You may have experienced occupational burnout if you:
- Felt depleted of energy or exhausted when thinking of going to work
- Mentally distanced yourself from your work, or felt cynical or negative toward your job
- Felt ineffective, unsupported, or inefficient in your role
If so, you’re not alone. A Gallup study of 7,500 workers concluded that 23% of employees reported feeling burned out at work very often or always, while an additional 44% reported feeling burned out sometimes. That’s nearly two-thirds of the workforce.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition, and defines burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed” which presents as one or more of the symptoms noted above.
So how do you know if you’re heading toward burnout, and what can you do to avoid it? This article will identify what makes burnout different from job stress or depression. It will also delve into the ways burnout shows up on the job, its causes, and ways to manage it.
