Breaking the Burnout Cycle in the Workplace
The theme for World Mental Health Day this year is “It’s Time to Prioritise Mental Health in the Workplace.”
As a counsellor and coach, I see firsthand the impact that today’s fast-paced work environment has on my clients. From significant overwhelm to unrelenting stress, the warning signs of burnout—whether exhaustion, frustration, or decreased productivity—are more common than ever.
Why Mental Health in the Workplace Matters
In the past, mental health wasn’t typically associated with the workplace, and conversations around it were often side-stepped. However, in today’s world, where work frequently follows us home through MicroSoft Teams calls, messages and emails, it’s critical to recognise how work is affecting your wellbeing. With the lines between work and personal life often blurred, there can be insufficient time for rest and recovery.
Balancing work with sufficient rest time is crucial, or your performance and relationships suffer. You may notice the quality of your time and interactions with your family and friends is eroded as you begin to avoid socialising and connecting, or you are irritable and impatient when you do. You’re exhausted when you get home and you get stuck on the couch, unable to do the things you know you need to, to feel better. The weekend comes around and you just want to sleep, and not see anyone. These are some red flags that you are heading toward burnout.
This World Mental Health Day, take a moment to consider how you can put a stop to these red flags, by prioritising mental health at work.
First, it’s important to know the signs of burnout. It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you notice the following signs it’s important to take action.
Recognising the Signs of Burnout
- Reduced productivity and difficulty concentrating
- Cynicism or feelings of failure
- Headaches, fatigue, or sleep disturbances
- Emotional swings, irritability, or anger
If left unchecked these signs can lead to symptoms that can have serious impacts for mental wellbeing. For example, difficulty concentrating, remembering things, and problem solving is associated with cognitive impairment, while irritability, anger and mood swings are signs of emotional dysregulation. These symptoms can be treated, and early intervention makes a difference. If left unchecked they can progress in their severity and potentially lead to depressive episodes, anxiety and panic disorders, sleep disorders, substance use disorders, and even post-traumatic stress disorder.
5 Practical Strategies to Break the Burnout Cycle
Ideally both employer and employee take proactive steps to create a healthier work environment to stem the risks of burnout. These strategies offer tips for team leaders however are also useful for individuals to appreciate what good practices can look like and action for themselves.
1. Promote Rest and Recovery Time
With the 24/7 nature of technology it is imperative to keep track of how many hours of the day you’re ‘on’, and this includes the level of work creep into your personal time. Why? Because a lack of balance, and insufficient rest and recovery time, are the perfect ingredients for burnout to begin to take hold. If you’re a leader, encouraging employees to take time off, and setting boundaries around start and finish times, including not sending emails outside business hours. This is a starting point, along with encouraging the enjoyment of activities that support rest or self-care, and goes a long way toward preventing burnout.
Actionable Tips:
- Encourage your team to take their 4 weeks annual leave
- Normalise utilising traditional ‘sick leave’ days for mental health days.
- Promote healthy boundaries by discouraging emails outside of work hours; instead, schedule emails to be sent during regular working hours, if you do find yourself working late. This breaks the cycle of people replying to these emails outside of business hours, allowing for more refuelling time for the next day.
2. Normalise Mental Health
Workplaces that foster a culture where recognition of mental health as an integral part of overall health, like physical health, encourage employees to seek support without fear of being judged, pigeon holed, or even losing their jobs. When mental health is normalised through speaking about it openly, sharing struggles and what has helped and hasn’t, the message is that we are all human and are all susceptible to mental health challenges; and that support is available, and helps.
Actionable Tips:
- Take the time to genuinely enquire how each of your team is going; beyond work task performance. You might ask something about their life outside of work; showing you care about them more than their productivity and outputs.
- Incorporate mental health discussions in team meetings. Share where to find information on your organisation’s Mental Health policy, or Employee Assistance Program (EAP), for example. This could evolve to be an invitation to share if there’s anything that would be helpful for the team to know that’s going on for you at the moment, or sharing how you each reset and recharge. The intention is to build trust; a demonstration that you care, and are there to support each other.
The goal is that your team feel comfortable, and safe, to have mental health conversations, without fear of judgment or repercussions, and also know the resources that are available, and how to access them.
3. Address Workloads and Expectations
One of the biggest contributors to burnout is unrealistic expectations and inadequate resources, especially when these realities aren’t validated and the person is feeling alone in their situation. The constant pressure to meet impossible demands, coupled with not feeling in control, or having control, is a recipe for burnout to begin to set in.
Actionable Tips:
- Leaders’ responsibility is to ensure that workloads are realistic, and provide clear priorities where there is excessive work for the available resource (s).
- Support employees in setting realistic expectations for themselves and others, and continuing these conversations.
4. Support Mental Health Programs
Wellbeing workshops, mindfulness programs, and EAPs can provide beneficial support for mental health.
Actionable Tips:
- Promote your EAP and lead by example; you might reach out to the EAP yourself for a session and share back with your team how it was for you. eg. I was really nervous before and it actually helped me get clearer about the issue I have, or helped me to prioritise and reset when I was feeling overwhelmed. If you don’t have EAP, there are many therapy platforms and registers online which you could direct your staff to. One of these is talked.com.au
- Encourage employees to use EAP for any issue, not just work-related ones. You can use these confidential services for any issue that’s impacting you. You bring your whole self to work so if you’re having issues outside of work they are indirectly impacting your work performance or experience of work.
5. Encourage Breaks and Downtime
Pushing through fatigue only worsens burnout. Regular breaks improve focus and productivity.
Actionable Tips:
- Create a culture where breaks are encouraged and expected. Set an example by taking breaks yourself.
- Start meetings with a ‘check-in’ on energy levels. This could be as simple as asking ‘how full is your tank’ or ‘what’s one word to describe your energy level today’.
- Another option for a prompt at team meetings or check ins is to ask ‘when was your most recent break, to encourage and normalise mindful pauses’. NB this is to encourage micro pauses. when the team hear how other people are taking their breaks they may find some inspiration. At a bare minimum it is putting the spotlight on taking breaks as something that is normal and expected.
Everyone is unique in their stress thresholds, and needs, in relation to managing their mental wellbeing. Promoting a culture with the qualities of openness, balance, and support will help all teams to thrive, and not burnout.
On this World Mental Health Day, your invitation is to commit to ONE THING, to create a workplace that prioritises the humans in the system. Take your pick from the above, or be inspired to make your own change.
If you’re inspired to implement a change and could do with some support, please feel free to reach out to me, Nicky.
Feel free to book a complimentary 10-minute consultation to ask any questions and see how we can work together to improve your mental wellbeing, and/or your team’s mental wellbeing.