Signs of burnout may become more evident as employees, including federal civil servants, return to the office more frequently, one Ottawa HR consultant says.
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Signs of burnout may become more evident as employees, including federal civil servants, return to the office more frequently, one Ottawa HR consultant says.
A former HR manager for the federal government, Erinn Yakabuski knows what it's like to work yourself into the ground.
“I’ve suffered burnout twice in my life, once working for the federal government and once as an entrepreneur,” she said. “It’s one of those things that you don’t think will happen to you.”
Yakabuski — who helps Ottawa employers with their wellness and leadership needs — said one-third of Canadians are feeling more burned out now compared to a year ago.
It looks different for everyone, but Yakabuski describes burnout as a loss of energy and passion, often as a result of overwork and overwhelm. It can also come from poor external conditions such as bad management or overscheduling, which can be common in understaffed workplaces.
Burnout is especially common in high-achievers, which Yakabuski said can make it hard to spot.
“It’s ultimately like a loss of joy and fulfillment in your achievements,” she said. “It can look like constantly trying to catch up, constantly running on empty. Your usual zest and excitement for life is replaced by detachment and disinterest. Your daily tasks feel insurmountable. You no longer care.”
It can be hard for businesses to know when their teams are struggling, she added. During the pandemic, remote work arrangements made burnout easier to hide. But as workplaces have returned to in-person work or adopted hybrid models, the problem has started revealing itself.
In Ottawa, the federal government may be one employer that sees these effects when its most recent return-to-work mandate brings workers into the office a minimum of three days a week by Sept. 9.
“It’s very obvious, to see that kind of detachment, lack of joy at work, lack of production,” she said. “Especially for those who have been at home for quite some time. They may have been able to hide it, but now going back into the office, like the return to office for a lot of government workers in September, it will be very evident.”
Businesses and employees have been hit hard by economic pressures, from increased inflation to higher interest rates, resulting in budget cuts and layoffs. Yakabuski said the result is that businesses are forced to do more with less and team members are feeling the effects.
“The difficult part now is that we are in this kind of post-pandemic period,” she said. “Over the last few years, the workforce was really in a place of survival, where the focus was on wellness and mental health and health care. The message was, ‘Take care of yourself.’ Now, the demands on individuals and organizations are increasing.
“Burnout is becoming more prevalent,” she said. “We’re dealing with economic pressures while trying to increase and get to a place of higher productivity. But also we have a workforce who’s not yet ready.”
With external factors at the root of the issue, Yakabuski said leaders will need to take a proactive role and set the standard for the organization to keep the pressure off.
“Leadership is a wellness strategy because it all starts with that,” she said. “They set the tone. They are the ones that create the culture. When leaders invest in their own well-being, they enhance their ability to lead, they improve their resilience and focus, they’re better able to manage stress. They just set a different tone than somebody who is exhausted and barely sleeping at night.”
Demonstrating wellness practices and opening up conversations that make those practices part of the organizational culture are good first steps to help high-achieving employees understand that it’s okay to take a step back and focus on themselves.
“Leaders need to actively engage in those behaviours and practices if they want to prevent burnout and maintain high levels of productivity. It comes down to basic things, but that’s the thing; it’s common sense, but it’s not always common practice.”
Rising stress levels make way for new job description: the 'burnout coach'
"Burnout coaches" and "burnout recovery specialists" are increasingly popping up across Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Europe. Rarely are they licensed therapists or psychologists — instead they are usually people who have obtained certification from the International Coaching Federation and have spent a great deal of time researching workplace burnout and its causes.
Other burnout coaches have taken courses in stress reduction techniques, mindfulness, even hypnosis.
While their backgrounds may vary, all burnout coaches cater to the growing number of workers who say they are stressed out, overwhelmed and struggling to cope.
A November 2023 survey of 765 Canadian professionals by human resources consulting firm Robert Half found 42 per cent of respondents felt burned out on the job, with 36 per cent of respondents saying they were more burned out than they were a year ago.
Cal Jungwirth, workplace expert and director at Robert Half, said there are a number of factors contributing to rising burnout rates, including stresses associated with returning to the office in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as economic pressures forcing workplaces everywhere to do more with less.
"Organizations are being very fiscally careful, but it's coming at a bit of a cost, and that cost is to their people," Jungwirth said. "If 42 per cent of folks are feeling some sort of burnout, that's an immediate red flag."
"Burnout" is not a formal medical condition, but the World Health Organization recognizes it as an "occupational phenomenon" resulting from chronic workplace stress. According to the WHO, burnout is characterized by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, negativity or cynicism related to one's job, and reduced professional efficacy.
Beyond the physical symptoms, burnout coaches often guide their clients to make lifestyle changes, such as limiting emails in the evening and learning how to say no. They can also assist burnout sufferers with planning a return to work after a stress leave, or help them plot a career change.
While working with a burnout coach may be helpful for some, said Houyuan Luo, a registered psychologist with MindPeace Psychology in Toronto, it's important to recognize that it is a new and unregulated industry.
"The biggest problem with unregulated professionals is that they cannot be held accountable by anybody if something goes wrong," Luo said.
With files from The Canadian Press
