Burnout has been described as the erosion of the soul, a cross between helplessness and hopelessness, a severe loss of motivation and/or a mismatch between the requirements of the employer and the capabilities of the employee. Burnout can come about as the result of stress, low morale, poor working conditions, a bad boss, or simply having too much to do and not enough time to do it.
Burnout can occur at every level of an organization from the mailroom to the boardroom. It's commonly found among helping professionals like nurses, teachers, and social workers but it is also found among police officers, lawyers, EMS workers, factory workers, white collar executives, customer service people, middle-level managers, and salespeople.
The profile of an employee who suffers from burnout may surprise you. It is often a person who cares deeply about his or her job but hits a roadblock somewhere along the way and simply stops caring -- sometimes as a matter of self-defense. And it is often the rising stars within the organization that are at the greatest risk for burning out. These are people whose careers were on fire at one point -- fueled by idealism, dreams, and the desire to really make a difference in the world.
Sometimes burnout occurs when the workload is overwhelming. The deadlines keep coming, the next crisis is always looming on the horizon and the employee never gets a sense of completion at the end of the day. In this competitive atmosphere there is often an emphasis on quantity over quality. Add downsizing, and inadequate training to the mix and you have a perfect recipe for burnout.
In bureaucratic organizations, burnout can result from too little stimulus. Workers complain that the job has gone stale. That it's repetitive, monotonous and simply doesn't challenge them enough. Bureaucracy and red tape only add to this burned out workers sense of futility. Eventually he or she just loses interest, doesn't care and begins biding his or her time -- doing just enough to get by. These workers are called ROAD warriors. Retired on active duty.
Burned out workers feel cynical, withdrawn, exhausted, ineffective, unmotivated, angry, depressed, and stressed.
The five working conditions that can lead to burnout are:
- Too much to do and not enough time to do it. You feel overwhelmed all the time, like Sisyphus rolling a huge boulder up a hill every day only to have it roll back down every night.
What can I do about burnout right now?
- Take a one-month vacation or leave of absence. School teachers suffering from burnout often recover every year over summer break.