re seeing this,” says Chan. “One is that managers are much more likely to be burned out themselves, so they don’t have time to actually [address it]. The other one is about education and training. 

“[Many] managers weren’t trained to look for burnout or stress. They weren’t trained to know how to mitigate these kinds of things. They were promoted because they’re really good at what they do… but they don’t have these abilities.

“If we’re going to put the onus of taking care of people’s wellbeing on managers, we need to make sure they know what to do and have the tools to do that.”

“Look at the way a job is structured or designed, and [ask yourself], ‘Can one person actually do that job within the time allocated? Are they getting paid enough that they can live and not [worry about] the rent?’”  – Dr John Chan, Managing Director at Infinite Potential

Three dimensions of burnout

Part of supporting managers to address burnout is helping them understand what it looks like, says Chan. Many see burnout as simply a synonym of ‘feeling tired’, but the condition is a multifaceted one that must be understood in its entirety in order to be managed effectively, he says. 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), burnout is “a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” and is characterised by three dimensions: 

1. Exhaustion

Exhaustion can take a number of forms, including physical, mental and emotional depletion. 

Levels of exhaustion often correlate to the volume of an employee’s workload, but can also be exacerbated by factors such as low job control, which can drain employees’ sense of involvement and engagement with their work.

“Exhaustion is the one we all know, and a lot of the time people think burnout stops here,” says Chan. “But if you’re exhausted but love what you’re doing and you’re [achieving] goals, you’re not [necessarily] burned out.”

Rather, burnout is the combination of exhaustion with the other two dimensions, he explains.

2. Cynicism

Employees experiencing burnout often develop a cynical outlook, mentally distancing themselves from their work and their colleagues and approaching tasks with negativity or even callousness.

“When you see people starting to hate their job, hate the people that work with and hate everything about their role…that’s a lot more problematic than the exhaustion piece when we’re trying to fix the situation,” says Chan. 

“Once someone grows that cynicism, it’s a really difficult road [to come back from].”

3. Reduced professional efficacy

This dimension of burnout could involve increases in mistakes and feelings of incompetence, which are often not grounded in truth, says Chan. 

“You might be very capable, but because of burnout, and because of the pressures that you’ve been put under or the culture you’re under, you’re starting to make mistakes and you’re starting to doubt your capabilities,” he says. 

Given that employees experiencing this symptom tend to take longer to complete tasks, it can create a vicious cycle of playing catch-up and lead to a “burnout spiral”, he adds.

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Combating burnout through sustainable work practices

Managing the dimensions of burnout explained above requires transparency and open communication from leaders to ensure employees don’t begin to self-blame, which only exacerbates the issue, says Chan.

“Burnout is not the fault of the individual. It’s not something that they have or haven’t done that has called them to burnout. It’s not that they aren’t good at prioritising. It is chronic workplace stress, and so it’s the structure and culture within the organisation that’s creating this environment.”

Based on Infinite Potential’s research, Chan’s team has devised a five-part framework for creating a sustainable workplace – i.e., a workplace where burnout is less likely to occur. 

The five foundations of a sustainable workplace include personal growth through training and career development, protection from harm and strong connections among teams. 

See the full framework below:

One of the most important aspects of this sustainable workplace model is people-centred structures, says Chan. 

“This has so much to do with an employee’s wellbeing. Look at the way a job is structured or designed, and [ask yourself], ‘Can one person actually do that job within the time allocated? Are they getting paid enough that they can live and not [worry about] the rent?’ [Thinking about] all of these structural things will do much more for wellbeing than other initiatives,” he says. 

While providing career development opportunities to employees whose workloads we are trying to reduce might seem counterintuitive, Chan stresses that these opportunities are essential to give employees a sense of purpose and thus mitigate burnout. 

“They still want to grow. They want to do less work, but to keep growing professionally and as a person. So don’t think that if we want to improve people’s wellbeing, it’s all about just taking stuff away from them,” he says. 

Instead, it’s about providing opportunities for meaningful work and reducing the volume of stress-inducing tasks.

To effectively apply this structure, Chan says employers need to be willing to trial and test sustainable work strategies that work for them. 

“No one knows the right answer. There is not going to be one right way [to approach] the future of work. It’s going to be different within organisations and within teams, and it’s going to change. So be open to experimentation.

“If you’re engaging with people on how you should try something, and [telling them], ‘This is an experiment and it might not go well,’ people really buy into that. So don’t be afraid to try it.”

Learn to design a wellbeing strategy tailored to your organisation’s unique needs with AHRI’s Implementing Wellbeing Initiatives short course.

The post How to combat the three dimensions of burnout appeared first on HRM online.

Conversations about wellbeing and burnout risks of those working in caring professions often centre around the healthcare industry, which is notorious for high levels of employee burnout.

Teachers are another cohort that comes to mind. The long hours, emotionally taxing work and concern for students’ personal wellbeing and success place high levels of stress on educators, which often results in high turnover rates in this profession too.

It’s less common for people to think of HR as an industry prone to burnout due to the specific nature of their work, but we are just as at risk as both teachers and healthcare professionals.

This isn’t just my sense. Research shows us that HR professionals are feeling the pressure of work at the moment. Gartner found that 71 per cent of survey respondents report burnout levels in HR being more challenging than pre-pandemic, and 45 per cent say they now feel it’s more difficult to handle the conflicting demands thrown their way each day.

It’s a tale as old as time: HR practitioners are too busy looking after others to take time to look after themselves. During the pandemic, we heard the adage “Put on your oxygen mask first before helping others” so often that it became somewhat of a cliche. We hear that advice far less often now, but it’s just as important now, if not more, as many of our wellbeing challenges are masked under busyness or perceived passion.

Why is HR’s wellbeing on the line?

No one wants to talk about the pandemic anymore; we want to be future-focussed instead of dwelling on the challenges we faced in the past. While I understand this desire, it’s important that we don’t move on too quickly.

In 2020, the World Health Organisation predicted the long tail of the mental health impacts of the pandemic, which has since been backed up by local research here in Australia.

I’ve seen this first-hand. Many of the HR clients I coach are very much still feeling the impacts of the pandemic – some without even realising. This is because HR has been at the forefront of pandemic disruption. 

Many HR practitioners are suffering from ‘liaison role strain’, which occurs when you’re constantly acting as the intermediary and executing on tough decisions. They’re the people leading the redundancy conversations, having the performance management meetings and trying to solve staffing challenges. 

Compounding all this is the fact that the people drawn to HR are generally deeply caring, highly empathetic individuals. This is fantastic and necessary, but it can also mean the challenging aspects of their work can cut deep and stay with them for a long period of time.

This compassion fatigue can leave HR emotionally depleted, exhausted and, essentially, running on empty. We don’t want HR practitioners to feel like they’re constantly riding an emotional rollercoaster every day and, potentially, having to leave the profession to recover.

Organisations simply cannot run effectively without a replenished and energised HR function; we need strategic people leaders at the helm now more than ever. 

Breaking patterns

In my experience working with HR, it’s often only when things get really bad that they’ll start putting themselves first. It doesn’t have to be like this.

The first step in breaking the pattern is to identify the signs of burnout. They typically look like:

• Constant exhaustion that can’t be fixed by a good night’s sleep
• Negative feelings, such as cynicism and disengagement
• Physical and cognitive symptoms such as brain fog, forgetting things or migraines, etc.

Once you’ve reached the depths of burnout, you need to get really intentional about pulling yourself out of it. A one-off holiday won’t be enough – the burnout is usually waiting for you when you get back (along with a mountain of emails). 

Instead, you need to practise consistent daily wellbeing practices to keep burnout or compassion fatigue at bay. Some strategies I share with clients include:

1. Build in transition/buffer time 

After emotionally taxing situations, such as a difficult conversation with an employee, it’s important that you don’t jump straight into the next task. Your mind needs time to digest and reset. This might look like debriefing with a colleague or taking a walk around the block.

Action point: Add a 15-20-minute buffer to your calendar after any meeting you predict could be challenging/emotional. This way you won’t get sucked into back-to-back meetings without taking the time to process your emotions and reset/calm your nervous system.

“Many HR practitioners are suffering from ‘liaison role strain’, which occurs when you’re constantly acting as the intermediary and executing on tough decisions.”

2. Learn the power of respectfully saying ‘no’

The average worker is constantly inundated with things that demand their attention – Teams or Slack pings, requests from colleagues, a never-ending stream of emails that require time and energy to provide comprehensive responses to. 

For HR practitioners, these distractions can feel even more overwhelming, as they’re often coming from both the leadership team and employees. That’s why it’s critical to learn how (and when) to decline a meeting or request from colleagues.

Action point: When declining a request, keep it simple. We often feel the need to over-explain our reasoning, but when we provide that much detail, we give people a negotiation point.

