It's Not You, It's Your Work Culture. Here's How to Fix It.
Is burnout a function of the person experiencing it or a symptom of the work environment and culture?
Too often we focus on the individual experiencing burnout which inevitably leads to recommendations around increased self-care. Those of you feeling burnout are likely rolling your eyes right now at the thought that more yoga will compensate for your feelings of exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced productivity.
As Justin Henderson, PhD says "we have increasingly become a burnout culture... Three decades of research has demonstrated that work environments, not individual workers, have the greatest impact on the possibility of burnout and worker turnover."
➤ Excessive workloads
➤ Lack of flexibility in schedule
➤ Lack of worker autonomy
➤ Destructive competition
➤ Getting shut out of opportunities
➤ Loss of shared meaning and purpose
In other words, burnout is the canary in the coal mine that our workplace culture and practices need some work.
Self-care practices do enhance our health and well-being but they can't be used as a defensive mechanism to avoid burnout. Instead, let's focus on the factors that are creating the environment for burnout to exist.
We can create burnout-resilient workplaces by:
✔ Setting clear expectations with workers
✔ Identifying employee values and connecting them to the company's values and purpose
✔ Giving employees autonomy
✔ Encouraging collaboration and a team orientation
✔ Providing strength-oriented feedback
✔ Ensuring frequent, candid, two-way communication
We must do the work of "creating resilient workplaces, not just resilient workers.
Want to create a resilient workplace?
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