employee burnout problem— and how to beat it

Your life is not just about your job.

Story: Tim Cole

There’s an epidemic sweeping through offi buildings in the corporate world and across virtually every workplace and industry in this country. It’s insidious, pervasive, and coldly destroying—like the tentacles of a cancer that metastasized.

THE BURNOUT EPIDEMIC

Approximately 100 million full-time employees constitute the workforce in the United States. More than half of them are dying on the job—at least in regard to their desire and passion to be there.

Gallup, the polling company, estimates up to 50 percent are not engaged in their work and another 20 percent are actively disengaged. This suggests that a startling 30 million are left to drive the productivity of this country and the future of our economy.

The Gallup findings are clear on some of the most significant contributors to burnout and employee disengagement. It begins with leaders and their capacity to address three very basic areas:

• Selecting the right people for the job.

• Investing in developing employee strengths.

• Enhancing workers’ well-being.

But the percentages cited above do not represent the full scope of the problem

WHY

ARE SO MANY DISENGAGING?

It could be argued that no point resonates more than issue No. 3. Employees who treat their career like a “corporate athlete” are better prepared to deal with day-to-day adversity.

Specifically:

• First, they build a sense of purpose in their career and their lives and assume a broader view for their physical and emotional conditioning over the long haul. In turn, they’re better able to avoid with stress as a result.

• Second, they link to a mentor or formal leader. Those advisors often help employees recognize “wellness” is never going to be a completely company-issued initiative offering practical perspective that less insightful supervisors are oblivious to.

The “Burnout Busters” below are a summary of some of those time-tested points of advice. Any employee should factor them carefully if they hope to find balance and sustainability in their career. They include:

• Find a gym. Join it. And then actually use it. Routinely. Your body can pay a toll in the corporate world if you allow it to happen.

• Make a commitment to understanding diet and make healthy eating a part of your daily habits. Travel and the associated nuances can play havoc with what you eat and when you eat. You’ll either learn to negotiate that or you will develop problems.

• Embrace your friends. Social outlets are critical. And if your only outlet is your job, then you are holding on far too tight. The job is always look at you through green-tinted glasses—yes, the same color as the dollars that power it.

• Find a life partner who “gets it” and can support you. If you’re and not be sucked into the tornado.

• If you choose to drink alcohol, limit it and do not make it a part of your work life. That includes off-site business meetings. A general rule I have espoused for three decades: nothing good happens after midnight at company functions.

• Recognize and embrace your faith. All of failures of man and against a higher order.

• Develop and nourish hobbies outside work; far too many make their vocation their avocation—a terrible mistake. Here’s a simple work, check yourself. There is life outside your career, but you need to build it.

• Stay active. It’s amazing how many people I’ve watched grow old because of a sedentary lifestyle.

• Continue to stimulate your most important muscle: your mind. It can be and should be a passion that sustains you long after your career is done.

• Your career is going to knock you down from time to time. No only if you treat your body as any player would.

There are four dimensions to your health and wellbeing. They extend far beyond your professional life. The physical, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of your world are like table legs. If one collapses then the whole follows. Take the steps to nourish each and your chances for survival increase.

ABOUT THE WRITER →Tim Cole is founder and CEO of the Compass Alliance. His book, “The Compass Solution: A Guide to Winning Your Career,” offers practical direction to both senior leaders and employees on how to cultivate a rich culture and en sure a