I take clients through a checklist to help them figure out what’s worth saying ‘no’ to, which includes asking yourself:

• Is this something I want to do?
• What will I have to give up by doing it? 
• What might I gain by doing it? 
• How will I feel if I do it? 

When we don’t ask ourselves all of these questions, we rush to saying ‘yes’ because maybe the answer to the first question is, ‘Yes, this is something I want to do’, but we haven’t considered that by doing it we’ll need to work into the evening and, as a result, miss out on having dinner with our family or cancelling plans to go to the gym, for example.

3. Be clear with your boundaries and expectations of others

As well as knowing when (and how) to say no, strategic HR practitioners learn how to put guardrails around their ‘yeses’.

I used to work with someone who was so good at doing this. She was constantly asked to contribute to or advise on projects. When people asked her to be involved, she’d reply saying, ‘Absolutely, I’d love to. I have one hour free in two weeks’ time.’ Because she was so brilliant and people valued her contributions, they were often happy to wait for her.

Action point: Drive shared accountability by always being clear about what you can and can’t do, and what you’ll need others to do.

For example, I used to take on a lot of extra work because I’d always say ‘yes’ to helping people. They’d then take days to get the information to me. While I may have had time in my diary on the day I’d agreed to help, by the time I was delivered with the information, I was deep in the delivery of other work. I told myself I had to honour my commitment, so would often overwork as a result.

Now, instead, I always say something like, “Yes, but I only have time to contribute tomorrow afternoon so I will need the materials by then, otherwise it will need to wait until next week.”

4. Practise small acts of kindness

While we want to avoid getting roped into large, complex tasks that will chew up too much of our valuable time, doing small, simple things that help out others can do wonders for our wellbeing.

Action point: Think of some five-minute tasks you could incorporate into your day that might enhance someone’s day, such as calling out a colleague’s great work to the company, sharing or commenting on content shared by your HR peers in your LinkedIn network or giving helpful feedback on something they’ve worked on. 

Build your own resilience plan

The wellbeing challenges faced by HR practitioners are often quite unique and therefore require a specific approach. This is why I’ve partnered with AHRI to facilitate a short course all about supporting HR to build resilience and protect their wellbeing.

In this short course, I draw on various evidence-based frameworks, such as the ‘5 ways to wellbeing’, to help HR practitioners design prevention and recovery plans that are specific to their needs.

By the end of the 3-hour course, participants will have created their own bespoke resilience plan that outlines their non-negotiables, wellbeing priorities and boundaries (because we often don’t know what our boundaries are until someone crosses them).

HR practitioners dedicate so much time to thinking about how to build these plans for other people, but it’s critical they give themselves permission to do the same for themselves.

Emma Chapple is a wellbeing specialist and coach, and the Principal and Founder of Live Wellbeing. She is also the facilitator of AHRI’s new course Renewing Resilience: Addressing burnout in HR practitioners. Sign up today for useful strategies to avoid burnout and to create your own personalised resilience plan.

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Middle managers are working in increasingly hybrid workforces, often geographically dispersed and requiring more flexibility than ever before. Amid a cost-of-living crisis, social and political challenges, and the long-tail mental health impacts of the pandemic, employees are coming to work seeking support for personal issues from their managers.

Middle managers are also expected to do more with less, such as boosting productivity in organisations battling employee shortages and wellbeing issues. It’s a lot to contend with on top of making it through their own workloads.  

The unrelenting pressure of working in middle management led Paul Farina towards unhealthy over-working habits. He spent a decade in the cosmetics and retail sectors in Australia and the UK, managing teams and clients across various time zones. 

Working around the clock was common. 

He would barely get home from a long day in the office when his boss would call, asking for a debrief from the day. Rather than speak up and admit it was too much, Farina handled the pressure by working harder and longer, and turned to alcohol to cope with the stress.

“When you’re in middle management, you’ve always got a boss needing monthly and quarterly budgets to be hit, projects to be met by deadline and things to be completed within budget, and all that pressure gets funnelled down to you,” he says. 

“I needed to take those directives and deliver on them while simultaneously plugging gaps and vacancies, all the while toeing the company line even when things were less than perfect in the field.” 

This dynamic meant he was constantly looking for ways to appease others, often taking work off his team and doing it himself. 

“There’s an emotional side to working in middle management as well, which comes from this feeling of being emotionally isolated and not being able to share that with anyone. 

“You feel like you’re being held hostage by your staff as well because you don’t want to lose them, which leads to isolation. If I didn’t have a couple of buddies in the trenches with me that I could trust, I would have been in a lot of trouble. We’ve all got to pay the mortgage, and, at the time, I wasn’t in a situation to just up and quit.”  

Eventually, Farina did quit, navigating his way into a role where he now counsels others in middle management. Looking back, he admits he didn’t have the education or strategic thinking to deal with the pressure. 

“I had nothing in my toolkit at the time. I should have been more assertive, and I should have held senior staff coming at me with constant demands to account. I should have learned to say ‘no’.

“I don’t recall saying ‘no’ to anything or anyone, which means I was constantly appeasing staff and external stakeholders.”

He believes the pressure on middle managers was amplified during the pandemic years. 

“Budgets are down and organisational hierarchies have become even flatter. Middle managers are carrying a lot of that load. 

“When you get under the hood, most organisations have a lot fewer people in them than you might assume.”

Middle managers are feeling the strain on their mental health

The complex work of middle management is all taking a toll on this cohort’s mental health. Not surprisingly, more than half of middle managers (53 per cent) are feeling stressed or burned out and 46 per cent are experiencing anxiety, according to the Indeed 2023 Workplace Wellbeing Report. 

Middle managers also feel neglected and lack essential leadership, communication and people management skills, found research by the Australian Institute of Management and Monash University. 

It indicated that middle managers are therefore significantly underperforming despite their key role in corporate ranks. But this doesn’t necessarily reflect a lack of capability. 

Many haven’t been adequately trained to deal with these added pressures, or don’t have the bandwidth to respond appropriately to the competing pressures put upon them. 

“We need to acknowledge that individual contributors promoted to middle management don’t come automatically equipped with the management skills needed to thrive in their role.” – Kade Brown, Workforce Solutions Director, RMIT Online

Reducing friction points for managers

Bolstering middle managers’ capabilities needs to be a key priority for organisations. 

Effective middle managers are able to reduce friction points at work, accelerate action and help an organisation work towards its goals. 

The challenge of balancing the fiscal needs of a business, managing cost and maximising profits means there is a huge under-investment in leadership capabilities, says Lorraine Farah FCPHR, Director of Leaning Forward. 

She wants to see organisations drag middle managers out of the weeds of work where they are often overworked and under-resourced.  

“Senior leaders underestimate the impact their [managers] have throughout their organisation,” she says. “The shadow they cast by the behaviours they demonstrate impacts not only engagement, but, importantly, all aspects of delivery of the business outcomes.”

Coupled with this, managers and leaders often deprioritise development and training in their already over-committed roles and seem unwilling to find time to upskill, she says. 

As well as time constraints, she lists three main issues holding middle managers back from utilising their full potential:

• A lack of commitment from leaders to prioritise managers’ development as a core capability.
• Structurally, the span of control of middle managers often sees them stretched too thin. They have too many direct reports, combined with complex processes, leaving them burnt out just trying to get the job done. 
• Managers aren’t usually rewarded for being a good manager. It may be acknowledged, yet it’s not always encouraged nor rewarded in a way that delivering on business results is. Managers will focus on what is measured and rewarded, and make choices on which work to prioritise when pressed for time. 

Farah wants to see commitment at an executive level to consistent, non-negotiable leadership development for middle managers. 

For example, providing access to leadership development topics right in the moments they need it most – such as how to conduct performance reviews, manage conflict, create space for innovation, seek and provide feedback, etc., in addition to established leadership programs.

This just-in-time training approach helps keep learning highly relevant for middle managers, so they are able to bake it into their workflow rather than viewing their upskilling as separate to their work or as an addition to their to-do list.

Research from McKinsey & Company shows that companies that invest in their human capital yield more consistent earnings through times of crisis. In fact, organisations with effective middle managers in the top quartile produced up to 21 times greater total shareholder returns than others in lower quartiles, according to 11 measured management practices used to define an organisation’s health.  

“The correlation between trust and the relationship between employees and their direct manager is strong and leads to better outcomes,” says Farah. 

How technological development will impact middle managers

While the role of middle managers will continue to evolve with technological advances, it’s unlikely the layer will disappear entirely, says executive coach Smita Das Jain.  

However, the specific responsibilities of middle managers will evolve alongside the adoption of technology as routine tasks and administrative duties are automated.

“Organisations [should] stop and take stock, and adopt technology to automate many of the tasks middle managers perform, such as training, employee performance, generating reports and making decisions,” says Jain. 

