Raise your hand if you’ve experienced burnout at some point. I spent the last four years of my career as the spokesperson for the FBI in Northern California. The news cycle doesn’t recognize weekends, vacations, or time at the beach. I was on-call 24/7 for the entire four years. By the end, I was irritable, impatient, and without a support network because, guess what? I had no time for interpersonal relationships.
Burnout may be a bit like true love — hard to define, but when it smacks you in the face, you know you’ve been hit. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as a phenomenon driven by chronic unmanaged stress. These are some of the more prominent signs of burnout:
- Energy depletion or exhaustion
- Mental distance from one’s job
- Negativity
- Reduced professional efficacy
- Cynicism
Too often, self-care is touted as the cure for burnout. While well-being is a good start, it takes more than yoga, meditation apps, and gym memberships to address the burnout experienced by employees. Think of burned-out people as canaries in the coal mine. When the canary keels over, we acknowledge that the environment is hazardous — we don’t bury our heads and pretend all is well.
