An extra mile closer to burnout

"He always went the extra mile." Excuse my sarcasm, but isn't that a great inscription for a gravestone?

I recently got to think about this matter, and the thought was a bit sticky in my mind. Companies all around still praise people who do much more than anyone could (or should) expect. They don't seem to have a family, and a part of their brain is always re-thinking the last mails which came in today, or waiting for a phone call. Is it really something desirable to have employees who work constantly beyond their limits? People who sacrifice everything to be the heroes of the company? Isn't there a better way which allows working together in a productive, healthy environment where everyone works hand in hand, sharing the burden and the joy of great collaboration likewise? If hard-working, always busy workers with suffering families at home can achieve big goals together (cursing and sweating, but succeeding at last), can we achieve the same (or even greater) results with a smile and a highly motivated team? Does that mysterious "flow state" where everything seems to be possible really exist?

Since starting my professional career in 2007, I experienced both working to the limit of exhaustion and working in hyper-focus mode where I was hitting my keyboard in high speed and with closed eyes like a piano player in a concert hall. I also know how it feels like to be floating somewhere in the middle between both extremes which sometimes requires a lot of resilience on its own. In this article, I'd like to elaborate my experiences and observations, and maybe find a way from A to B.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

(Lao Tzu; source: forbes.com)

First, I'd like to see it from a management point of view, and why it might be so tempting to encourage going these extra miles. On the short term, it may look really good: Those who work longer and harder, and who will always jump when someone whistles are reliable, always helpful, and sometimes the pillars of a company. You know the risk of pillars: If one of them crashes down under the weight it has to bear alone, the whole building may fall as well. Stability requires a construction where all the parts reinforce each other.

I always keep the famous "watermelon SLA" phenomenon in mind: Everything looks green from the outside, but inside it's all red. Reaching out for the high standards of the company and longing to be acknowledged, they will do all they can to make your KPIs looking shiny and green. But never underestimate the creativity of people who are being measured, especially when their salary and reputation depends on it. If you do it wrong, the actual productivity will go straight towards zero while still everyone is busy. When the problem becomes apparent, it can be already too late to undo the damage.

Of course many others - the real "heroes" - who still manage to get the work done somehow, and can still jump in everywhere if help is needed. These are the extra-mile runners who never hesitate to let go of what they are doing (even if they were about to shut down the computer) when a chat message appears that looks somehow urgent. Besides the fact that always pushing work in progress aside to do something else violates very basic concepts known from methodologies like Kanban, that behavior makes very sure that you stay unaware of bottlenecks and other avoidable risks in your organization. Yes, I'm referring to simple resource management.

If too many people manage to do the work of two or three workers, you will never know the actual capacity of your teams. If now one of these hard-working people breaks down (or simply goes on vacation, or even leaves to escape this environment), the engine suddenly doesn't run that smoothly anymore. You may observe extreme delays, a sudden drop in delivery quality as well as a rapidly increasing number of dissatisfied colleagues and -surprise- customers. Nobody wants that, not even those heroes who may be smirking because they can finally see the proof that they're important to everyone.

By the way, in case you already have colleagues who are actually happy about such results: Congratulations, you successfully established a toxic environment which will naturally lead to a high employee turnover and much worse if you don't stop it.

"He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil."

(Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol")

Knock knock, 19th century is at the door and wants its management methods back. Joke aside - of course we want to manage our precious resources aka people in a reasonable and healthy way that allows us to think of future steps instead of ongoing issues. It may feel counter-intuitive, but sometimes it's important to remind those who try to always give 110% percent that from a workload management perspective, even 100% utilization is counterproductive. Instead, we should praise those who get things done in a smart way without sacrificing themselves, and who rather enable and educate their fellow workers than getting it all done alone "because they know it better anyway".

So let's all make the actual health of the people we rely on every day our highest priority. No matter if you're high on the hierarchy ladder or a thought leader on any level: It's up to you to make the world around you a bit brighter. Empathy is the key.

"Take care of you because if you died today, your job will be posted online before your obituary."

(popular internet meme)

Over to you, beacon of light for all who know you. Yes, it feels so good to help everyone who asks, and for sure it can help you on your career path if you just work hard and even overachieve all the time. Who doesn't want to get compliments and rewards of all kind because everyone knows that you are the best? Ok, so let me also reach out to you and ask you for just one more favor: Listen to your inner self and ask yourself if you will be able to give every year twice of what you gave before for the rest of your career. You're not Superman. No matter your position or profession, everyone has limits. If you don't know or ignore them, you will learn it the hard way. Learn to say "no". Learn how to use the "Decline" button in meeting invitations. Learn to speak openly in front of your peers and also your leader who might not even know that you've got too much on your plate. Think of the 80/20 rule which says that "20 percent of work requires 80 percent of time"; identify the time-consuming but trivial tasks, and put your focus on getting them automated, delegated, or even canceled to get some idle time back again. Raise a flag when you see that your skills are utilized wrongly, and if you recognize that you don't get the chance to play to your actual strengths because most of your day is wasted with distractions.

But don't just listen to yourself, do also listen to your beloved ones. How much time is left to spend with them besides all the work? If you have a child, when was your last chance to have some quality time together? What if you miss a whole childhood happening, and one day your son or daughter becomes a hard-working ant just like you? At the end of your days, will you look back will a smile and think of all the fun you had? And how do you want the ones you leave behind remember you? If you were at work all the time, there will be not many memories left besides daddy coming home late in the evening to say good night. Believe me: I didn't have the chance to see my own father often enough when I was young. Now it's too late, and I still regret that I didn't spend more time with him before he passed away.

At least answer yourself at least this one question: Do you work to live, or do you live to work?

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.

(Steve Jobs, rephrasing an existing popular quote)

Do also a favor to your colleagues and give them a virtual kick in the butt when their shift is over but they keep brooding over something they won't get solved today evening anyway. They may also have someone waiting at home, or behind the door of their home office room respectively. If you really like helping others, help them to stay healthy. Appreciate their hard efforts (and don't let it be empty phrases), but remind them of the precious time between sleeping and working.

We all have to take care of each other, as often others can see the early warning signs of burnout long before we do ourselves. Be it a teammate who seems to have given up the fight, or even your own boss who seems to work 24x7. Be open and empathetic. Tell him or her honestly about your observations, and show him/her that you really care. Urge them to take such signs very seriously before they turn into real symptoms.

It's a very hard truth, but at work, nobody is irreplaceable. But at home, you would be missed forever. And for those unlucky ones who actually feel alone: Find a hobby, go out and do something that has nothing to do with work at all. Be truly "out of office" for a while, even in your head, so that you can focus on your own well-being for a while.

Everyone needs some rest, and if you're already one step before the abyss, your next attempt to go another extra mile will lead you quickly downwards.

Read more:

• https://blackmorefour.co.uk/capacity-planning-and-employee-burn-out/
• https://www.allaboutlean.com/trickery-employers/
• https://www.epicflow.com/blog/5-signs-that-your-workload-management-process-is-wrong/
• https://gethppy.com/productivity/8-ways-to-help-employees-manage-their-workload
• https://smallbusiness.chron.com/theories-workload-time-management-24846.html

Disclaimer: I'm sharing my personal opinion and observations not only from my own working environment but also from great conversations with people I got to know, and I do not claim to speak for my company. However, I'm sure my colleagues will agree that we're all committed to keep each other healthy and happy. "Employee satisfaction" is even one if our company values!