Seemingly conflicting findings emerged recently when a survey found that, on the whole, British workers are happy with their work, yet still often feel burnt out by the demands placed on them.
CareerBuilder UK found that two-thirds of workers said they sometimes feel burned out in their jobs, while one in 10 said they always do, yet more than half were satisfied with their day-to-day roles.
One of the reasons for this may be that employees like to be stretched and challenged at work; it’s a recognition that they’re valued, and that what they do matters. However, on the flipside, pushing staff out of their comfort zone may also mean they feel stress from time to time (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
Lots of employees, particularly in customer-facing or revenue-generating roles, enjoy an undercurrent of stress to help get them going. They believe the best days are those when they’re kept busy and conquer a few challenges along the way.
But there’s a big difference between stress and complete burnout. Just enough stress can help us meet targets, become more focused in our thinking, and get things done. Burnout, meanwhile, will lead to broken sleep, an inability to make decisions and sometimes even have health consequences for the future. Either way, it’s not good for business.
Employers need to recognize this difference and address it in the way they engage staff. A recent article in the Harvard Business Review pointed to research that happiness does not necessarily lead to increased productivity, so it’s not necessarily about people feeling absolute joy at the office – more that they have everything in balance, as CareerBuilder’s survey suggested.
Giving staff the tools to help them to become more resilient when they’re faced with a high workload or difficult decisions, for example showing them how to delegate or manage their time better, could be just as effective as trying to make everyone smile.
Likewise, ensuring they know where to come if that balance tips over from stress into burnout is crucial. Getting support, rather than suffering alone, means the balance can be redressed and we can all get back to business.