Are half of us suffering from burnout?

Are half of us suffering from burnout?

Data from the end of 2022 on the physical and mental wellbeing of thousands of desk-based workers worldwide points to a crisis in ‘burnout’. Future Forum figures claim 48% of employees in the UK (and in France) believe they are suffering from burnout — compared with 41% in the USA.

Japan was reported to have the lowest levels at 27%. German workers came in at 37%.

Out of control

Other findings suggest that the burnout issue is linked to issues with retention: one of three staff were trying to get a new job specifically in order to escape from a toxic culture where burnout is common.

Those staff experiencing burnout were twice as likely to be feeling “disconnected from company values, direct managers, immediate team and executive leadership”.

Feeling out of control of workloads and ways of working, was seen as a particular cause. Those people with less flexibility in their work schedules were 26% more likely to have flagged feelings of burnout.

What’s burnout?

EAPA UK chair, Eugene Farrell said: “We’re much more comfortable talking about our mental health, and issues like stress, anxiety and the potential for burnout. In the past, far fewer people would have thought about themselves in terms of such a serious condition as burnout, involving a psychological, emotional and physical state of collapse.

“There’s no doubt we’re continuing to live through extended periods of heightened pressures and uncertainties that can combine and snowball. Employers need to make sure their people have a way to do something about negative feelings, make sure they can get a clearer sense of what those feelings mean, and best ways of building resilience. More minor problems can be caught early, and longer-term issues like burnout prevented.”