Invisible burnout becoming a silent workforce killer

Invisible burnout is fast becoming an invisible workforce killer. South Africa is no exception and these challenges are even exacerbated by a number of additional factors, including load shedding and historically high interest rates.

While the hangover from the Covid pandemic and lockdowns continues, much of the workforce in most countries must now also contend with the dramatically increased cost of living and uncertainty about the future, while trying to perform at previous levels, as well as maintaining personal and family relationships.

“The reality is that life is very hard right now and for many employees, showing up at work and trying to deliver their best feels like drawing blood from a stone. People are worn thin and while most will put on a brave face at work, leaders should be aware that burnout, while invisible, is a reality they need to recognise and take into account when dealing with their teams,” says Advaita Naidoo, Africa MD at Jack Hammer, an executive search firm.

Recent US statistics around burnout indicate that:

• 89% of workers experienced burnout within the past year
• 77% of employees experienced feelings of burnout at their current jobs
• 70% of professionals feel employers do not do enough to prevent and alleviate burnout
• 67% of workers report that stress and burnout at work increased since the pandemic
• 40% of workers left their jobs due to burnout.

Naidoo says while similar statistics are not yet available for South African workplaces, the anecdotal evidence in workplaces, everyday life and across social media, clearly shows that South Africans are taking tremendous strain.

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Leaders must watch out for burnout

She warns that this will undoubtedly have an impact on workplaces and teams unless good leaders step in.

“During lockdown there was an empathy and awareness about what people were going through and accommodation was made for that, with support structures put in place. Post-pandemic, workplaces have mostly returned to normal in terms of logistics (albeit with greater variety in terms of work distribution), but employees mostly have not.”

Naidoo warns that employee burnout is a ticking timebomb and leaders should act proactively and not wait for the proverbial bomb to explode.

According to the Maslach Burnout Inventory, burnout is characterised by:

• feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
• increased mental distance from your job or feelings of negativity or cynicism related to your job and
• reduced professional efficacy, meaning low evaluation of your workplace performance.

“It does not take a leadership expert to recognise how this can have a severe impact on a company’s wellbeing, culture and ultimately its bottom line. Therefore, there is a need for leaders and managers to consider how they can support employees for the foreseeable future until equilibrium returns,” Naidoo says.

She says the most important first step is for employers and managers to realise and understand that the general workforce is on a knife’s edge and then introduce small but impactful interventions. “It is not realistic nor desirable to reduce core deliverables for individual employees. However, what needs to go and honestly, should have gone a long time ago, is so-called ‘busywork’.”

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Busywork contributes to burnout

Busywork is the actions and behaviours required in the past for career climbers, but which became de facto ways of working across all levels. Attending endless and pointless meetings, scheduling meetings that could have been an email, coming in early, leaving late, spending hours on box-ticking, writing reports that disappear into a black hole as soon as they are done, attending evening work functions or weekend teambuilding exercises are some of the examples that have become real pain points for employees who are already stretched thin professionally and personally, Naidoo says.

“Most South Africans appreciate and value their jobs and will continue to try their best despite challenging circumstances. However, motivation and pushing through can only take you so far and leaders must recognise that they have a role to play in their own and the company’s interest at the very least, to be empathetic and try make things easier where possible.”

Naidoo says if employees are treated as whole people with whole lives and their boundaries respected, such as not expecting them to be always on and available, will be a start to limiting and containing the extent of burnout individually and within a company, which will in turn ensure greater commitment, loyalty, productivity and engagement.”