Going... going... gone: Catching your people before burnout

No organisation attempts to drive their workers to burnout. However, many may be pushing them closer to the cliff edge without realising it. When addressing this problem, it’s important to understand that burnout doesn’t happen overnight, it happens in stages. Awareness of the stages before full-scale burnout is crucial for preventing employees from physical and mental collapse. Although less critical and severe, the stage before burnout termed (perhaps rather crudely) as ‘brownout’ is a problem many workers are currently dealing with. An analysis of 1,000 executives in the US estimated that 5% were suffering from burnout whereas 40% were suffering from brownout.

So, what does this precursor to full-scale burnout look like?

People come to work feeling disengaged, discontent and demotivated when they feel overworked and overstressed. When ‘brownout’ sets in job enthusiasm subsides into fatigue and irritability. They may even start to practice escapist behaviours like absenteeism. Many of these symptoms occur internally for individuals and consequently, they can be difficult for organisations to detect, even more so because sufferers often continue performing well at work. Sufferers often put in long hours at work, meet deadlines, complete projects and say all the right things but their commitment and passion has gone. Reducing the risk and number of people suffering from brownout is crucial because if left untreated these people will slowly descend into full-scale burnout.

What puts your people at increased risk of brownout?