This frees up time for middle managers to focus on higher-level strategic planning and decision-making, she says. 

Rethinking traditional managerial roles

As organisations shift and become more complex, middle managers may become more vital than ever, says Murat Tarakci, Professor of Innovation Strategy at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

He cites findings that attribute 22 to 30 per cent gains in productivity and innovation to effective middle management. In a separate academic paper he recently published, he illustrates the challenges middle managers face by quoting one middle manager at phone company Nokia admitting: “We knew the iPhone was coming out about a year in advance. We had pretty good specifications for it. The CEO forwarded the email to his subordinates, writing ‘Please take action on this’. Yet, middle managers folded, and opted to sugar-coat the stalled process, causing Nokia to lose the competitive battle for smartphones.” 

“Middle managers are constantly coping with, adapting to, or even resisting contradictory demands and pressures,” says Tarakci in his paper.

“As new technologies emerge, rivals flood one’s turf and customer preferences reposition… these shifts require rapid and effective organisational responses to adapt to an ever-changing environment,” says Tarakci.  

While changes in the business landscape often necessitate extra support for middle managers, the simple elements of work can also create friction points. For example, an excessive number of direct reports can overwhelm managers, hindering their ability to provide adequate coaching and guidance, says Kade Brown, Workforce Solutions Director at RMIT Online.      

“Conversely, too few direct reports may indicate inefficiencies or questionable promotions, leading to underutilisation of managerial talent,” he says. 

Empowering managers to focus on the right tasks is critical, he says. This involves identifying and streamlining low-value bureaucratic activities, leveraging automation and outsourcing where applicable. 

“By reducing administrative burdens, middle managers can allocate more time and energy towards fostering a supportive environment, nurturing talent and addressing the needs of their teams,” says Brown. 

“We need to acknowledge that individual contributors promoted to middle management don’t come automatically equipped with the management skills needed to thrive in their role. They require intentional and targeted upskilling in three key areas: business acumen, structured problem-solving and people leadership.”     

As such, middle manager upskilling initiatives shouldn’t focus just on theory, but on embedded practice and behaviour change. 

“It’s imperative to design or procure upskilling solutions that enable managers to integrate new skills seamlessly into their current world of work,” says Brown. 

This strategic realignment enables managers to focus on driving impact and promoting a culture of engagement and growth within the organisation. 

“The pace of change, disruption and transformation in the world of work isn’t going to decelerate any time soon,” says Brown.

To alleviate the cognitive load on middle managers, the best thing we can do is to equip them with the tools and skills they need to cope with this new reality. 

This article was first published in the April/May 2024 edition of HRM Magazine.

Want to learn more about effective leadership and management? Sign up for AHRI’s short course to understand your leadership style and learn how to create key performance indicators.

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During what’s supposed to be a relaxing holiday season, many employees are busier than ever – juggling copious social events while also racing to reach those last-minute work deadlines.

Many employees have been working at an extreme pace for the entire year, and the cumulative impact of this on wellbeing might crop up as they finally start winding down and the adrenaline wears off.

While a break may be in sight, many employees will have already reached a point of burnout, and recovering from this can be a prolonged process that often demands a consistent and targeted effort from employers that stretches well beyond the holiday period. 

So what measures should employers take to ensure that when employees return in 2024, they step into an environment conducive to both productivity and sustained wellbeing?

HRM spoke with Audrey McGibbon, Chartered Occupational Psychologist, Executive Coach and wellbeing expert, about how HR professionals can help managers develop a practical guide towards recovery. 

Recognising burnout in employees

The first thing managers and HR professionals need to do is be able to clearly and swiftly identify when employees may be on the brink of, or already experiencing, burnout.  

While there are definitive signs and symptoms to look out for, the lines between burnout and general exhaustion are often blurred, making it difficult to initiate steps towards reversing the impacts. 

“Someone experiencing burnout will almost always have a low mood, but you wouldn’t automatically say that someone with a low mood is burnt out,” says McGibbon.

Many of the other symptoms associated with burnout, such as  fatigue and a lack of motivation, can also be linked to other mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety. It’s crucial for HR leaders to learn how to identify the differences in order to kick-start the recovery process for employees.

“A really burnt out person probably couldn’t even bother telling you that they’re burnt out.” – Audrey McGibbon, Chartered Occupational Psychologist, Executive Coach and wellbeing expert.

A good indicator of burnout is any change in an employee’s usual behaviour, she says. For example, a team member who is usually detail-oriented may begin to make constant mistakes in their work, or you might notice that a usually sociable employee isn’t coming to as many events anymore. 

McGibbon points out that for an employee in the late stages of burnout, they might have trouble even getting themselves to work.

In a collaborative office environment, a ripple effect can take hold, where one employee complaining of exhaustion causes other employees to respond with similar feelings. This can  manifest in a collective experience of fatigue among teams.

Read HRM’s article about ’emotional contagion’ and how you can manage it.

While communication around mental health has become a natural and widely accepted part of the workplace, this doesn’t necessarily mean that employees experiencing burnout are likely to take the first steps in talking about it. 

Burnout remains a uniquely isolating experience, with employees often lacking the energy to do anything about it or not feeling psychologically safe enough to disclose their experience to their manager.

Protective factors to nip burnout in the bud

McGibbon stresses that, while there are ways to reverse the symptoms of burnout (see below), it’s far easier to prioritise preventative measures. 

“Organisations have a lot of control over certain factors that we know are protective and stop people becoming burnt out.”

For example, she suggests three strategies that employers can implement to protect employees’ wellbeing:

1. Encourage flow

Leaders should focus on creating positive work flows for employees.

“Stress is frequently thought of as [the result] of the volume of work that we need to do, but there’s a lot of research to say that, if you create a culture where people engage in ‘smart work’, they are less likely to become burnt out because the work is interesting and stimulating.”

When an employee enters a state of ‘flow’, they may be working hard, but it’s not experienced as ‘hard work’. In fact, team members often find this type of work yields the opposite effect – engaging work flows can boost productivity and motivation, acting as a safeguard against burnout.

Read HRM’s article about helping employees to discover ‘red thread’ tasks that energise them

2. Allow for autonomy

McGibbon underscores the role of autonomy in the workplace in warding off burnout.

“[Autonomy] is linked to flexible work practices and is about creating the belief that your work is making a difference.”

On the flip side, a substantial trigger of burnout can be micromanagement, which chips away at employee autonomy and can foster feelings of distrust and inadequacy.

Implementing flexible working models can help to increase autonomy, alongside open and honest conversations with leaders about expectations, she says. 

3. Fostering quality social relationships

Another protective factor is the quality of social relationships in the workplace, says McGibbon.. 

“[The quality of social relationships] is absolutely down to the quality of recruitment processes and the quality of leadership, management and psychological safety,” she says.

By building a safe and inclusive workplace, employers will be better equipped to reduce the likelihood of burnout among employees, allowing them to feel valued and listened to. 

5 tips to reverse the impacts of burnout 

While there is an abundance of information on burnout prevention, little is shared about what to do after burnout – or how to reverse the impacts once they’ve already taken their toll.

Below are five steps HR leaders can take to guide employees in the recovery process. 

1. Encourage time away from work 

The primary need for employees experiencing burnout will likely be to take time away from work. 

“It could be as little as two or three weeks, but it is more likely to take longer for a full recovery.”

Alongside this, it is important that employers allow their team members the space they need to regain their sense of wellbeing. 

However, if communication is completely severed, there’s a risk that the employee may perceive the silence as a lack of care

“You need to have some way of respectfully conveying to employees that they are in your thoughts and you’re available for discussion or support when they feel ready.”

2. Encourage constructive rest 

Employees not only need time away from work, but intentional time away that is restorative and focuses on switching off completely. 

This is imperative for physical recovery, allowing them to overcome adrenal fatigue and begin the process of calming the nervous system, says McGibbon.

Rest will look different to each employee based on their needs, but it’s a good idea to remind them that rest comes in many forms. This infographic shares the seven different types of rest that people need at some point in their recovery period.

“[Recovery] will probably necessitate medical check-ups – not always with a psychologist, but almost always a visit with a GP.”

It’s important to be aware that the physical symptoms of burnout require attention before broader triggers can be addressed, she adds.

3. Ensure a holistic approach to burnout

As an employer, it’s essential that you look at the triggers of burnout from all angles. For example, in work cultures that champion constant productivity, growth and development, there can be ongoing pressure to achieve these milestones. 

While the  World Health Organisation has stated that burnout is an ‘occupational phenomenon’, external factors can also contribute to the progression of burnout, such as social commitments and financial stresses.

So how should managers respond when burnout is, in part, the outcome of external influences?

