Burn Out and the Work From Home Pandemic

I have been working from home since the beginning of the Pandemic and it's had its ups and downs. My role as a producer/director was never one that required me to be in an office. I could always dial-in to a meeting so this was more typical for me than my colleagues whose roles demanded daily office attendance. I was already aware of certain inefficiencies in my out-of-office work process and I think I was mentally prepared for a few months at home. Nevertheless, like many of my compadres, after about 4 months I felt the effects of burnout.

Here's a list of 8 things I've found that caused my burnout and some tactics I've used to increase my mental health during these changing times.

1. The Loss of Commuting:

At first, I thought not commuting would be great! I'd save money, and I'd save money. However, as time went on I realized my commuting time was important for other reasons. Commuting was a daily source of exercise. Commuting was personal time to mentally align for my day, in peace. Being mindful that I missed these things was important. In order to combat that, I commute to my work-from-home job by taking a morning walk, sitting in a park for a bit to just breathe, and coming into my home as I walked into the office.

2. First Thing vs EOD

"First thing" and "EOD" are pretty standard corporate-speak. These phrases get thrown around whenever due dates or meetings are concerned. Due to work at home, there has been a huge increase in meetings happening before 9 am and after 7 pm. It's like people started thinking because things need to get done, these hours are on the table to increase efficiency. However, this assumption is false. These meetings take away from people's time to live their personal lives, and when people's personal lives are affected their work suffers. When people start to put meetings on the calendar outside of normal working hours, I hit decline.

3. Go To Lunch

An organization's job is to be the most effective it can be. Unfortunately, humans by nature aren't efficient, and so there are procedures put in place to cull our lack of focus. However, that doesn't create a fun engaging work environment. Working through lunch may help you hit a deadline, but doing it consistently becomes an expectation. So stop doing it. You deserve to eat lunch this is not a privilege. Getting up and going to get lunch from a local eatery, or grabbing ingredients to prepare yourself adds momentum to your day.

4. Encourage Small Talk In Meetings

Everyone knows when I call a meeting that the first 5 minutes is delegated to chit-chat: Where's the best place to get pizza in your city? Anyone keeping up with your favorite show on Netflix? Chit-chat allows us to establish rapport at low stakes. You don't need to turn your meeting into a political debate about the state of the world but even acknowledging critical current events helps make people feel like we're humans working ..not working humans.

5. Going Radio Silent

Nowhere does it say you're required to give immediate responses. Technology and the ability to communicate instantaneously with anyone on the planet, has warped our perception of response time etiquette. If you're not on a project that is in a critical stage, then take your Teams/Slack app off your phone. Take your Outlook off your phone. Or at least create a time of day for you, where you mute the notifications.

6. Flagging Workload and Self Advocacy

I've had situations in the past where I just couldn't do all the work I was asked to do. It just wasn't humanly possible for all of these things to be done on the same day. At first, I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to appear weak or like a crybaby. However, I knew the work wasn't going to get done and I was going to be held responsible. Instead of resenting that fact (well after a lot of resentment had built up, and I got angry, and my mom calmed me down), I had to decide to be my own advocate. If you are being overworked and it's valid you have to let people know...in writing. Tell your supervisor. Outline the processes, their dependencies, and the timing these things take. Ask colleagues in similar roles if they can substantiate your claim and get permission to use them as references. Make suggestions as to how things can be better, or who can cover for you so you can be solutions-oriented. Then, also forward your letter to human resources. This isn't to get anyone in trouble but chances are if there is a staffing need your supervisor already knows and may not be getting help on the executive level. However, information isn't shared as much as you think, and being vocal about your situation could be helpful to others.

7. Vent - Alt Therapists

Therapy isn't new, and although I recommend a liscense professional for major issues or harassment, discrimination, or anguish for some ol' work nonsense any consistent friend will do. I have many people in my life that I have established a relationship with where I can speak freely about my feelings. My barber is my therapist. My bartender is my therapist. Anyone in your life with whom you have a consistent relationship, who is not connected to the situation, and has a good understanding of your character is a potential place to release steam and get a different perspective. Don't get all bottled up with your situation that it destroys you.

8. Vacation

Duh. We out.

In conclusion - Burn Out is starting to be normalized and accepted. However, there are things that can be done by both organizations and individuals to stop it from happening. The work-from-home business model is here to stay. Even if the pandemic was to suddenly stop tomorrow the culture has shifted. Now it's up to us to review what we've learned from this last year and change behaviors that are prolonged by precedence, lack of forward-thinking and willful ignorance..and create a better lifestyle for all.