Nearly half of Irish Managers believe their employees are at risk of burnout.

It’s hardly a surprise when 87% of people who have to work remotely are reporting greater pressure.

Simply pilling on more pressure is utterly counterproductive. The whip will yield a short term burst of work, but it will be lower quality, more mistakes will be made, and people won’t last in such an environment.

Pressure is often used to overcompensate for poor working practices. When staff are not given the time, tools, or budget they need and the deadline still needs to be met, then pressure is the fall back.

Yet, pressure is the mainstay of Irish industry. Every week in clinic I see people coming in have been overwhelmed by pressure and stress. They are off sick from work, but even before they stepped away their work was far below par. The cost to their businesses is many times higher than resourcing the person would have been.

We know the scale of this issue here thanks to recent research by Robert Walters Ireland who surveyed workers in this Covid economy and found those shocking levels of stress.

This is occurring all over the world, to the extent that the World Health Organisation has just added ‘Burnout’ to the catalogue of medical diagnosis (The ICD-11).

It defines Burnout as a syndrome which results from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.

It includes these symptoms:

Feelings of Energy Depletion or Exhaustion

Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job

Reduced personal efficacy

This is the first time the World Health Organisation have formally recognised the role of work stress on people’s mental health in this way.

Anyone suffering anxiety, panic, trauma, etc may well be more susceptible to burnout and will likely see stronger bad feeling, but this recognises burnout as something that can afflict anyone.

If work is always on our mind, if sleep is difficult because the mind is replaying the day or dreading the next day, if tension headaches, tight muscles, palpitations or bowel issues are popping up, they can be early warning signs of stress building.

Thankfully, there’s a lot that can be done to reduce the excess pressure at work while even increasing productivity and output. That makes it easier for management to see the value of dealing with out of control pressure and stress.

It’s even a lot more cost effective to support staff in groups (even remotely) than to pay for 1-1 therapy when it’s crisis level.

Each year stress costs businesses on average over €170,000 for every 100 employees. (Based on NHS and WHO calculations).

Simple interventions can save at least €52,000 of that. Further measures to structure a low stress environment can deliver a lot more that.

Drs Milani and Lavie’s study on the financial benefits of investment in workplace wellness demonstrated that: Every dollar invested in workplace wellness interventions returned $6 in savings. (Harvard Business Review).

The NHS estimates 30% of absenteeism can be reduced with simple training. People present but under-performing costs twice as much to your business as the absenteeism does. Both can be improved. 

The evidence is overwhelming. Yet, every week I see people coming in who are burnt-out by stress. They want to leave their job. The cost to the company is huge and the cost to them is overwhelm and misery.

Let’s hope that the current research and the WHO’s recognition of burnout will help change things.

I’m always happy to talk about how things can improve so feel free to get in contact if you like.

Change is easier than you think.

Have a good week,

John

085 1313700

Info@JohnPrendergast

[email protected]

John Prendergast is an award-winning anxiety and psychological-trauma specialist who lived with severe anxiety and depression for more than three and a half decades before finding help. Now he helps others make that same change in life and enjoys living life with his family. He is followed in over 100 countries and is available to help online and in person in his Athlone clinic. He is a director of Stress Reduction Ireland.