McGibbon says the rapid revolution of the way in which we work, particularly our unlimited access to technology and remote work, means that contemporary society doesn’t have the boundaries that were once in place, such as seeing your colleagues log off and leave work for the day.

This increased attachment to work means that switching off completely has become nearly impossible. 

As a result, it’s imperative that HR take a holistic approach to address all triggers of burnout.

4. Be realistic and remove unnecessary pressures

When it comes to encouraging teams to embrace rest during the holiday break, McGibbon suggests employers communicate an important message: resist the pressure to have the ‘perfect holiday period’.

It’s important to be realistic about employees’ varied personal situations, she says,  emphasising that it’s possible to find pockets of rest amid necessary commitments. 

“There is an extra level of intensity, particularly for dual-career households with children. What I recommend is that people take stock and think about their own personal circumstances and what their needs are. Set an objective.”

McGibbon shares her own personal objective for this holiday period, which is to simply be bored. Day-to-day commitments mean that she is too busy to find the time to have nothing to do. 

“Go through your summer with some means of negotiating pleasure,” she says.

5. Encourage reflection

A final step that employers can take not only to reverse the impacts of burnout, but to sustain long-term wellbeing in the workplace, is to invite employees to reflect on the triggers and impacts of their experiences at work, such as unrealistic KPIs or an excessive workload. 

If the triggers have not been addressed, “You come back feeling like it’s groundhog day because you go back to the same deadlines, or the same clients or the same excessive workload, and nothing changes,” says McGibbon.

It is crucial that reflection is something that is taken on by both employers and employees. For employees, this may look like personal questions such as, ‘What would need to happen for my work to feel more meaningful?’ – and, for employers, a rigorous look into the internal changes that need to be made to encourage people to switch off from work on time, for example.

Ultimately, employers need to make a combined effort in both prevention and recovery to reconstruct a low-risk workplace adept at addressing burnout.

Employers can allow their teams all the time away from work they need, but, unless any changes have been made to address the initial triggers of burnout in the workplace, the cycle of burnout will likely persist.

“The thing that will make the difference is whether anything in the workplace environment that was part of the original cause has changed,” says McGibbon. “If nothing has changed, you’re going to get the same result.”

Improve your ability to recognise the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions and learn effective strategies to manage health and wellness in the workplace with AHRI’s short course.

The post 5 tips to reverse the symptoms of burnout appeared first on HRM online.

New research has revealed concerning statistics about mental health in the workplace.

Seven in 10 Australians wouldn’t tell their employer about their mental health condition, according to the study, which was conducted by Way Ahead, the Mental Health Association NSW. It surveyed 2000 people from across Australia – half with experience of mental health issues and half without. 

Alarmingly, only seven per cent said that workplaces always provided a safe environment for employees to ask for help. Further, 64 per cent said they would hide a mental health challenge for fear of discrimination and 38 per cent reported having been treated unfairly after disclosing a condition. 

Dr Zena Burgess, CEO, Australian Psychological Society, says these statistics are “cause for alarm”.

“We all have mental health challenges. It’s something that constantly ebbs and flows. So, if people feel it’s something they need to mask at work, not only does that have personal implications for them, but it also leads to bottom-line impacts and could mar your company’s productivity agenda,” says Dr Burgess.

The report also found that 15 per cent of people had never sought help from an employer and 18 per cent had waited three years before doing so.  

Creating a psychologically safe environment where people feel they can disclose their mental health challenges is not only the right thing to do in order to support your teams, it’s also vital in meeting your psychosocial safety obligations as an employer.

So what are some common mistakes that employers are making? And how can HR help them to do better?

Creating the wrong environment

Employers’ mistakes usually fall into two categories, says Dr Amanda Ferguson, organisational psychologist and host of the Psych for Life podcast.

The first is creating an environment conducive to poor mental health, where workers feel unheard, overloaded and unsafe to speak up. This may exacerbate existing mental health challenges, or even provoke them.

“Many workplaces have a culture of burn and churn,” says Dr Ferguson. “Employers seem to think, ‘We’ll just replace our employees once they’re worn out.’”

Not all overloading of workers is intentional. For example, an employer might offer extra responsibilities, thinking it would be a great opportunity for someone without realising they’re overwhelming the employee.

Or, the employer might not supply the right resources, says Dr Ferguson.

 “The company might be saying, ‘We’re giving you all the tea and coffee you can drink,’ but the staff are saying, ‘We need a better accounting system, or more ergonomic chairs.’” 

“Too often I see managers hide behind HR thereby letting down the organisation and their employees, and missing an opportunity for development and learning themselves.” – Dr  Zena Burgess, CEO, Australian Psychological Society

The problem is compounded when employees don’t feel safe to speak up – whether they’re overloaded, or simply want to exercise a right, such as getting time in lieu for having worked overtime, Dr Ferguson adds.

In some cases, this lack of safety may be the direct result of condemnation, such as a manager speaking negatively about an employee who refuses extra responsibilities. 

In others, it may be a perception based on a manager’s conduct. 

“The boss might be telling their team, ‘Yes, of course, you can leave on time,’ but not modelling that behaviour,” says Dr Ferguson. 

Failing to respond appropriately to mental health issues

The second mistake employers make is failing to act appropriately when issues arise. 

One of the most common is insufficient training of managers, says Dr Ferguson. Consequently, managers might be, at best, ill-equipped to detect and respond to mental health issues, and, at worst, critical of staff experiencing challenges. 

“Team leaders and managers themselves need to upskill to have personally confronting conversations about mental health,” says Dr Burgess. “It’s not the sole role of HR, but HR can be the coaches. Too often I see managers hide behind HR thereby letting down the organisation and their employees, and missing an opportunity for development and learning themselves.”

Dr Ferguson says other mistakes include failing to see mental health as an aspect of diversity, and promoting resilience without providing enough resources to “join the dots”, such as showing how their job matters.

“Workers need resources, not just endlessly being told to ‘be resilient’,” says Dr Ferguson. 

“Resilience requires self-regulation, for example, understanding, ‘I need my time in lieu’; social competence, as in, ‘I’m socially competent enough to tell my boss this is what I need’; and psychological safety, which enables an employee to speak up.” 

Coaching employers to respond differently

The first step is “owning that there’s a culture problem,” says Dr Ferguson. 

“Change must be top-down and bottom-up.”

After that, companies should prioritise training managers to take a “nuanced” approach, which means treating each employee according to their unique needs as much as possible. A good place to start could be developing a personal situation plan (read more about that here).

Managers should learn to detect issues early, have preventative conversations, and give employees the time and resources required to recover. 

“For example, in a high-risk workplace, a good manager would be proactive, preventative and psychosocially aware enough to say to an employee, ‘It looks like you’re burning out. Do you need some time off?’

“Rather than leaving the employee to speak up or merely asking, ‘Is there a problem?’, they’d  be sending a message to the whole organisation that we know burn out is dangerous, so we’re acting on it, and there’s no stigma.”

What about the EAP?

Making a referral to the company’s employee assistance program (EAP) is a good first step.

“But that can’t be where employers stop,” says Dr Burgess.

“I would encourage leaders to think about different ways they can model vulnerability, to demonstrate to their people that they’re willing to walk the talk when it comes to prioritising and de-stigmatising mental health at work. “

“This might look like hosting wellbeing sessions where leaders open up about what they do to proactively look after their mental health or ensuring that ‘mental health days’ are normalised by including it as a key feature in employment materials, such as onboarding documents, job advertisements and as an agenda item in one-on-one meetings with managers.

It’s also important that employees seek professional medical help, when needed. 

“I would always recommend the guidance of a trained psychologist for complex mental health matters,” says Dr Burgess.

“All of these measures can go a long way in helping an employee to feel safe and comfortable to disclose mental rough patches with their employer.”

Improve your ability to recognise the signs and symptoms of mental health conditions and learn effective strategies to manage health and wellness in the workplace with AHRI’s short course.

The post Most Australians would hide a mental health condition from their employer appeared first on HRM online.

Erin Cech was in a cafe in Cape Town and when she got her coffee, the cup read: ‘Passionately made by [barista’s name]’.

“They couldn’t just offer customer service by making a good latte. They had to perform it in such a way that demonstrated their love and passion for coffee,” says Cech, who is a sociologist, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan and author of The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfilment at Work Fosters Inequality.

“[There was] a different level of expectation around the emotional labour of the work.”

While passionate workers are seemingly a positive addition to any workplace, they can also pose significant risks from a wellbeing perspective, especially when passion-fuelled motivation is perpetuated by employers. Part of this risk comes down to the fact that our work is often so closely aligned with our sense of identity.

“There’s a sense that we have to have a self-reflexive project in our lives – that our lives are a narrative we’re crafting, telling the story of who we are, as though it was the narrative arc of a movie. As part of that, people often draw on what they do for a job,” says Cech.

