Marie-Claire AssekoNow that we’ve laid out a few elements to help us identify burnout culture in our places of work, let’s talk about💡strategies. Strategies for us as employees to cope with and hopefully overcome burnout culture. But also potential organizational measures that employers can put into place to mitigate its effects🎯.
I use a lot of hypothetic language here because I recognize that addressing burnout culture requires a multifaceted approach 🔁 from supportive leadership to people’s resilience through changes. I am also accounting for the fact that even if/when it’s for our own good, we, human beings, tend to resist change.
Nonetheless, by addressing these areas, I want to empower both employees and employers in hopes that we can create a healthier, more sustainable work environment together 🫱🏾🫲🏾.
3 Ways to Overcome Burnout as an Employee
1. Set Clear Personal Boundaries…and stick to them!
Adopting clear personal boundaries is essential for mental health and work-life balance. But it is critical for you to stick to these boundaries…Why you ask?
You teach people how they should treat you by the way you treat yourself, through the consistency with which you uphold your own standards.
Simply put: people learn from you 🫵🏾 how to treat you. And if you do not respect the boundaries you set, they won’t either—don’t be surprised, they’re mimicking you.
- Replying to emails at 10PM or 5AM from your phone, while in bed? Resist the urge.
- Using personal and professional devices interchangeably? Not anymore.
- It is important to dissociate personal and professional spaces, even more when you work from home.
It won’t be easy I know, I went through this and I still have to adjust daily based on what’s going on in my life. What’s for sure is that you will need to grow OK 🕊️ with the fact that your boundaries will disappoint or frustrate others’ expectations of you🫡.
“Others” will include work or school colleagues of course but friends and family also might need to adjust to this shift. And more often than not, boundaries are the most difficult to accept for the people closest to us.
Setting boundaries helps you preserve the mental, cognitive, emotional, physical resources you need to tackle all the many projects you have, achieve the milestones you dream of while reducing the risk of burning out along the way.
Life is a marathon, and work is just a portion of that race.
2. Seek Support
I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is to have people in your corner: the stress-buffering hypothesis suggests that social support can buffer the effects of job stressors on health.
So you need people who care 🫂 about your well-being, your success and who are not afraid to tell you things as they are; most importantly people who you trust to be honest and kind towards you.
Having a support system can enhance your coping strategies and your resilience (i.e. that relief when you know you have a safe space to fall back on).
3. Leverage Company Resources for Personal Development and Wellness
If your employer offer employee assistance programs or hotline, use them as well—they’re part of your compensation💸!
Your employer may also have opportunities for you to engage in professional development which provide you with the support needed to navigate and mitigate burnout. Indeed, investing in personal development 🔐 and wellness can increase job satisfaction and personal well-being.
According to Self-Determination Theory, fulfilling the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness leads to higher motivation and well-being ❤️🩹. Engaging in activities that meet these needs can help combat the effects of burnout culture.
3 Ways to Prevent Burnout as an Organization
1. Addressing Organizational Gaps
One of the first steps employers can take is to address and rectify organizational gaps—discrepancies between what is said about a task/process and the actual effort required from employees to execute said task/process.
This approach draws on the Gap Analysis framework, which involves identifying the gap between the current state (what is happening) and the desired state (what should be happening) and then implementing changes to bridge that gap.
By transparently acknowledging and adjusting processes that are unrealistic or misaligned with actual workloads, employers (and managing leaders) can reduce unnecessary stress and streamline work processes, thereby mitigating burnout.
2. Treating and Evaluating All Employees on the Same Standards
Employers must ensure that all employees are treated and evaluated based on the same standards, actively discouraging behaviors that hinder collaboration and synergy between teams.
Employees seek to balance what they put into their job with what they get out of it and they compare this balance with that of others (Equity Theory, i.e. a social science theory that explains how people evaluate the fairness of their relationships).
By fostering an environment where collaboration 🤝 and positive team dynamics 🧑🤝🧑 are rewarded, and toxic competitive behaviors are not, leaders can enhance fairness and equity within the organization. This approach not only reduces burnout but also promotes a culture of mutual respect and teamwork.
3. Involving Employees in the Ideation of a Supportive and Inclusive Work Environment
Involving employees in the creation and ideation of a supportive and inclusive work environment is fundamental to ensuring that initiatives resonate with and effectively support the workforce.
By engaging employees in the development of policies and practices that affect their work and well-being, leaders can build a more inclusive, supportive, and resilient organizational culture that actively counters burnout.
TL;DR – How to Overcome Burnout Culture in the Workplace
Addressing burnout culture requires:
- A comprehensive approach combining individual resilience, supportive networks, and organizational strategies to balance job demands and resources;
- Leaders driving change by closing organizational gaps, promoting equity, and involving employees in decision-making.
By applying principles from organizational development theories, both employees and employers can work together to foster a healthier, more sustainable workplace culture. Awareness and proactive engagement are key to transforming burnout culture into an environment where well-being and productivity flourish side by side.
These actions address burnout’s root causes while fostering sustainable, engaging workplaces that prioritize well-being and productivity.
