According to a recent publication by TNO, 1.6 million Dutch employees suffered from burnout-related complaints in 2022. This amounts to 20% of the working population. A significant increase compared to 2021, because then this was still 1.3 million employees or 17%.
Many people are shocked when they read such a message. Not being able to work for months because you have become ‘burned out’ is a frightening scenario. But are these figures and conclusion actually correct? Or are we allowing ourselves to be frightened en masse about an occupational disease that does not exist on this scale?
What’s wrong with the research
There are a number of things to criticize about TNO’s research. Firstly, only fatigue complaints are measured. A fairly broad criterion is used for this: a score of 3.2 on a 7-point scale. This corresponds to ‘monthly’. In short: anyone who feels exhausted by their work once a month counts as having burnout complaints. According to the exhaustion scale of the Utrecht Burnout Scale or UBOS (where the questions from the TNO research come from), the critical value should be 4.8. Only if you suffer from exhaustion complaints every week do you meet one of the conditions for burnout-related complaints.
Interesting detail: according to the test guidelines of the Dutch Institute of Psychologists, the UBOS may no longer be used because the instrument is outdated. The questionnaire does not reliably distinguish between healthy employees and employees with serious burnout complaints. And it is impossible to predict which employees will and which will not suffer burnout complaints in the future.
Secondly, in order to speak of a burnout, you will also have to take a number of other elements into account. And these are not asked in TNO’s research. According to the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT), the characteristics of a burnout are:
No evidence for a burnout epidemic
A correct interpretation of the figures is therefore: 20% of the Dutch working population feels exhausted by work on average once a month. It seems clear to me that having a burnout is not the same as experiencing fatigue complaints once a month. There is therefore no evidence whatsoever for a burnout epidemic in our country, although the (social) media suggests so.
The opposite is true. With approximately 18% of very enthusiastic employees (the counterpart of burnout), we are among the top countries in Europe, where the average is 11%. Perhaps 18% does not sound very high, but the requirements for enthusiasm (as a psychological state) are quite strict. Then you really need to be bursting with energy a few times a week, be committed to your work and be absorbed in your work.
Stressful transition situation
Is there nothing wrong at all? No, because then I would be exaggerating, just like TNO. Various studies show that in recent decades there has been a (significant) increase in psychological disorders and work-related psychological complaints due to absenteeism. According to Statistics Netherlands, psychological problems are now the most common reason for disability. In 2020, 42% of disability benefits were provided on the basis of psychological complaints.
This in itself is not surprising given the major technological and social changes that are taking place and the impact this has on us. The industrial age of the worker has transitioned to the information age of the knowledge worker. As a result, our ability to lead ourselves is increasingly being called upon.
Professional knowledge and physical health are no longer sufficient. Today it is also about mental fitness and motivation.
Interesting parallel
You saw something similar happen at the end of the nineteenth century. Then the agricultural society transformed into an industrial society. Due to incessant production and the modern hectic life in the city with telephones, newspapers, trams, advertising and artificial light, many people suffered from mental fatigue. The American neurologist George Miller Beard used the term ‘neurasthenia’ for this in 1869. This is a combination of the Greek névro (nerve) and adynamía (weakness) and literally means ‘nervous weakness’. According to Beard, neurasthenia was the result of busyness and chronic overstimulation. This caused nerves to become exhausted and organs to be damaged. GPs still use the term today when people become stressed.
The descriptions of neurasthenia show a surprising number of similarities with burnout. At the time, the overstimulation was caused by landline telephones and printed information. Today it is about overstimulation by mobile phones and digital information. The same problems and the same complaints, but in a different guise. People cannot cope with the pace of the many changes and become exhausted.
Keep your mental energy high
The best thing you can do in such a stressful transition situation is not to be scared and keep your mental energy up. There are two routes for this: 1) reducing what costs energy (task demands) and 2) increasing what gives energy (energy sources).
The tendency of many people is to choose the first route and, for example, work less. If you reduce job demands, this will lead to less stress. But the effect is at most that your performance becomes less negative. Therefore, the second route is preferred. Tapping into energy sources leads to more enthusiasm and less stress. In short: your energy, involvement, enthusiasm, motivation, creativity and proactivity increase and the chance of burnout decreases.
Energy sources are of two types: energy sources from the organization (or environment) and personal energy sources. It is about ensuring that there are sufficient energy sources available within the organization and within ourselves to cope with all the changes and the pressure this creates.
So we don’t work too hard or too much, but we charge too little.
You can compare it with a mobile phone. It’s not a problem at all if you use it intensively. But do you then put it on the windowsill or put it in a charger? Unfortunately, we have created a society where we are used to putting ourselves on the windowsill, so to speak. Due to all the technological stimuli and the amount of entertainment, many people no longer know what gives them energy.
How do you discover what gives energy?
A great way to find out what gives energy is to write down a number of sparkling moments. What have been positive experiences for you in recent weeks? When did you start to sparkle? It doesn’t matter whether the event was related to your work or whether it was something personal. Both are good. Then try to find out which factors made you sparkle. So what gives you energy?
Example
I asked a director I coached: what do you do to recharge? “I do cycling,” he replied. That’s interesting, I said, because I think cycling actually costs energy. I understand that it provides a temporary revival, but what exactly gives you energy? Then he said that he loved cycling with friends and challenging each other to raise the bar a little higher every time (progression). In between they encouraged each other (exhortation). When they had achieved their goal, they went out for a drink together (connection). Occasionally they rode to raise money for a good cause (social impact).
We then looked at how he could translate these elements into his role as financial director. That led to a number of changes in his working life. The result? Within no time, his mental energy increased significantly and he started working with more passion.
2024-01-06 09:57:56
#talked #burnout #epidemic.. #ManagementSite
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