Amidst the Covid pandemic, the stresses and strains across both our personal and professional lives have created a burnout epidemic that is as widespread as Covid itself. For instance, a survey of academics found that 70% reported feeling stressed during 2020, with similar numbers in healthcare, education, and various other sectors.

In The Burnout Epidemic, workplace expert Jennifer Moss argues that the pressures of Covid together with the growing societal and political unrest have created burnout on a scale never seen before.  She reminds us, however, that Covid has not been the sole cause of this burnout, and, as with so much, has merely accelerated what was already bubbling under the surface for some time.

Detecting burnout

The causes of burnout are quite widespread, with the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), arguably the most commonly identified psychological assessment toolkit for spotting burnout, outlining 22 distinct symptom items.  Far and away the most common triggers for burnout come under one of the following six themes, however:

1. Workload – Excessive workload is perhaps the most obvious form of burnout, and is one that has been widely documented long before the Covid pandemic became a common part of our existence.  Indeed, in Japan they even have a word (karoshi) for being overworked to death.  This is not merely a Japanese problem, however, and something that most countries suffer with to varying degrees.
2. Perceived lack of control – A while ago Dan Pink illustrated the importance of autonomy in our motivation and engagement at work, so it’s perhaps no surprise that feeling like we lack control over our lives is also a major contributing factor towards burnout.  Indeed, Moss cites research claiming that those suffering from burnout were three times as likely to feel like they’re micromanaged.
3. Lack of reward or recognition – Regardless of what our precise role is, we inevitably give a lot of ourselves to our work, so it’s natural that we want to feel appreciated, rewarded, and recognized the commitment and dedication we give to our work.  It’s important that this recognition is done in a way that matters to those being recognized rather than meaningless gesturing.
4. Poor relationships – It’s widely recognized that if we have friends at work we’re more likely to feel engaged, productive, and loyal to our employer.  The Covid pandemic has strained these existing relationships whilst also making it very hard for new hires to build solid relationships.  This has been exacerbated by wider societal trends that see loneliness becoming more of a problem than ever before.
5. Lack of fairness – Once again, fairness has long been established as something that we strive for at work, and yet bias, favoritism, mistreatment, and so on, remain far higher than anyone would like.  It’s perhaps no surprise, therefore, that unfairness is also a major contributor towards burnout as we expend considerable mental and emotional energy battling the injustice.
6. Values mismatch – It’s increasingly documented how important values and purpose are to the modern worker, so it’s perhaps inevitable that having a mismatch between your personal values and that of your boss or your employer is going to be problematic.  Extend this over a period of time and burnout is a significant risk.

It’s not necessary to experience all of these in order to suffer from burnout, with each harmful in their own right.  By understanding these factors, however, we can begin to make systemic changes to our workplace to try and mitigate the risk of burnout and make work more humane for all.

Measuring burnout

If we want to measure burnout, then the MBI is the best way to do so.  The tool, which was created in 1981, covers 22 distinct aspects of occupational burnout.  The 22 aspects are spread across emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment.

Each item is scored on a seven-point scale ranging from “never” to “daily”.  At the end of the test, a score is returned ranging from low levels of burnout to high levels across each scale.

“This breakdown is extremely simplified, but essentially, the more frequently you feel exhaustion, depersonalization, or cynicism, the more likely you are to be experiencing burnout,” Moss explains.  “The more frequently you feel engaged and personal accomplishment, the less likely you are to be experiencing burnout.

Identifying the true extent of burnout within our organizations is the first step towards tackling this growing problem.  The Burnout Epidemic is an extremely well researched exploration of the topic and any manager wishing to understand the state of the problem in their own organization would do a lot worse than to start by reading the book.