01/24/2022

Is Your Workplace Culture Creating Burnout?

Five Questions to Ask

We’re 22 months into a pandemic that has triggered a different condition—burnout. By its nature, burnout doesn’t usually disappear without concerted action. But that action doesn’t have to be limited to individuals. Organizations can create a culture that nurtures well-being, not burnout, ultimately leading to less turnover and more energized employees.

It’s helpful to start with a workplace that values and cultivates mental health. But mental health and burnout aren’t quite the same, even if they’re closely related, so it’s worth addressing the connection between burnout and workplace culture directly. Some may frame burnout as an employee issue that requires individuals to be treated, but others argue that the condition is a result of company decisions.

“Categorizing burnout as a disease was an attempt by the WHO [World Health Organization] to provide definitions for what is wrong with people, instead of what is wrong with companies,” said Christina Maslach, a social psychologist and burnout expert, in an interview with Harvard Business Review. “Then, it becomes that person’s problem, not the responsibility of the organization that employs them.”

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.