“As we’ve moved from a religiously oriented society, where community-based organisations tied people to a sense of community-based self, we’re now in a post-industrial, capitalist society. We don’t have those same traditional anchors for who we’re supposed to be.”

This is why so many of us go in search of a professional calling; it’s linked with our desire to belong to something larger than ourselves.

“This is clearly reflected in the fact that when we ask small children, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’, the answer is a job,” says Cech. “They’re not saying, ‘I want to be a good community member,’ or ‘I want to be kind.’ There’s this deep centrality of what we’re doing in paid employment for our sense of identity.”

Read HRM’s article on managing passion fatigue in employees.

Over-reliance on passionate workers

Passion comes out of three interrelated things, says Cech:

1. The intellectual connection to the work – finding it fascinating or interesting. 
2. Affective emotional attachment – finding love, joy or excitement from the work. 
3. A sense of a biographical fit or match with one’s unique sense of personhood. “For example, they might say, ‘I grew up playing with Lego and that led me to be passionate about being an engineer.'”

She also notes that the rise of the gig economy is perpetuating these behaviours, as you can “hustle on the side” until you can make that hustle your full-time gig.

“In the last 10 or 15 years, that has been amplified. In the US specifically, but [also] in the broader post-industrial labour market, [there’s a sense of] complacency with the gig economy – as if those are employment circumstances that people are making a choice to be part of because they’re passionate about it. 

“In the broader labour market, there is a reliance on people following their passion… that allows for a cloaking of the deeply troubling nature of the instability and precarity that a lot of workers are increasingly facing.”

Privilege and passion

Although there’s a cultural assumption that you can do anything you’re passionate about as long as you work hard, that’s not a reality for most people. An interesting part of Cech’s research looks into how passion and privilege are interconnected.

“In order to translate something people are passionate about into decently paying, stable employment, [people] usually need to have two things. One is safety nets; these are sort of economic safety nets, maybe parents who can help them pay the bills when they take an unpaid internship.

“Then there are springboards. These are connections or knowledge that somebody has in an industry that they’re passionate about. The people most likely to have those safety nets and springboards are people who are from socioeconomically privileged backgrounds.”

“If work is such a big centrepiece of your sense of identity, there can be a deep, existential risk [for people] given the precarity of the labour market. You may lose that job and, with that, a core part of your sense of self.” – Dr Erin Cech, Associate Professor, University of Michigan

Passionately burnt out

When ‘passion’ is woven into expectations for how we work, a culture may be ripe for burnout.

“Especially if one feels they have to ‘perform’ passion for their job. It’s incredibly exhausting and can feel constraining. There’s a controlling sense over the way you’re doing your work,” says Cech.

“This feeds into a culture of overwork, encouraging white-collar workers to tolerate precarious employment and sacrifice time, money and leisure for work they’re passionate about.” 

Cech’s research found two in three people with a university degree rate passion-fuelled work as more important than pay and stability.

This is often more beneficial to employers than workers, she says, as some leaders exploit a passionate employee’s efforts and ignore their obligations to create boundaries around how long and often people are working.

“Employers covet, but won’t [always] compensate, passion among job applicants. There’s this sense that you can get more work out of people who are passionate.”

Her research has also found that being perceived ‘passionate’ is synonymous with being perceived to be a hard worker.

“That’s a step removed from an exploitative use of passion, but it’s still the same idea. However, when it can be particularly pernicious is when we link passion with competence. There is a general sentiment that people who are passionate about work are better at it.”

Safeguard your people’s wellbeing by learning effective strategies to manage mental health in AHRI’s short course.

Diversify your meaning-making portfolio

Devotion to work isn’t always extrinsically driven. An internal propensity to be overly passionate about work can be equally problematic, she says.

“I’m not saying it’s bad to love the work you do, but if work is such a big centrepiece of your sense of identity, there can be a deep, existential risk [for people] given the precarity of the labour market. You may lose that job and, with that, a core part of your sense of self.”

One antidote to this is to diversify your ‘meaning-making portfolio’, she says. That means investing time and energy into finding a sense of self outside of paid employment.

“You need to be completely militant about making time and space [away from] work because the labour force wasn’t designed to support us in our path to self-fulfilment. It’s designed to support the owners and stakeholders of the places we work for. To entrust the labour force with such an important part of who we are is really risky.”

HR and employers can help employees to “shrink the footprint of work in our life” through the lens of time, energy and attention, says Cech. 

“From a time perspective, ask questions like, ‘How many hours a week are you spending on work?’ and ‘Are you working into the evenings?’ The attention perspective is asking, ‘Are you focused on friend and family time, or are you always distracted by [work] emails?’

Read HRM’s article on tackling the modern ‘time famine’.

“And energy is about, ‘To what extent are you expending all the energy you have on work-related things and not saving time for things outside of work?’

“The more space we allow to have a sense of self outside of work, the more we can be inoculated against the potential devastation from losing a job, or even just having a day or week that doesn’t go well.”

“There’s all kinds of research that says that when people have time for rest and relaxation, they’re more productive and they’re more creative. So from a bottom line perspective, that isn’t necessarily a bad investment.”

A portion of this article first featured in the October 2023 edition of HRM Magazine. This article was passionately written by Kate Neilson.

The post Yes, you can be too passionate about your job appeared first on HRM online.

A recent report on the level of psychosocial safety in Australian workplaces has indicated an urgent need for action to address high levels of burnout among leaders and their people.

Almost two thirds of Australian workers (63.6 per cent) are feeling burned out, and nearly nine in 10 say they have been feeling that way for an extended period of time, according to a new report from the Wellbeing Lab.

“The fact that [burnout] is still sitting at that rate tells us that this is more than just the global pandemic and lockdowns.  This new normal of work [and it’s] really challenging for many of us. There’s cumulative exhaustion, which I think most of us can relate to,” says Dr Michelle McQuaid, Founder of the Wellbeing Lab.

These high levels of burnout are particularly concerning in light of employers’ new legal responsibilities around psychosocial hazards.

“So much of the [workplace] psychosocial safety responsibility is landing on the shoulders of leaders right now. So, how do we make sure that asking leaders to take on another [responsibility] is not the straw that breaks the camel’s back?” – Dr Michelle McQuaid, Founder of the Wellbeing Lab

As part of a new Code of Practice that took effect in April this year, employers now have stronger obligations to manage their employees’ psychosocial safety at work. The Code mandates a systematic approach to managing ‘psychosocial hazards’, defined as aspects of work design, work itself and interactions between employees which can impact their mental health and emotional wellbeing (such as bullying or exclusionary behaviours).  

Interestingly, leaders reported experiencing higher levels of burnout than their teams. Nearly seven in 10 leaders (68.8 per cent) said they were feeling burnt out, compared with 58.4 per cent of their team members.

“It is worth noting that leaders in particular are really feeling it right now… I think it’s interesting because so much of the [workplace] psychosocial safety responsibility is landing on the shoulders of leaders right now. So how do we make sure that asking leaders to take on another [responsibility] is not the straw that breaks the camel’s back?”

The relationship between burnout and psychosocial safety

When researchers asked employees about the workplace hazards that caused them to feel burned out, the overarching theme in their responses was a sense of uncertainty about their role and high job demands.

“Burnout tends to be a reflection of an imbalance between the job demands being asked of us, and the job resources we have to execute those things,” says McQuaid.

“We often think of it like a seesaw – you might have a little bit of imbalance for a while. But, if that equation is too out of whack for too long, that tends to be what creates extra stress and puts us at risk of burnout.”

The report found that the top three causes of burnout were as follows:

1. Lack of role clarity 

Of the respondents who reported feeling burned out, a staggering 95.3 per cent said a lack of clarity was the hazard most frequently causing them stress.

“‘Lack of role clarity’ is suggesting that many workers are not quite sure about their role and responsibilities or what’s expected of them, and that’s causing confusion and frustration and extra stress for people,” says McQuaid.

“So much has changed about our roles over the last few years post-pandemic. There’s a lot of uncertainty. So I think a really low-hanging piece of fruit to help reduce burnout right now in workplaces is making sure we have clarity – that we’re revisiting the responsibilities and expectations of people regularly.”

Read HRM’s article on the three types of burnout that employers need to be aware of.

2. Poor change management 

With all the upheaval to our ways of working in recent times, it’s perhaps unsurprising that over three quarters (79 per cent) of respondents said their psychosocial safety was impacted by inadequate change management.

“[This] often creates a sense of anxiety and feelings of insecurity either in their role or in their job period,” says McQuaid.

“Part of that is the shift to hybrid work and how we’re all doing with that. But also, we just don’t tend to communicate well or execute with reasonable consistency when it comes to change management in our workplaces.”

