There are 6 work factors that cause burnout. Burnout is caused by a problem with just one or more of these factors, in the context of prolonged and unsuccessfully managed stress. That’s right, just one. That’s all it takes.
Very few of us are fortunate enough to have control over our company culture and working environment. So, you might be wondering why it’s important for you to know the work factors that cause burnout.
It’s because these 6 work factors that cause burnout form a key aspect of how to both prevent, and recover, from burnout.
–> If you work in a stressful job, but aren’t burnt out yet, then identification of which factors are directly impacting you at work means that you can take effective steps now to reduce the chances of burnout in the future.
–> If you already identify as being burnt out then working on these factors is crucial for you in your recovery journey. You need to be aware that if you don’t tackle the root cause of your burnout, then the cycle will just keep continuing.
–> If you’re not sure if you’re burnt out, click here to access a burnout quiz to find out.
The 6 work factors that cause burnout are:
Let’s go into each of these 6 work factors that cause burnout in a bit more detail. This will help you to understand how and why they cause burnout. Even better, you will also learn how you can effectively tackle them!
As there is a lot to cover, the 6 work factors that cause burnout are split into 2 different articles. Part 1 (this post) covers control, reward and values, and part 2 covers community, fairness and workload.
Burnout work factor one: Control
A sense of control over aspects of your work is essential for both burnout prevention and recovery.
In the jobs that burn people out, often the stressors that cause the burnout are far beyond the control of the individual. This might look like your company expecting you to always be available, even into the evenings and at weekends, or huge pressure to hit targets that are set by people who have no idea what the job actually involves. Or, perhaps you’re working in the public sector with a huge caseload, tight budgets, and not enough staff to meet demand.
However, you might well be able to take control over some of the smaller issues instead. Crucially, this will help protect you from burnout.
Now, before you dismiss this as something that isn’t going to help you, scientists have found some fascinating things about control in burnout. They have found that control over the small things is just as effective as control over the bigger things. And, even better, believing you have control is just as effective as having it.
Mind. Blown.
How can simply believing you have control over aspects of your work change burnout? Well, it’s because the people that believe they have control are more proactive in changing how they work and how they cope with stress, thereby reducing their burnout risk.
How to regain your power at work
Here’s how to work out what is within your control at work, and take steps to regain your power.
Step One:
Grab a pen and an A4 piece of paper and draw two concentric circles on it- like this:
In the largest/outer circle, write down your list of concerns about your current work (or life). This is your circle of concerns.
When you’ve filled in the larger circle, go through each item again. Next, write down in the smaller/inner circle those things from the larger circle that you have some influence or direct control over. This is your circle of control.
Here’s an example to help. You are a social worker with a huge and complex case load. You have lots of targets to hit but you are finding it hard due to the emotional toll of the work, and the fact that your team is short staffed (ironically because your team members are off sick with stress) and you have had to take on extra work.
In the circle of concern you might write:
Team member sick leave
Caseload volume and complexity
Organisational policies, targets and expectations
In the circle of control you might write:
Personal time management (how you organise and prioritise your work)
Professional boundaries – establishing clear boundaries about what you can reasonably take on
Peer support from colleagues (be it formal or informal).
Here’s that list shown as an illustration:
Step Two:
Look at what you have written.
Forget about the things in the bigger circle.
Focus your efforts on the things in the smaller circle, ie- the things you can control. You must take steps to implement changes there in order to reduce burnout.
Now, over to you! Do the exercise, and then reflect on which factor in the smallest circle you want to work on first.
Burnout work factor 2: Reward
Another workplace factor that can lead to burnout is a decreased sense of reward. While financial compensation is important, reward also includes positive feedback, professional development support, new opportunities, and engaging in meaningful work. Together, all these elements create a culture of reward.
Feeling fairly rewarded or finding daily work inherently rewarding reduces burnout risk. Conversely, inadequate reward increases burnout risk.
How to feel more rewarded at work
There are lots of ways you could feel more rewarded at work. You could ask for a pay rise, a promotion, or the opportunity to develop your professional skills through training or new opportunities.
If this doesn’t work, then there is another way that you can feel more rewarded at work, which doesn’t necessarily rely on anyone else.
Here’s something wild about burnout: spending just 20% of your work time on personally meaningful tasks can halve your burnout risk. For a 5-day work week, this equates to just one day of meaningful work. If you work an 8 hour day, that’s just over an hour a day doing work that you really love.
Meaningful work reduces burnout risk by HALF
What personally meaningful work actually is varies for each person. So, the first step to feeling more rewarded at work is to identify the work that you find fun, exciting and meaningful.
Step One:
Reflect on your best workdays to identify tasks that energise and uplift you. What tasks, projects or initiatives were you doing on those days that ignited your passion?
Step Two:
Then, think about how you can tweak things to hit that sweet spot of 20% of your time doing those tasks.
Here’s an example to help. You’re a nurse that works on a busy ward. Due to staff shortages, you find that you’re spending increasing amounts of time managing and doing paperwork. You’re not enjoying work and are feeling stressed and unsatisfied. On doing this exercise, you identify that the things you love are caring for patients, and teaching students. In order to spend more time doing this, you decide to supervise a new student that’s on the ward. As a result of spending time with this student, you also spend more time by the bedside too. You start to feel more fulfilled and the stress of the other tasks feel easier to manage!
Burnout work factor 3: Values mismatch
If you are made to work in a way that is in direct conflict with the things that are important to you, then unfortunately you will be at risk of burnout.
For example, you may value collaboration and teamwork, but your employer promotes a highly competitive and individualistic work culture. This mismatch can cause significant stress and lead to burnout.
Or, perhaps you place a high value on independence and the ability to make decisions in your work, but your employer has a micromanagement style and rigid oversight. This conflict can lead to feelings of powerlessness and increased stress, contributing to burnout.
You might value diversity and inclusion, but you work in an organisation that lacks commitment to these principles. The resulting frustration and sense of misalignment can cause significant stress, potentially leading to burnout.
How to avoid values mismatch causing burnout
Step One:
First, you need to work out what your values are!
Not sure what your personal values are? Here’s a video where I take you through what you need to know! Or, you can download a list of values from Brené Brown!
Step Two:
Next, establish what your company’s values are. You can normally find them on their website, or in company training documentation.
For instance, the values of McDonald’s are: serve, inclusion, integrity, community, and family. Meta/Facebook’s values are: move fast, focus on long term impact, built awesome things, live in the future, be direct and respect your colleagues, and Meta, Metamates and me (aka teamwork).
Take a look at what your company values.
Next, you need to ask if they actually work by these values? And do the values they actually work by match with your own values?
If there is a conflict, you will need to assess if the company is a good enough fit for you to stay working there, and avoid burnout.
The next 3 factors that cause work burnout will be published very soon! If you have any questions about what has been covered in this post please feel free to ask in the comments.