Chapter One: CAUSES
(Workload * Lack of Control)
Let’s start at the beginning, Causes of burnout. According to the Harvard Business Review there are a wide range of factors that cause burn out. Six areas they have actually identified as the leading causes for 50% of all employees based on the employees perspective of the task in front of them.
“Six areas?” You may be asking yourself. Yes! Six areas.
Of Course, Workload being the first on the list. You see the amount of work you can effectively get done without rest or recovery can lead to growth and development in the job, but can also make you feel overwhelmed.
You know, I was told once and I quote: “If you were to plan your workload ahead of time and prioritize what needs to get done first, second, third, etc., you will be able to complete all the tasks given to you efficiently.”
HA! What a line of half crap!
I mean, there is (some) truth to it, but if …. you don’t have enough employees to be able to delegate the tasks to….how can you ever say NO to a job given. You need to have the option to say NO. If you tell someone , “No! I’m not doing that,” it doesn’t go over very well. That’s where part of planning your workload and prioritizing your workload goes to delegating it to someone else, that way you can concentrate on the more important jobs in front of you.
In the long run…It’s all about “Time Management” according to the workplace (bean counter).
What really needs to be accomplished is reduction of the workload. Meaning: Spread it out to more employees to help get it done at a significantly more productive speed, helping staff to not feel burnt out. (Old Idea, right? However, it was effective at one time!) Think about it. When delegating a task to someone else you’re also helping to create teamwork in the workplace.
Teamwork is a forgotten skill, and today it is all about how popular an employee can be. Feels just like high school again. Ugh! I hated high school with a passion! Popular, not popular, geek squad, nerd, cheerleader, burn out, sports freak (jocks). The clics….that’s what I hated about high school. The workplace can be just like that with the wrong person/s in the atmosphere. They start with those simple jokes that berate someone and then look to be the person who takes credit for someone else’s work. You’ve worked hard! So hard that burnout has set in, and there is that person causing the second thing on the list….Lack of Control.
Look at it this way…your well being can take a hefty toll when your decisions are being impacted to make you feel like you have to step back and let someone else run with everything you just did. That is Lack of control!
It can also be unpredictable hours you’re scheduled for at your job. I knew a young guy, fresh out of high school who went to work at his very first job and the manager there stated that the hours sometimes change randomly to cover shifts when others don’t show up. In a matter of 1 year he went from a 4 hour shift in the morning to 8 hours shifts at night to 2 hour shifts in the middle of the day and finally a 10 hour shift that started at 4:00 AM. His sleep patterns were all messed up and his paychecks not helping as much as he needed them to. The problem wasn’t the job or the time management to complete the tasks. It was the management. See, lack of control comes from many directions and will impact you in many different ways. Sometimes it’s just a simple employee misunderstanding (right?) or sometimes it’s bad management (which happens a lot!) or sometimes it is just lack of communication due to no teamwork in the workplace. Effectively, lack of control can create an environment that can influence whether or not you are feeling invested enough into the job so that you feel rewarded. That’s where the third thing on the list is a problem. Reward.