Need help navigating workplace change? AHRI’s short course will arm you with the skills to understand change management at an individual, team and organisational level.

3. Inadequate reward and recognition

This was identified as a significant stressor for 75 per cent of respondents.

“This isn’t just about being paid enough. It tends to be more about not feeling valued or recognised for the work that they’re doing,” says McQuaid.

“More gratitude in our workplaces can go a hell of a long way. When we’re not feeling valued and recognised, it tends to leave us feeling demotivated, underappreciated or that we’re unimportant. And of course, we all just want to be respected and valued.”

Other causes of stress and burnout mentioned by respondents included a lack of support from supervisors, and the lack of boundaries and human interaction associated with remote work. Unrealistic job demands, which McQuaid’s team anticipated would be one of the most common drivers of burnout, came in at seventh on the list.

“It’s still at 64.2 per cent – they’re not saying it’s not a problem at all,” she says. “But, actually, there are more important things above it that workplaces can address without a whole lot of effort or money required to do them. But [we need] that awareness of what is causing burnout symptoms in our people.”

A top-down approach to psychosocial safety

As well as taking steps to tackle burnout head-on, McQuaid suggests taking a holistic approach that centres around psychosocial safety. Doing so will not only ensure that employers are compliant with their new obligations around managing psychosocial hazards, but will also help to prevent burnout arising in the first place.

“If we feel psychologically safe at work, we are more willing to speak up quickly if we are experiencing psychosocial risks,” she says. 

“Let’s say we’ve got unachievable job demands. If I feel psychologically safe with my boss, I’m more likely to speak up and say, ‘I can’t get all that done this week. Can you help me prioritise?’ or ‘The last month has been really hard. We either need more people or we need to rebalance my workload and responsibilities.’ 

“When we don’t feel psychologically safe, we don’t have those conversations. We tend to sit on them and take on more and more of those unachievable job demands, for example, until we find ourselves burnt out.”

The Wellbeing Lab’s research has consistently found that when psychosocial safety in the workplace is high, every single one of the psychosocial stressors they assessed was reduced, including burnout.

While the importance of fostering psychosocial safety should be impressed upon leaders, McQuaid warns organisations against assuming that their leaders will be able to manage their new responsibilities without receiving support themselves. 

“If we feel psychologically safe at work, we are more willing to speak up quickly if we are experiencing psychosocial risks.”  – Dr Michelle McQuaid, Founder of the Wellbeing Lab

With leaders reporting significantly higher levels of stress than their people, it’s all the more important that employers’ strategies to manage these hazards start at the top.

“Leaders are highly contagious when it comes to mental health and wellbeing in workplaces,” says McQuaid.

“If leaders are less burnt out themselves, it’s less likely their team will be too, because leaders are more present and available to their team members and listening to them and finding better ways to support them as they go about their jobs. This is why starting with leaders is so important.”

The best way for leaders to learn how to have more psychologically safe conversations with their teams is to practice having them themselves, she says.

“Leaders right now need a level of support that we’ve never seen before in workplaces. And getting that through peer relationships that have mixed dynamics and diversity, is a really important way to support leaders. Help them practice building those skills, help give them some accountability around that and make sure they are being heard.”

McQuaid offers some examples of such initiatives, including ‘leadership coaching triads’, where three leaders across a business meet on a fortnightly or monthly basis to check in with one another.  

“[We need to think about] what we are doing to equip our leaders to be more proactive, because, again, the best solution with psychosocial risks is to catch them early before they become bigger problems over time. 

“Especially when our goal is to try to reduce the level of burnout and support the mental health and wellbeing of our people, which is why the [new] legislation and Codes have been introduced.”

Michelle McQuaid will speak alongside other HR leaders, researchers and experts at AHRI’s 2023 annual National Convention & Exhibition. Don’t miss your chance to build connections, hear from globally recognised thought leaders and lead impactful change. Register now.

The post Leaders are bearing the brunt of workplace burnout, report finds appeared first on HRM online.

With mass layoffs and cost-of-living pressures mounting, it’s no wonder employers are concerned about employees’ wellbeing, engagement and discretionary efforts waning this year. Rates of burnout continue to rise in workplaces across the world, according to the 2023 State of Workplace Burnout. 

The survey of people across 40 countries found that over 38 per cent of participants were experiencing all three of the dimensions of burnout defined by the World Health Organisation: exhaustion, cynicism and reduced efficacy. 

That’s up from 34.7 per cent of participants in 2021 and 29.6 per cent in 2020.  Organisational psychologist and co-author of the report Dr John Chan says that while awareness of burnout has increased in recent years, the onus is often put on the individual employee, which isn’t constructive.  

“The implication can be that if you’re feeling burnt out, maybe you’re not doing enough yoga, or enough time management, or you haven’t downloaded the latest and greatest app out there to help you get away from burnout,” says Chan. 

But, he says, organisations and structural factors should be the thing to change. 

“If we see a fish dying in the river, we don’t think about how we can make the fish stronger. We ask how we can clean up the pollution and fix its environment,” he says.

“It’s not just about how to make people stronger – it’s about how we can change their environment.”  

Executive coach Melody Wilding has seen rates of burnout increase in her clients throughout the pandemic and agrees that organisations and leaders have a big role to play in prevention. 

“People can make it seem like if you just have a self-care routine in the morning, you’ll cure your burnout. I wish it was that easy – unfortunately, it’s not,” she says.  

“Organisations certainly have a huge responsibility to make work more sustainable and to provide people with the right resources to value wellness.” But why are we feeling so burnt out? While the resulting symptoms are quite consistently the same, psychological research suggests there may be several distinct root causes of burnout.  

Here are three common types of burnout to look out for – and how to prevent them.

1. Overload burnout

Task overload tends to be the most commonly recognised cause of burnout, says Wilding. 

“This is someone who is so overbooked, completely overscheduled, over-committed; they are putting in overtime, they’re working on weekends, they have trouble detaching from work. 

“In this case, you burn out because your system – your nervous system and your mind – can’t handle everything you’re trying to throw at it.”

How to address it

1.Turn leaders into examples

Leaders should examine their own behaviour to see what tone they are setting from the top down, says Wilding. 

“As leaders, people look to you for the norms, so if you are never taking a break, if people can just book time with you all over your calendar and your lunch break, then you’re setting the expectations for what other people should do,” she says.  

Leaders should model behaviours such as taking time off, spending time with family, or blocking out time on their calendar for deep-thinking work.  

“All of that really matters and gives other people permission to do the same,” says Wilding.

2. Advocate for more resources and fair pay 

Examining people’s workloads and not letting things get out of hand is also critical.   

“Too many managers try to have people do two to three jobs – and it’s just not possible,” says Wilding.

“Listen to your people if they say they’re strapped for time or resources. And then advocate for them at the leadership level.” 

As Chan and his co-researchers point out, financial stressors can also have a big impact on someone’s wellbeing and compound burnout, so compensating workers fairly – particularly in junior roles – is essential.  

This year’s State of Workplace Burnout survey found young workers (18-24) were the group most impacted by burnout – and Chan says macro-factors might be at play.  

“For three years wages have been stagnant and now inflation is going up quickly. Those who are older probably have more financial reserves they can use as a buffer,” he says.  “Those who are younger don’t have that padding.” 

A response in action

One of Wilding’s clients led a small team that was being asked to do more than they could reasonably handle.  

“For her, solving this was an exercise in her own assertiveness. She had to go to her leadership team and make a case for why they needed more resources, the potential consequences and the cost of inaction,” she says.  

“She didn’t get approved a new full-time employee – but they did say, ‘Well, we’ll give you this amount of contract workers to be able to get this work through.’”

“If we see a fish dying in the river, we don’t think about how we can make the fish stronger. We ask how we can clean up the pollution and fix its environment.” – Dr John Chan, Organisational Psychologist

2. Underchallenged burnout 

The flipside of having too much to do – having too little on your plate – can lead to under-stimulation and make someone feel like they’re wasting their potential. 

“As humans, we need to find the right level of stress. We can’t be stressed too much, which is overload burnout, but we can’t be stressed too little,” says Wilding.  

“When you’re bored, when you don’t have enough stimulation in your job, you begin to check out. That can lead to cynicism, which can lead to mental depletion. If people don’t have opportunities for growth and learning, they can feel this type of burnout.”

How to address it

1. Build growth and learning opportunities  

Wilding suggests creating avenues for people to take on stretch projects, regularly checking in about where they want to go, and paying attention to people’s strengths. 

“Are there mentorship opportunities? Can they have access to certain classes or a professional development stipend that allows them to attend a program or a conference, for example?”

2. Create opportunities for connection  

“Under-challenge burnout can also happen as a result of not having connection with people, so try to create opportunities for meaningful – not forced – connection,” says Wilding.  

