3 Reasons To Go Ahead And Burnout To Find Peace, Power And Purpose
What?! Hear me out. This article aims to uncover the real challenges of preventing burnout in the workplace to highlight thought-provoking actions which need to take place to make a positive impact in improving well-being in the workplace.
“We are living under the delusion that burnout is the price we have to pay for success, which is untrue.” – Ariana Huffington
After 3 years of evangelising the importance of preventing burnout, I have decided to give up. Why? Because until someone experiences deep suffering due to chronic pain, sleep disruption, substance abuse, relationship breakdown, anxiety or other, I have witnessed that they don’t tend to prioritise changing their daily habits or use resources available to reduce the risk of what are advanced burnout symptoms.
Only 10% of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are used today in the UK according to the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA). According to a Gallup survey in 2022, the approximate EAP utilisation rate across seven global regions is only 2-3%.
And yet, the survey also found that 42% of employees are more likely to stay at a company if they have access to mental health support through their employer. So why is the percentage of people using these services so low when mental health issues are reported at an all-time high?
Could people view EAP services as an insurance policy, a nice to have in case I break down?!
Reason number 1
The pain of suffering needs to be high enough that the risk, cost, and effort of changing are more appealing than doing nothing
The professionals who tend to invest in taking a leap in finding another way tend to do it because the alternative of doing nothing is too painful, and they feel they have nothing to lose by trying something new.
As prevention initiatives inviting people to change behaviour before it is too late seems to have low impact, the next best thing I feel I can do is to create a safe space for those who are experiencing burnout symptoms already and want to do something about it. Trying to persuade those who are demonstrating symptoms which aren’t severe enough to get in the way of their day-to-day activities seems like a waste of time.
This saddens me as my mission is to reduce suffering in the workplace and prevention is better than cure.
Reason number 2
Asking for help publicly is perceived as a risk to one’s professional reputation
Continue to Brainz Magazine for full article here.