Work burnout at an all-time high, new study finds

Overworked, underappreciated, and exhausted: that’s what a new study found many workers are feeling.

A Community Well-Being report by YMCA of The Three Rivers, which covers Waterloo Region, Guelph and Stratford, found 73 per cent of working adults are experiencing work burnout.

“That’s almost three out of four colleagues, when you look around the room, are experiencing burnout on a fairly regular basis, and that’s having an impact on their mental wellbeing and their overall wellbeing,” said Kate Toth, the director of learning and development at YMCA.

The survey found the driving factor for burnout is heavy workload. The majority of the 1,851 respondents from a variety of sectors indicated a reduced workload would help support their mental health.

“Counselling and yoga and meditation apps and all those things are great at helping people to manage stress. But if the workload doesn’t change, if what is causing the stress doesn’t change or get reduced, we’re basically just band aiding a symptom, rather than addressing the root cause issue,” Toth said.

She said with more people working from home, they tend to work longer hours and don’t have a commute to decompress before or after work. She also cites that due to the “great resignation,” many workers are picking up tasks from co-workers who left the organization during COVID-19.

“When we’re exhausted and depleted, even the same amount of work feels heavier, it's harder to lift,” she said. “All of those things are going on all at once, that’s contributing to this feeling of ‘I can’t handle the amount of work that’s coming at me anymore’.”

The survey was conducted from September to October, before the Omicron variant and increased public health restrictions were in place. Toth said while she doesn’t have the data, she believes burnout has only gotten worse.

Jessie Zhan, an associate professor of organizational behaviour and human resources management at Wilfird Laurier University, said signs of burnout include: physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, difficulty getting out of bed in the morning, having cynical thoughts, and treating others with less compassion.

Zhan said it’s important for people to acknowledge their burnout and to identify the sources of what is causing their mental health to decrease.

She said there are two coping mechanisms. One way is problem focused, where we can tackle the stressors ourselves, for example, if the workload is too heavy, to reduce the amount of work. But Zhan adds, that’s not always possible.

The second way is to look at emotion focused strategies, and showing self compassion.

“Being kind to ourselves. Try to treat ourselves with more positivity, with less hostility or criticism,” Zhan said. “Always keep some time for yourself. Personal time is important.”