Interestingly, Chan’s team found a difference in burnout levels between those working in hybrid environments and those working solely from home. 

“Those who were working from home between two to three days showed the highest levels of wellbeing, and the lowest levels were those who were working from home over 80 per cent of the time,” he says. 

A response in action

Another of Wilding’s clients takes a quarterly team health survey to check the emotional pulse of her team.  

“She asks questions about how engaged people feel. Do they feel their work is reflective of their talents? Do they feel connected with their team members?”  

Tracking these trends over time, the client was able to see that when the company went through an acquisition, satisfaction ratings dropped.  

“She could see that the team was feeling disconnected from one another, that they didn’t feel like they had an opportunity for brainstorming, for example, and she could open up that opportunity.”

“Listen to your people if they say they’re strapped for time or resources. And then advocate for them at the leadership level.” – Melody Wilding, Executive Coach

3. Neglect burnout 

The third cause of burnout – neglect – is an important one for leaders to take heed of now, says Wilding, as many organisations are facing uncertain circumstances in the near-term.  

“This one is where people feel worn out because they feel helpless; they feel like they can’t affect change, or they don’t have agency and autonomy of what’s going on around them. 

“It’s really easy for people to feel like, ‘Well, I’m just at the whim of everything happening around me, I feel very helpless,’ and they may fall into this type of burnout as a result.”

How to address it 

1. Give people tools to navigate uncertainty  

“Especially now, it’s important that leaders and HR are giving people the tools to navigate uncertainty and ambiguity,” says Wilding.  

“Part of this is around framing the situation and acknowledging that things are tough right now. If people feel dismissed and invalidated, that’s just going to further make them feel incompetent or invisible.” 

She adds that it’s helpful to be “clear about what the priorities are today because that clarity allows people to know where they can plug in best”.  

2. Share your own experiences 

“If you, as a manager or leader, have gone through burnout, that’s really valuable for your people to hear.”   

By sharing what worked for you and normalising the experience, you can help banish any sense of shame around burnout. 

A response in action

Another of Wilding’s clients pulled her team together after there were stirrings about possible layoffs in the organisation.  

“She got her team together and said, ‘Hey, this is the state of what’s going on right now. This is what I know. My commitment is to give you the information I can when I have it. But for right now, I want to create a space for all of you to talk about what’s going on and how you’re feeling with the change. And I want us to have an eye towards constructive problem-solving – how can we support you?’” 

Giving people the space to talk through concerns meant she could gain clarity on the communication she needed from her superiors, as well as help people feel heard amid stressful circumstances. 

Next steps

As businesses prepare to weather the potential storms of 2023, it’s critical that HR professionals are able to help managers and leaders think more holistically about the different ways people can experience burnout. 

Workflow management is just one piece of the solution. Businesses also need strong, empathetic people management and well-designed motivation strategies in order to create a mentally robust workforce. 

Even as competing business priorities start to creep in, HR leaders should think twice before putting engagement strategies on the back burner.

This article first appeared in the April 2023 edition of HRM Magazine.

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Have you ever thought about taking on a second job, or ‘side hustle’, to boost your income or pursue your personal interests outside of work? If you said ‘yes’, you’re not alone. 

In September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that over 900,000 Australian workers – that’s 6.5 per cent of the workforce – held multiple jobs during the June quarter. This marks an increase of 4.6 per cent since the previous quarter, and is the highest recorded rate since the quarterly series began.

One of the biggest drivers of this increase cited by the ABS is that the number of available roles has skyrocketed as businesses wrestle with nationwide labour shortages. However, the ABS findings also revealed a record high in job vacancies – a 14.3 per cent jump since the last quarter, and more than double the rate than before the start of the pandemic – suggesting that employees’ skills aren’t aligning with the jobs available.

While pursuing a side hustle can bring myriad benefits to employees, both they and their employers must be aware of responsibilities around wellbeing, as well as legal considerations. 

HRM spoke with Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor at UNSW Business School, to unpack some of the most important factors at play.

Exploring new possibilities

Amid growing concern about the rising cost of living, it’s unsurprising that many Aussies are turning to second jobs as a source of extra income. But, this might not be the only factor behind the increasing popularity of side hustles, says Boccabella.

“People were in lockdown for quite a while. And it might be that people had an opportunity to think about the long term a bit more,” he says. “It gave them the opportunity to think, ‘Maybe I should try a different career path, or even try running a business on my own’. It gave them space to experiment.”

The increase in employees pursuing alternative forms of work to improve their work-life balance and job satisfaction may indicate a bigger change to come in the future of work. 

Career trajectories are more flexible and less linear than they once were, and more employees are seeing the benefits of ‘portfolio careers’, where they can cultivate a wide range of skills and experience and take on more project-based work, rather than committing to one single employer.

One of the key benefits of having a side hustle is the chance to diversify your skillset. Even if a company offers great learning and development opportunities, real-life experience in another industry gives employees more opportunities to add new skills to their arsenal. 

The prospect of pursuing their dream career might seem less daunting if they are able to dip their toe into the field via a side gig rather than diving in head first.

“Especially if you’re reasonably young, it’s about trying to expose yourself to how certain industries work. For example, you could get a part-time job in the hospitality industry, get to know how it works and learn whether there are career paths for you there. It’s all about experimentation.”

Upskilling in this way not only means employees expand their horizons externally, but can even result in them bringing fresh and relevant knowledge to their primary job.

Not only this, supporting employees who wish to start a side hustle could be a boon for retention – especially for the next generation of talent. 

Microsoft’s most recent Work Trends Index found that 63 per cent of millennials and 76 per cent of Gen Z aspire to be their own bosses and are more likely to stay with their current employer if they were given the opportunity to work flexibly and pursue a side project.

Managing employees with a side hustle

While a second income source might be a tantalising prospect for some employees, spending time on a side hustle inevitably means more time in work mode with less time for rest. 

Australians are already burned out. According to ELMO’s latest Employee Sentiment Index, 42 per cent of Australian workers have experienced some degree of burnout in the last quarter.

Employers can also be put in a difficult position if they begin to notice a dip in engagement as a result of the time and energy an employee devotes to a second job. 

“That’s often forgotten in this whole conversation,” says Boccabella. “There are potential conflicts of interest all over the place.

“When you have a full-time job, there are obligations on employees – they’re supposed to carry out the job with care, dedication, loyalty and diligence. If employees are turning up to their job dead tired because they’ve been working another 20 or 40 hours somewhere else, they may not actually be performing their first job properly.”

How much say do employers have?

If you’re concerned about employees burning the midnight oil on a side hustle, can you stop them from doing it? 

According to Boccabella, employers can only do this in certain situations where they are protecting themselves from a conflict of interest.

“If I was working for a chartered accounting firm, I would have thought there’d be a clause in my contract saying I couldn’t go and work part-time for [a competitor],” he says.

“If you put those situations aside, if there’s no express exclusion in your contract from working a second job, and there’s no implied exclusion based on conflict of interest, it would generally be okay.”

If you choose to include these specific clauses in employment contracts, Boccabella says employers must have a concrete reason to do so and clearly communicate that to employees.

“The restriction has got to be related to the interests of the employer… [for the same reason] you can’t say to an employee, ‘You can’t go and play football on the weekend.’” 

“If employees are turning up to their job dead tired because they’ve been working another 20 or 40 hours somewhere else, they may not actually be performing their first job properly.” – Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor, UNSW Business School

If the demands of a second job have begun to visibly impact performance and employers are considering dismissal, it’s crucial they go through the appropriate channels to do so, to avoid the possibility of unfair dismissal. In this instance, you wouldn’t be putting someone through a performance management process because they have a side hustle, but because their performance has slipped. These two things need to be treated separately.

“You’ve got give warnings before you dismiss someone. You’ve got to bring it to the attention of the employee and give them the opportunity to correct their behaviour,” says Boccabella.

“In fact, that was one of the problems with the Diego Franco case. [The employer] didn’t give him much of a chance. Franco had to have a chance to respond to his so-called performance lapses.

“Your rights as an employer to dismiss someone are governed by the employment contract, but it’s important to go through the formal process before you go down the dismissal route.”

The time and energy you devote to a side hustle might add more hours to your week, but for many employees that commitment can pay back in spades.

While it’s crucial that employers take appropriate action when side hustles interfere with wellbeing and performance, supporting employees as they pursue their passions can help to create a greater sense of fulfilment and engagement at work, and help you to hold onto your best and brightest talent.

How do you feel about employees taking on side hustles? Let us know in the comment section.

Need help ensuring that your policies are compliant and up-to-date? AHRI’s short course unpacks key aspects of employment law in Australia that HR practitioners need to be aware of in their practice.

