More than three-quarters of workers said they had experienced burnout on the job, while 91% said stress and frustration affected their work and personal relationships, according to a 2019 Deloitte survey. So reports Employee Benefit News. Now that the majority of companies require their employees to work remotely in an effort to stem the spreading of Covid-19, burnout is likely to hit new levels as workers deal with managing work, parenting, caretaking and other responsibilities from home.
“Global crises can affect the economy and the job market—even employees who don't deal with mental health issues might need behavioral health support during this time," says Dr. Rachelle Scott, a medical director of psychiatry at Eden Health, an insurance provider. “And in times of high stress, burnout may be accelerated.”
About 60% of people diagnosed with burnout also suffered from anxiety disorder, while 58% were diagnosed with depression, a study by medical journal Frontiers in Psychology found. Companies bleed about $125 billion to $190 billion from lost productivity and healthcare cost due to burnout, Gallup notes.
The World Health Organization last spring classified burnout as an occupational phenomenon in its 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases. While the WHO noted then that burnout is not classified as a medical condition, it labeled it as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Companies and human resources teams need to have healthcare plans that are easily accessible to their remote workers. This will ensure that employers are able to address burnout concerns early on and save money.
“Unless people can get the services directly, you're not providing the benefits you should," says Matt McCambridge, chief executive officer of Eden Health. “Comprehensive health care reduces burnout and reduces cost by 9-17%.”
Being stuck at home also may worsen the loneliness many Americans experienced before the pandemic. The number of Americans reporting they were lonely stood at 61%, up seven percentage points from 2018, Cigna noted earlier this year in its 2020 Loneliness Index. Employers can help by virtually checking in with their employees one-on-one, CNBC reports.
For companies where working remotely is the norm, there also are challenges. Employees with Inquisitr Media, a news and entertainment website, work remotely all over the country. However, with COVID-19, they too have had to deal with new challenges, including children being home from school and managing regular food deliveries. “The problem at hand is that everyone is scared, and understandably so,” says CEO Dominick Miserandino.
Miserandino makes it a point to check in regularly or have his team check in with their entire staff of 80. “That’s the elephant in the room, and you have to address it,” he says. “We don’t have answers. We don’t know if this is going to last for six weeks or six months. But I can acknowledge that’s the situation.”
Anne Benedict, chief human resources officer at New York-based software company Infor, says employees at her firm who were working from home before the pandemic feel that they are being checked on regularly for the first time. “Work has become a little more personal because you literally have a [videoconferencing] camera in workers’ homes,” Benedict says. “You can see where they work and where their kids are.”
Employers can also tap into positive psychology to help stressed out employees at risk of burnout, Employee Benefit News reports. Fear can lead or heighten anxiety and depression as well as weaken the immune system and make us more vulnerable to the dangers of COVID-19. But, positive psychology can have the opposite effect by boosting immunity, lowering stress and improving cardiovascular health.
“There's this idea called emotional contagion, which is the idea that emotion spreads,” says Courtney Bigony, director of people science at 15Five, a performance management software provider. “So if a manager is coming in from a place of fear, that fear is going to spread. On the reverse side, if a manager is feeling really calm and positive, that emotion can spread. Managers need to own this idea of positive emotional contagion and really help spread positivity and calm. If they want to increase positivity for their employees, they need to do that by practicing positivity.”
Managers should start virtual meetings by first letting their employees know how they feel, including any feelings of vulnerability and anxiousness, Bigony adds. This will make it easier for employees to open up about their own feelings. “They can also start their meetings by practicing gratitude or celebrating big wins,” Bigony says. “Finally, when managers have one-on-one meetings with their employees, try not to dive into the work and actually spend the first five minutes just checking in with them.”