Best ways to avoid Job Burnout Symptoms
Mandy realizes that today’s just the first day of the week—it’s Monday! The thought that there’s an entire week of gruesome to and fro at work and an extensive workload, just because the organization has set up a target and is now falling short on it, is taking a toll on her. She’s tired and she’s burned out, but she hasn’t a clue why. Her eyes constantly wander to her watch, subconsciously calculating the hours till she gets to leave for home.
Mandy is demotivated and finds herself looking out to colleagues for a little shake-up in the routine. “When will I ever get this done?” she exclaims, looking at her computer screen. Here’s another victim to job burnout symptoms.
In this article, we’ll explore the world of such misery at work and what exactly is job burnout, what causes it, and how can we identify and subsequently avoid job burnout symptoms for ourselves.
What are Job Burnout Symptoms?
Job burnout or occupational burnout happens to be a kind of psychological stress that you experience while at work. This high level of stress can find its roots in severe exhaustion pertaining to your physical, emotional, and mental self while at your workplace. Job burnout symptoms can also emerge from a lack of motivation in the workplace and can lead the individual into a phase of extreme no-involvement, frustration, and high levels of cynicism.
This term was first coined by Herbert Freudenberger, who studied and dived into understanding more about this human experience. His studies found that these situations of job burnout symptoms normally occur in human service and service professions that are locked onto routines and mass production. These makeup for highly stressed work environments and they also demand a whole lot of emotional factors. Have a look at the following two definitions of job burnouts, sprouted by Herbert Freudenberger and other noted psychologists in the field. For them, job burnout symptoms can be defined as:
“A state of fatigue or frustration brought about by devotion to a cause, way of life, or relationship that failed to produce the expected reward.”
—Herbert Freudenberger
“A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situations.”
—Ayala Pines and Elliot Aronson
Quintessentially covering the meaning of job burnout symptoms, these definitions look at the role that exhaustion and expectations play in the whole scheme of things. Studies also show that individuals who are highly dedicated at their work tend to be extreme victims of burnouts as they put in their heart and soul into getting work done, so much so that their physical body or emotional self cannot catch up to them.
Job Stress vs Job Burnouts
As mentioned above, job burnout is, in fact, psychological stress levied on the body and it takes its toll on the work rendered by individuals. In the above section, we also dove deeper into understanding job burnouts and their definitions, but amidst all of these, I am a bit confused at understanding what stands in between job stress and job burnouts. Do you feel the confusion too? Cool. Then, let’s decipher it together.
| Job Stress | Job Burnouts |
| Thrives as a short-term experience; temporary. | Thrives as a long-term experience; can be detrimentally permanent or extensive. |
| You will feel like work is out of reach and control. | You will feel like work seems meaningless and not worthy; disconnection. |
| Can be caused by work on large projects or tight deadlines. | Can be caused if dramatic changes take place, such as the continuous and prolonged increase in workload or a change of reporting manager. |
| Can lead to job burnout; loss of energy | Can lead to frustration, exhaustion, poor performance, and loss of enthusiasm for the job; loss of motivation. |
| Characterized by over-engagement at the workplace. | Characterized by complete disengagement at the workplace. |
| Damage: Physical | Damage: psychological, emotional |
| Can recover through rest. | Can recover through many different efforts, such as counseling, job analysis, physical exercises, mind control, meditation. |
What Causes Job Burnout?
Job burnouts can be caused by various reasons that may affect you physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. These reasons can arrive from the way you perceive things, the environments you work in, or even the people around you. Let’s look at possible causes of job burnout, one of which you are experiencing:
- Lack of control – Often when you feel that you’re not in control of the situations occurring at work or don’t have the necessary resources to get your work done properly, the frustrations tend to increase. You’re not able to influence the decisions that are taken around you, which can affect your state of mind in a very negative way. This can eventually lead to job burnout.
- Lack of social support – If you find yourself in a situation where nobody seems to support the work you do, you can get to a scenario where you get stressed to an extent that you experience job burnout. Even if this acceptance is not received in your personal life, it could affect your work life.
- On the wrong job – A stressful situation can arrive if you’re doing something you don’t like doing. Normally, this is in contrast to what your interests and likes look like. Work can become stressful at such times, resulting in job burnout.
- Unclear expectations in your job role – Oftentimes, what you sign up for aren’t what you find at the end of the day. Jobs with unrealistic expectations and often those with changes creeping in after a certain change in the organization and its plans can disrupt your peace of mind and can lead you to overwork in order to meet such unrealistic expectations, resulting in job burnouts.
- Mismatch in company values – Organizations delve into values and a vision from where the values emerge. Each organization has its own set of values and employee compatibility forms an important dynamic. Employees who can’t adjust to even one of the value practices within the work culture can induce a long string of events that can eventually lead to a frustrated employee.
- Stressful workplace dynamics – An office bully or a micromanaging boss, these factors can very well contribute to a job burnout experience for you. You will be very hesitant to get to work or even contribute enough to stay put on the job. But, you’ll stay due to societal pressures and eventually get frustrated.