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In just 17 seconds, a US-based TikTok creator started a viral trend that has the potential to impact employers across the globe. It’s called ‘quiet quitting’ and, contrary to its name, it doesn’t actually have anything to do with quitting your job. Instead, it’s about rejecting the notion of going above and beyond.

“You’re still performing your duties, but you’re no longer subscribing to the hustle culture mentality that work has to be your life,” the TikToker said in his video.

The concept is said to come from China, where, last year, employees embraced what they call the ‘laying flat’ movement in a bid to rebel against arduous work hours.

TikTok, dismantling hustle culture, employees calling the shots – it all sounds very modern, but this silent disengagement from work is nothing new. It’s reminiscent of the concept of work-to-rule, a type of industrial action whereby employees perform only what’s required of them according to their contract in a bid to slow down productivity.

It’s often used in industries such as healthcare and policing as a way to send a message to employers without compromising patient or community care, as it’s less disruptive than an outright strike.

So if quiet quitting is just a modern version of work-to-rule action, should employers be shaking in their boots right now? Aaron McEwan FAHRI, Vice President of Research and Advisory at Gartner, doesn’t think so.

“If your growth strategy is dependent on discretionary effort – on extracting a rare commodity out of stone – that’s a really bad strategy because it’s incredibly difficult to control that,” he says.

Instead, he says we should view this movement as a necessary correction and an opportunity to create more engaging work cultures.

“The pointy end of the Great Resignation has probably passed. A lot of people quit their jobs and changed industries or professions. Now, what you’re seeing is the correction to create a sustainable way of working and living.

“Quiet quitting is just people saying, there’s more to life than work. Do I want to work to live, or live to work?”

Silent disengagement

Gartner’s data shows that quiet quitting is more than just an internet trend. It’s actually playing out. In the second quarter of 2022, employees’ discretionary efforts fell from 17 per cent in the previous quarter to 15 per cent on average.

This drop occurred against an interesting talent backdrop.

“While willingness to go above and beyond is declining, intent to stay with an employer is increasing,” says McEwan.

That’s what you’d expect to see in an economic environment where a recession has been predicted, he says, even if it doesn’t eventuate. When people deem the economy to be rocky, they look for stability at work and they stay put.

“Quiet quitting is just people saying, there’s more to life than work. Do I want to work to live, or live to work?”– Aaron McEwan FAHRI, Gartner

That probably rings alarm bells for employers, as it suggests they could be facing a wave of presenteeism, combined with record-high absenteeism due to COVID-19 infections and general talent shortages. Now more than ever, we need workforces that are switched on, charged up and ready to add value.

This was the only way many businesses were able to stay afloat during the pandemic; employees often had to work outside the bounds of their job descriptions. This isn’t necessarily the employers’ fault. No one could have predicted what it would be like to run a business in 2020-2021.

However, the prolonged period of instability spawned a workaholic culture, says McEwan. And, prior to the pandemic, consumeristic pursuits were already setting the scene for a ‘work hard, play hard’ culture, he adds.

So perhaps we were already on a slippery slope and the pandemic just sped up the quiet quitting movement.

Is ‘quiet quitting’ here to stay?

Unlike other internet trends, this doesn’t appear to be something that will fade into the distance in the next few weeks, says McEwan.

“My personal view, and this is nothing more than informed speculation, is that this is a more robust phenomenon that will outlast the economic cycle.”

This is partly because it aligns with broader themes that have emerged since the pandemic about decoupling from work, and also because it’s representative of the natural bell curve to emerge after years of employees working faster, harder and later to help their organisation’s weather the storm.

“Everybody stepped up to the plate. They dealt with disruption and changes to the way they worked and they learnt new digital skills. Most of the data shows that organisations experienced very significant productivity gains from this.

“Then you look at the real data on working hours through the pandemic. Australians, on average, were working six additional hours every week, and that would be a conservative figure.”

Quiet quitting could simply be a natural recalibration that workers had to bring forth in order to avoid complete burnout. And while we may see discretionary effort rise if a recession comes to fruition, as people fight to stay off the chopping block, McEwan says employers shouldn’t bank on it.

“If we consider the definition of discretionary effort, it’s going above and beyond what you are expected to do and what you’re paid to do. So, as inflationary pressures continue to eat into any wage increase gains we’ve been getting, I think people will start to consider if it’s worth putting in additional effort.

“There’s nothing like an existential crisis, and we’ve been through several of them, to remind you of the fragility of your health and your life.”

The pandemic, the bushfires, the succession of supposedly once-in-a-lifetime floods and ongoing international conflict – there’s a lot going on at once, says McEwan.

“That’s all making people think very deeply about where they invest their limited time, energy and effort. I think work is not as prominent as it used to be.

“Maybe work won’t be the centre of people’s lives moving forward. There might be a lot of executive leaders out there thinking, ‘How do we deal with this?’, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing.”

Hear more from Aaron McEwan at AHRI’s Convention on 15-17 August 2022. Registration closes on Wednesday 10 August, so don’t miss out. Book now.

Responding to the correction

These large-scale, global work movements – the Great Resignation, a rejection of businesses that don’t offer flexible work, and now, quiet quitting – represent opportunities for certain companies to lead the pack in terms of negotiating a new deal with employees. It’s a chance to fundamentally change work for the better and design win-win solutions for workers and business alike.

McEwan shares some food for thought to kick-start your approach to design more engaging and productive work cultures:

1. Reflect on where you can eliminate organisational drag 

Think about the tasks employees were doing during the thick of the pandemic when they were putting in high discretionary effort.

“Was it high-value adding work? Or was it just another report? This isn’t a chance to think about how to extract more from people with less, but rather how to reduce the amount of unnecessary labour.”

McEwan calls this reducing ‘friction points’. At AHRI’s 2020 Convention, he quoted Gartner research which suggested that on top of the 2-3 hours of overtime most people were doing each day, employees wasted another 1.9 hours each day trying to navigate systems to do their jobs.

Assess which processes need to be reconsidered, what can be cut, and where you may need to make investments to reduce the amount of friction points employees face each day, either via technology or extra people power.

2. Don’t underestimate the role of social media

By 2025, 75 per cent of the workforce is expected to be made up of millennials. And by 2030, Gen Z will account for roughly a third of the Australian workforce. 

Even though these two generations have slightly different views about work – for example, research suggests that millennials are the most likely to overwork – this is still a combined demographic that’s less likely to subscribe to the hyper-productive work mentality that many before them have set and adhered to.

“​​If you had a problem with your employer or your job in the past, and you raised that, it would have been dealt with behind closed doors,” says McEwan.

“Today, you can film your boss and put it on TikTok. About 18 months ago, I predicted that we’d see both managers and companies being ‘cancelled’ based on poor behaviours.”

This collectivization that was once only achieved via a union membership can now also be replicated in the social media world. That means this new-found power employees have discovered could very well stay in their hands.

3. Make sure to adequately resource your teams

This is one of the biggest factors in creating an environment where employees can add value and be freed up to think innovatively, says McEwan.

“It’s very hard to do your best work when you’re overworked, when you’re lacking sleep and when you’re unhealthy.”

“We have to treat employees like human beings and give them sustainable workloads.”

4. Make the work more exciting

If employees are disengaging from their work, perhaps it’s not interesting enough. 

Keep job design in mind when creating new roles in your business, and take the time to assess people’s existing roles to ensure you’re giving employees the opportunities to utilise a wide range of skills each day.

(Resources: read HRM’s guides to designing compelling jobs with the SMART work model and keeping engagement high with a remote workforce).

5. Incentivise employees differently

The fact that it’s no longer a given that employees will go above and beyond shouldn’t be considered a repudiation of your agreement with them. It should signal that you need to reconsider what you’re putting on the table.

“The data shows us that people haven’t been getting promoted and they’ve not been getting pay raises. What they’ve been getting is additional responsibilities, as the talent squeeze means that most teams are understaffed and under-resourced. And we’re seeing that wages are not rising in line with inflation. 

“I’m certainly not promoting the idea that people should slack off. But if they’re doing what they’re paid to do, and you want them to do more, you probably have to look at what’s in it for them.”

While pay rises might not be on the cards due to financial pressures, McEwan says there’s myriad other things employers can offer, including: career progression that aligns with their goals, training and development opportunities, having great managers to guide them, time to pursue personal goals or coaching/mentoring opportunities.

(Resources: read HRM’s articles on innovative ways to reward employees beyond offering more money and the research-backed benefits of giving people more time in their days).

“There’s a whole bunch of levers that organisations can pull that have a direct impact on discretionary effort. And I would argue that over the last 20 years, many of those things have been neglected.”

The pandemic has been a reminder that work is a two-way deal between employers and employees. The quiet quitting phenomenon is just a reminder for organisations to hold up their end of the bargain.

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