Written by: Neela Pirwitz, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Additionally to being treated, burnout should be prevented. To achieve prevention individual boundary setting is not enough. We need to consider prevention techniques for societies and corporations, too.
As burnout rates are rising, we need to not only consider the factors contributing to burnout but also consider the possibilities we have to actively prevent burnout. Preventing burnout can start at an individual level. Yet, we should not forget about societal and corporate factors that need to be changed too. Only if changes can be made on all three levels, will we be able to shift from treating burnout to preventing it, and hopefully see a decrease in burnout rates.
Preventing Burnouton an Individual Level
There are several precautions we can take on an individual level to reduce the risk of burnout for ourselves. Next to setting boundaries between different areas of our lives, such as not answering work calls or emails outside of office hours, we can actively make time for ourselves to re-energize. We might go to a yoga class or do an online course, make use of a meditation app, or get help from a therapist or coach to understand our emotions and stress.
Additionally, spending time helping others can help us to feel like we have more time in the day. Yet, all of these efforts might be in vain if our social and work environments lack support.
Preventing Burnout on a Societal Level
On a societal level, we need to work on acceptance and tolerance for people's boundaries and different mental states. Generation Z is already showing less tolerance than previous generations for completing tasks outside of their pay grade and job description, as can be witnessed by the movement of “quiet quitting”. Through the active use of social media by Millennial and Generation Z users, a normalization process for taking care of one’s mental health has begun.
Social media users can be exposed to posts addressing mental health daily, familiarizing themselves with the topic, and being encouraged to talk about their mental state. This is an important step on our way to destigmatizing mental health and treatment of mental-health-related conditions.
A key element in such acceptance is the understanding that a required boundary might be very different for me than it is for you. The principle of acceptance requires support, not questioning the other’s intention or strength. While we as individuals clearly cannot change all of society’s misgivings by ourselves, we can make an effort to show support to our families, friends, and co-workers. By starting the conversation around mental health and sharing our own experiences, we can help destigmatize mental health issues, encourage support-seeking, and share resources.
When we show emotional support by listening and helping people come up with an appropriate and responsible solution, we can play an active part in burnout prevention.
Preventing Burnout on a Corporate Level
Lastly, we also need to consider burnout prevention on the corporate level. Companies actively have to go beyond symbolic and superficial gestures like offering fresh fruit at the office to contribute to their employees’ health. They need to create a company culture in which employees feel safe to speak up if they have a higher workload than they can handle, need to be encouraged to set boundaries and stick to their official working hours. While there might be naturally busier times in which overtime is required, the employee needs to know this is a temporary state and receive the appropriate accommodation and appreciation in return. Otherwise, the affected employees might not be able to handle the pressure in the long term and might either need to quit, possibly putting them in a difficult financial position, or they might suffer a serious health condition like a heart attack as a consequence of burnout. If the employee does not have the next role lined up already and is not fortunate enough to have saved up a financial buffer that will get them through the next few months, the decision will very likely fall in favor of money, not health.
From the perspective of the company, it is not just decent to take care of its employees – it also makes economic sense. Having a high turnover rate is expensive – having an employee quit, and needing to hire and train someone new takes a lot of time and can be very costly. Additionally, many countries require the employer to provide paid sick leave. The company will have to continue to pay at least a percentage of the salary, even if the employee is unable to work.
Therefore, it would be economically sensible of the company to invest in their employees’ health by offering benefits like coaching or therapy, a culture in which mental health is openly discussed and department heads open to redistributing work among employees should the workload become too much for someone to handle. Even though it might seem unintuitive, the company might save a substantial amount of money in the long term.
If we make a collective effort to address burnout on all three of these levels, we can succeed in preventing burnout rather than just treating it. In this way, we might be able to start reducing overall burnout rates, having a significant impact on people's lives.
Neela Pirwitz, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Neela Pirwitz, is a Jay Shetty certified burnout-prevention and well-being coach. She studied psychology and is now working for an international organization. Based in the Netherlands and coaching globally, she is working with professionals who want to become more efficient in how they work, create a better work-life balance, or restructure their routines and habits to prevent burnout. Neela’s mission is to help her clients to fit their work into their life, rather than life into their work.