- Extreme job activities – Either your work-life experiences monotony or you are in the midst of complete chaos. These extreme situations that you’re subjected to can take a toll on you.
- Work-life imbalance – Not being able to spend a sufficient amount of time at home or with friends can lead to a job burnout situation. Here, you will not be in a position to get the time out of office due to the immense volume of work you’re subjected to.
8 Signs that Show You Are Experiencing a Job Burnout
You’re way out of your element. You are striving to get back to work and make things happen, but things aren’t just shaping up the way they are supposed to. You have no clue why. You’re turning out to be just like Mandy. You will need to check on the following signs that will clearly tell you whether you’re going through a job burnout statistics. Let’s check them out:
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You Never Have Enough Time
Time seems to flow away like a stream of water and whisk around like the breeze. You just can’t seem to fit in enough time for yourself or your life outside of work. You are in a perpetual trap and just can’t seem to get out of it.
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Excessive Amounts of Worry and Destructive Criticism of Self
Your mind starts playing games with you. You tend to repeat worrying situations in your head over and over again. This repetition of simulated or current events can be destructive and can destroy your peace of mind. You must get a cue that this is indeed a worrying sign that you’re burned out. Individuals who take out extreme criticism on themselves are also prone to extreme job burnout statistics.
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Disengagement
With no motivation at work, you are seen taking more breaks than normal for an employee. This would mean that you long to be out of the office and are completely disconnected from the work you perform at the office. This is a clear sign that this job isn’t getting to you and is probably frustrating you.
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Distracted Eating Habits
If you find yourself binge eating in front of a computer screen or on the go, either towards your workplace or while coming back, you, my friend, can be at risk of complete job burnout statistics. Not possessing enough time to sit at the dining table and eat can make you so involved in work or desperate to get things done.
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Fatigue and Exhaustion
You’re in a situation that can be so exhausting at the end of the day, and fatigue can just get to you like nothing else. This implies you’re clearly into the burnout zone. This may not only be physical fatigue and exhaustion but emotional fatigue as well, giving you no energy left to get done with other work.
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Lack of Proper Sleep
If you have anything less than 7-8 hours of sleep each night, you’re at high risk of severe stress-related burnout. Over-engaging your mind with work and not completing your needed sleep cycle can affect your mental status and can induce further fatigue to a tired body and mind.
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Prolonged and Frequent Physical Illness
Constantly falling ill is also a key cue that you’re experiencing a job burnout situation. Do you find yourself calling in sick many times a month? In that case, you need to have a thorough check into your mind and life to gauge that you’re now a victim of severe job burnouts.
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Addictions
Coffee is now your best friend! You’re excessively dependent on that cup of caffeine to start off your day and end it. Slowly this caffeine addiction can take you to drugs, pills, alcohol, fast food, and everything you aren’t supposed to do. If you find yourself watching excessive television as well can promote the feeling that the coping-up mechanism in your body is surfacing to put a halt to the burnout in your mind.
How to Avoid?
Now since you’re well aware of the entire job burnout statistics and either you or your team members are victims to it, here are 6 ways that can help you avoid burnout and flip the switch on in your life.
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Taking Control
The first step in your endeavor to avoid being on the burner is to take control of the situations all around you. You’re the captain of your ship and it’s you who steers the boat towards the dock. Get autonomous in the way you deal with things and take control of the entire master plan of getting yourself back on the horseback.
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Analyzing Your Job
Take a step back and watch yourself from the outside in. Understand the job you’re doing and ask yourself whether you’re happy performing this job. If you are happy, understand what’s burning you out, and if you’re not happy and content with this job, make sure you pack your bags and find something more fulfilling and interesting for you to do. Performing work in a job role you aren’t comfortable it isn’t going to benefit you or the organization. So, go for the analysis.
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Working with Purpose
There is a reason for which a job role was created and that purpose is all you signed up for. Believing the purpose of your work and understanding how this contribution can help the big picture can be rewarding to you. If you think that over time the purpose of your work has dissolved or has dissipated, ensure that you go out to rediscover that purpose you had initially joined in for.
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Helping Others
You can add a little spice to your downward projectile career if you resort to changing your entire approach of bringing satisfaction to yourself at your workplace. Try changing your outlook towards others and try helping them out when they are stuck with some tasks. This way you can revisit the fact that you’re here because you’re good at what you do and you can in fact really help people.
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Working on Stress Management
Managing stress levels at work is a key component to keeping calm on those nerves and mind tissues. Enable yourself to push it to the limit, but not so much so as to break. In the grand scheme of things, ensure that you manage your stress levels and if you find them elevated at any time, find an outlet and go to your manager for guidance and help. You can also resort to deep breathing exercises, meditation, and the power of positive thinking to induce a stress management regime at your workplace.
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Exercising Your Way to Peace
Exercising is a sure-shot way of self-awareness and learning what your body and mind need and when. You will be surprised to find out that exercise can help relieve you from stress and mental fatigue and can get those coffee addictions out of the place. Make sure you rise up early each morning and start off with your fitness regimes because exercising doesn’t only ensure fitness for the body but for the mind as well.
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