Not Another Article About Burnout
Keeping up with how much is written about burnout in 2020 is exhausting. I can’t tell you how many times I closed my laptop — or failed to open it — while researching this story, opting instead to take a walk. Walking in nature, by the way, is one of the simplest ways to combat burnout, according to Florence Williams, author of “Your 2020 Burnout Recovery Plan.” But this isn’t an article about walking; it’s about a complex societal problem, which did not begin with the coronavirus pandemic and has only worsened this year.
What follows is a distillation of more than a dozen recent articles, reports, and studies about Americans reaching their mental, physical, and emotional limits. More than a tip piece, this is an invitation to think broadly about how we might shift from a burnout culture to one that values our quality of life and sustainability as people. If I may be so bold, I might suggest making this the final article on burnout you read this year. You deserve a break.
The state of burnout in 2020
A 2019 Gallup survey found that 76% of employees experience burnout on the job at least sometimes. Last year Anne Helen Peterson described burnout as millennials’ “base temperature.” Now, in 2020, a pandemic that has stretched out indefinitely poses unique challenges to our collective well-being. Women, especially women of color, are burning out at alarming rates. Ditto for health care workers. And remote workers. And parents. And as the data show, so many of us are in a world of hurt.
Know the signs: After one month of feeling high stress levels all the time, you may begin to experience psychological symptoms of burnout (feeling irritable, anxious, cynical, detached) as well as physical symptoms (stomach pain, bloating, tightness).
Caring for yourself in times of chronic stress and uncertainty
Follow any of the links below for more ideas.
- Practice radical acceptance. Stop resisting or fighting reality, says Michael Maddaus, M.D., so that you can apply your energy elsewhere.
- Expect less and replenish more. It’s OK to put off your goals, cut yourself (and others) slack, rest and focus on things that supply you with energy.
- Find joy in movement. It’s just as important to eat well and stay physically active as it is to give your body time to rest and recover.
- Talk to your manager. Managers are often a cause of burnout, but some may be able to help. See if you can come up with a plan together.
- Spend time in nature. Leisure activities like walking, biking, hiking, gardening, eating outdoors, and even just stepping outside to breathe and stretch can benefit your physical and mental health.
- Stay connected, even when you feel depleted. Socializing with family, friends, and colleagues builds resilience.
- Say no. There is, perhaps, no better time to practice setting boundaries than now, when demands are high and it’s vital to make time for yourself.
- Rethink self-care. Gratitude and self-compassion? Check. Good nutrition and sleep? Yes. You know what to do, but you may also want to use this time to explore what you don’t know makes you happy, from finding a new hobby to helping others.
Some of the tips above are more challenging, if not impossible, for people in marginalized communities. The emotional toll is also greater for Black women, who are more than twice as likely as women overall to say that the death of a loved one has been one of their biggest challenges during the pandemic, according to McKinsey.
People are overworked and struggling to pay the bills with no safety net and no caregiving support. In an August survey for The New York Times, 80% of U.S. parents who are both working remotely during the pandemic said that they will also be handling child care and education.
In other words, taking time to rest and find leisure is an act of refusal, as the author Jenny Odell puts it, a margin only some can afford. As one commenter said in response to “Your Surge Capacity is Depleted — It’s Why You Feel Awful”:
“This ‘living under constant threat and uncertainty’ may be new to many of us, but for many people from less privileged groups this is how they’ve lived their entire lives. People are so quick to point to success stories and say ‘oh this person was able to work hard and lift themselves out of a bad situation, so everyone should be able to.’ But maybe seeing for ourselves how incredibly hard it is to do things in this sort of survival mode could give us more empathy for those who can’t, and more desire to help them.”
The future of well-being is collective
While self-care is essential, this moment demands that we address long-standing issues that cause widespread burnout, particularly among vulnerable populations.
RAND researchers who studied high-stress communities in crisis found that communities recover well when they have “stronger social ties, a more inclusive and responsive government, [and] a community narrative of facing challenges and overcoming them.”
Duck Hill, Miss. is a model for inspiration. As Doug Irving explains in his essay on how stress accumulates in marginalized communities, the residents of Duck Hill began the hard work of building a stronger community several years ago.
When the pandemic hit, Duck Hill community members started a phone bank to call and check on each other. They planned a farmer’s market so folks wouldn’t have to drive out of town for fresh produce. Most importantly, they’ve started an inclusive, ongoing conversation about community well-being.
Corporate America’s burnout crisis
As Duck Hill is showing, it takes a village to reverse societal burnout. The same goes for the workplace, where micro-stresses take a toll on our collective health and productivity. Business leaders can help by having compassion for the struggles of employees’ work-life balance.
Hubspot, recognized as one of the best companies for happiness, has held workshops and events this year to support its employees’ mental and physical health, which is not to say that more workshops alone are the answer.
“Programming doesn’t matter if empathy isn’t a foundational element of your culture and values,” says Hubspot’s chief people officer Katie Burke. “What it comes down to is how are you instructing your managers to support folks who need a little extra help?”
And what if you’re a manager and you need help? Consider it an opportunity to get vulnerable and lead by example.
“Two weeks ago I just had a lot on my plate and was already annoyed,” says Burke. “Then technology failed for my weekly team update and let’s just say I was sad, frustrated, and angry. Rather than trying to pretend it was perfect, I told everyone what happened and said I’d get back at it next week.”
Even though companies are taking action to support employees during the pandemic, “many [companies] aren’t addressing the likely underlying causes of stress and burnout,” writes the consulting firm McKinsey and Company in its September Women in the Workplace study.
The authors of the report sound the alarm on a dire situation for gender equality:
“More than one in four women are contemplating what many would have considered unthinkable just six months ago: downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce completely. This is an emergency for corporate America. Companies risk losing women in leadership — and future women leaders — and unwinding years of painstaking progress toward gender diversity.”
According to the report, almost three in four women who are considering downshifting their role or leaving the workforce cite burnout as the main reason.
Hubspot recently hosted Leslie Forde, the CEO of Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs, to talk about how hard it is to ask for help in the workplace. Burke says Hubspot is working to ensure that employees know what help is available without having to ask for it and that managers recognize how challenging it is to ask for help. “We too often say ‘if you need help ask for it’ without recognizing how loaded and challenging that can be in the moment,” says Burke.
Where do we go from here?
I wanted to publish this article sooner than I did, but, well, you know, 2020. In fact, I can’t blame a year, or for that matter, my unemployment or loved ones’ illnesses or nearby wildfires for feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.
I’ve been studying burnout, or more honestly struggling with it, since long before the pandemic hit, and at least one thing has become clear to me: There is no simple fix for widespread societal burnout. The work of caring for ourselves, our families, our friends, our communities, and our colleagues is inseparable and ongoing. It’s urgent, but the only way to do the work authentically is by going at a pace we can sustain.
