According to a recent publication by TNO, 1.6 million Dutch employees suffered from burnout-related disorders in 2022. This equates to 20% of the working population. A significant increase compared to 2021, because then it 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 are “burned out” is a scary scenario. But are these figures and conclusions actually correct? Or are we letting ourselves be frightened en masse by an occupational disease that doesn’t exist on this scale?
What’s wrong with research?
There are a number of things to criticize about the TNO research. First of all, only fatigue-related complaints are measured. For this purpose, a fairly broad criterion is used: a score of 3.2 on a 7-point scale. This corresponds to “monthly”. In short: anyone who feels exhausted from their job once a month is considered to have burnout. According to the exhaustion scale of the Utrecht Burnout Scale or UBOS (from which the TNO research questions come), the critical value should be 4.8. Only if you suffer from burnout every week do you fulfill one of the conditions for burnout-related complaints.
Interesting detail: According to the test guidelines of the Dutch Institute of Psychologists, the UBOS can no longer be used because the instrument is obsolete. The questionnaire does not reliably distinguish between healthy employees and employees with severe burnout disorders. And it is impossible to predict which employees will and will not suffer from burnout issues in the future.
Secondly, to talk about burnout we must also take into account a series of other elements. And these are not asked in the TNO search. According to the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT), the characteristics of a burnout are:
No evidence of a burnout epidemic
A correct interpretation of the data is therefore the following: 20% of the Dutch working population feels exhausted from work on average once a month. It seems clear to me that having burnout is not the same as experiencing fatigue once a month. There is therefore no evidence of a burnout epidemic in our country, even if the (social) media suggests it.
The opposite is true. With around 18% of very enthusiastic employees (the counterpart of burnout), we are among the first countries in Europe, where the average is 11%. Maybe 18% doesn’t seem very high, but the requirements for enthusiasm (as a psychological state) are quite strict. Then you really need to be full of energy a couple of times a week, engage in your work and be absorbed in your work.
Stressful transition situation
Is there really nothing wrong? No, because then I would exaggerate, just like TNO. Several studies show that in recent decades there has been a (significant) increase in mental disorders and work-related psychological disorders due to absenteeism. According to the Dutch Statistical Office, psychological problems are the most common cause of disability today. In 2020, 42% of disability benefits were paid based on psychological disorders.
This in itself is not surprising, given the major technological and social changes that are taking place and the impact these are having on us. The industrial age of the worker has transitioned into the information age of the knowledge worker. As a result, our ability to lead ourselves is increasingly challenged.
Professional knowledge and physical health are no longer enough. Today it is also about mental fitness and motivation.
Interesting parallel
You saw something similar happen in the late nineteenth century. Then the agricultural society transformed into an industrial society. Due to incessant production and modern busy city life 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. It is a combination of the Greek neivro (nerve) and adynamía (weakness) and literally means “nervous weakness”. According to Beard, neurasthenia was the result of frenzy and chronic overstimulation. This caused nerve exhaustion and organ damage. Family doctors still use the term today when people are stressed.
Descriptions of neurasthenia show a surprising number of similarities to burnout. At the time, overstimulation was caused by landline phones and printed information. Today it is about overstimulation by cell phones and digital information. The same problems and complaints, but in a different guise. People cannot cope with the pace of numerous 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 afraid and keep your mental energy high. There are two paths to achieve this: 1) reduce what costs energy (task demands) and 2) increase what provides energy (energy sources).
The tendency of many people is to choose the first path 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 bad. The second path is therefore preferred. Drawing on energy sources leads to more enthusiasm and less stress. In short: energy, involvement, enthusiasm, motivation, creativity and proactivity increase and the possibility of burnout decreases.
Energy sources are of two types: energy sources coming from the organization (or from the environment) and personal energy sources. It’s about ensuring that sufficient sources of energy are available within the organization and within ourselves to cope with all the changes and the pressure they create.
So we don’t work too hard or too much, but we charge too little.
You can compare it with a cell phone. It’s not a problem at all if you use it intensively. But then do you put it on the windowsill or put it in a charger? Unfortunately we have created a society in which we are used to placing ourselves, so to speak, on the windowsill. Because of all the technological stimulation and amount of entertainment, many people no longer know what gives them energy.
How to find out what gives energy?
A great way to find out what energizes you is to write down a series of sparkling moments. What have been some positive experiences for you in the last few weeks? When did you start shining? It doesn’t matter if the event was related to your work or if it was something personal. Both are good. So try to find out what factors made you shine. So what gives you energy?
Example
I asked a director I coached: What do you do to recharge? “I do cycling,” he replied. It’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 he liked cycling with friends and challenging each other to raise the bar a little higher each time (progression). Meanwhile they encouraged each other (exhortation). Once they achieved their goal, they went out for a drink together (connection). They occasionally traveled to raise money for a good cause (social impact).
We then looked at how he could translate these elements into his role as CFO. This led to a series of changes in his working life. The result? In a short time, his mental energy increased significantly and he began to work with more passion.
2024-01-06 09:57:56
#told #burnout #epidemic..