Burnout is currently one of the most common forms of employee exhaustion in the workplace. According to a Gallup report, over 70% of employees report feeling burned out at work. Of those, 21% say they frequently face burnout. This condition often persists and negatively impacts mental health, physical health, and long-term work experience.
Therefore, in the Archers’ Talk session last August, Mr. Amine Satouri, Account Manager at Kyanon Digital, shared a highly useful topic for Archers, not only in project teams but also in the back office, helping everyone gain a clearer perspective on burnout and its impacts.
In his sharing session, Amine introduced the following main contents:
- What is burnout?
- Signs of burnout
- How to handle it when a colleague or team member is burned out
Let’s discover what burnout is and effective ways to improve it at work.
What is burnout?
Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. People experiencing burnout often feel tired, lose motivation, and feel disconnected from their work, colleagues, or managers. Many factors lead to burnout at work:
- Work overload: You have too much work to do with too little time or resources.
- Unrealistic expectations: You feel like you can never meet the demands of the job.
- Lack of control: You feel you have no say in your work or how it is done.
- Personal and financial issues: You have concerns outside of work, such as relationships, money, debt, etc.
- Lack of social activities outside of work: You have too little time for family, friends, and personal hobbies.
- Lack of sharing: You cannot share your worries with others and let them bottle up for a long time.
Signs that you are burned out
Most of us have days when we feel helpless, overwhelmed, or feel that the effort we put in goes unrecognized. Dragging yourself out of bed and going to the office feels like an incredibly difficult task. These signs can indicate that you are experiencing burnout. Burnout doesn’t happen immediately; it slowly takes over our minds. The early signs and symptoms are often subtle, and this is a truly significant risk to both the mental and physical health of every individual.
What to do when your colleague or team member is burned out?
With a tendency toward negative thoughts and physical exhaustion, people with burnout often struggle to pull themselves back to their normal state. Therefore, they desperately need sharing and support from those around them. As a colleague or manager, you should do the following to help your coworker or team member overcome these difficulties:
- Listen: Make time for your team members, let them express their concerns and frustrations, but don’t focus too much on their mistakes.
- Understand: Show your team members that you truly understand the negative emotions they are facing.
- Facilitate rest for team members: Burnout can stem from overworking and excessive pressure. Encourage your colleagues to get more rest to recharge their energy.
- Help colleagues set boundaries: Help your coworkers set boundaries at work and say “No” to unnecessary tasks or those outside their scope of work to avoid overworking.
- Suggest professional help: Advice and treatment from a professional may be necessary if the burnout becomes severe.
Wrapping up the presentation on workplace burnout, Amine took the time to answer several questions raised by the Archers, as well as to listen to the stories and experiences from several seniors at Kyanon Digital on how to organize tasks to consistently work effectively and minimize burnout reasonably.
Hopefully, the Archers’ Talk session on “Workplace Burnout” has helped Archers in various positions understand these difficulties and share more, thereby reducing burnout and enhancing work performance.
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ABOUT ARCHERS’ TALK
Archers’ Talk is a knowledge-sharing event series related to the technology and programming fields at Kyanon Digital. It is a platform where Kyanon Digital members (Archers) share practical knowledge from their work processes, as well as lessons learned. This helps the rest of the team, internal staff, or interested external individuals gain new perspectives and mindsets to apply to their current work.
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