Some recent statistics on job stress in America renewed my interest in burnout.
"One in three Americans seriously thought about quitting work in 1990 because of job stress, and one in three expects to `burn out' on the job in the near future," says a 1991 Northwestern National Life study. "Fourteen percent quit or changed jobs in the past two years due to job stress."The study of 600 workers nationwide also found that stress sabotages productivity and causes workers to be sick more often.
Stress is particularly high in companies that had substantially cut employee benefits, changed ownership, required frequent overtime or reduced the work force, the study reported.
If you feel that you're being stretched to the max at work, try these ideas:
- Take responsibility for not working so hard. Don't wait for your boss to tell you to slow down. She probably won't. Similarly, don't expect to escape burnout just by changing jobs. Change your approach to work.
- Don't get caught up in a who's-working-harder contest with colleagues. If you feel that travel on weekends or frequent all-nighters or working when you're ill is excessive, say so. Your colleagues may support you.
- Break up your heavy schedule by volunteering for a charitable or professional organization that your company supports.
- Start exercising on your lunch hour. It sends a message that you're setting aside some time for yourself.
- Take yourself lightly and your work seriously. Don't define yourself in terms of your work or problems, suggests humor consultant C. W. Metcalf.
- Don't try to master change at work; it probably is constant anyway. Instead, work on being flexible and adaptable, and use humor to cope.
- Search for at least one positive aspect in your stressful work situation. What is working well and why? Can you transfer that to problem areas?
- If you're an employer, let employees have input into restructuring and redistributing responsibilities, the Northwestern National Life study suggests.
- Try to hire people with a good sense of humor. Humor helps people be more creative and more resilient to stress.
Sources: From the study "Employee Burnout: America's Newest Epidemic," Northwestern National Life, 1991; the articles "Is Your Company Asking Too Much?" by Brian O'Reilly, Fortune, March 12, 1990; and "Stress," by Ray Flannery, in the Bottom Line Personal newsletter, July 15, 1991; and the book "Lighten Up," by C.W. Metcalf and Roma Felible.