{"id":118308,"date":"2021-04-12T01:17:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T08:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/?p=118308"},"modified":"2023-09-27T07:52:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T07:52:52","slug":"employee-burnout-during-covid-times-measuring-and-avoiding-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/employee-burnout-during-covid-times-measuring-and-avoiding-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about employee burnout during Covid times- how to measure and tackle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You used to think that working from your bed in pajamas and cozy clothes was the real perk of WFH. Cuddling up with your pet while still on a work call sounded dreamy.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what if you start your day still in bed or couch, opening the laptop for a quick mail, then switching windows to catch the new episode of your favorite web series, do some work, grab your lunch while sitting through a conference, and work some more?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What if it\u2019s later in the evening before you know it? What if you feel your day wasn\u2019t productive enough so you try to work late-night, wanting to make up for the day? And what if your laptop has become an extension of yourself, always by your side?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The lines between work and not-work is blurred and your professional and private life is fused so tightly together that it\u2019s beyond recognition. Sounds familiar?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

15 hours a week! That\u2019s the average time an employee reports to be working extra since the pandemic forced us all to to take the work home and remote work flourished. That\u2019s 3 hours every.single.day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With more work and less separation between your private and professional life, exhaustion, occupational stress<\/a>, and burnout creeps up on you. The pandemic has been directly linked to growing work stress, and as it happens, burnouts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, we wrapped up the Spring edition of our XDay MENA 2021, themed ‘Advancing Experiences’. We hosted Psychiatrists and mental health experts as well as HR leaders and key-decision makers of businesses in the Middle East to come togetehr and discuss how the pandemic fatigue has affected the workforce. It was an illuminating virtual event highlighting the acute crisis of burnout and what we, as the leading businesses and industry experts of the region, can do to tackle this. Do catch all the updates in the recordings we’ll post in QuestionPro Youtube channel, if you missed the event.<\/p>\n

So what is burnout? Workplace stress<\/a>, when left unmanaged, becomes burnout. It is essentially a chronic form of fatigue, one that you won\u2019t be able to shake off, one that wouldn\u2019t budge by taking a vacation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Part 1: What causes burnouts?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Chronic stress causes burnouts. When you are mentally stretched for too long and you see no light at the end of the tunnel, you are likely to suffer a burnout.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To put things in perspective, while burnout still hasn\u2019t made its way into the popular lingo, some reports suggest that as many as 73% of the workforce has suffered burnouts at some point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"upto<\/p>\n

The pandemic has acted as a strong catalyst in inducing burnouts. This is partly because people were forced to learn on the fly and abandon their comfort zones and old habits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Employees are soon realizing that what used to work for them at the start of the Covid has stopped being helpful. They are also trying to fit their entire lives – personal, professional, social-\u00a0 in a space they didn\u2019t previously use for all those aspects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A combination of work stress, a prevalent sense of helplessness and uncertainty, fear of job-loss, work-from-home challenges, unmanageable workload, and financial worries has together contributed to a never-before onset of burnout during these Covid times- made worse by each day as we all realize we are nowhere close to the end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People confess they feel the need to answer a work email or a text from the coworker even if it\u2019s way past their office hours. It\u2019s increasingly difficult to separate work life from home life, and the likelihood of an eventual burnout is simply too high.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The feeling of constantly being \u201con\u201d and the inability to disconnect can make people feel exhausted\u2014physically and emotionally. Often they feel like they can\u2019t think about anything but work, so they stop doing things they enjoy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On top of all this, social isolation makes matters worse. Employees admit to feeling like they have no one to turn to, and co-workers fail to notice subtle shifts in their stress-driven behaviour.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People are overworked and exhausted- there is no getting around that fact- and the pandemic is taking its toll in the workforce. Boundary-crossing is the new normal, and the honeymoon phase of WFH is over. Employers are discovering exactly what the earlier spike of productivity cost them (brought on by the onset of remote working). People have bitten off more than they could chew, it seems, and employers weren\u2019t adequately informed what to expect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Going back to the original statistics, employees and employers alike are realizing the price of that extra 15 hours of work a week!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Part 2: What are the symptoms of a burnout?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve discussed how chronic stress leads to a burnout. But how do you recognize a burnout when you suffer one?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Burnout<\/p>\n

Our brains switch into \u2018survival mode\u2019 at a heightened state of continuous stress, and survival mode just doesn\u2019t have any room for ambition or responsibility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Things stop mattering so much- especially stuff like messages, notifications, deadlines, and projects. Burned out individuals are more prone to procrastinating on projects and avoid work altogether. People report feeling \u2018frazzled and sleep-deprived\u2019, and often can\u2019t stop worrying about work, despite lacking the drive and motivation to actually do work. Here’s a list of the most common symptoms peopel experienec when they are going through a burnout:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n