Professional burnout or mental health problems of workers are important for the company. Employee retention is critical to your company’s success and a lower attrition rate is the indicator of how well you are doing in retaining employees. By measuring and analyzing your company’s statistics, you can determine how many employees have left over a period of time, how much turnover there is and understand why. Learning how to develop relevant and effective talent retention strategies to reduce attrition within your organization is critical to eliminating or reducing attrition within your teams.

When professional investment is too heavy

The professional burnout identified among workers can affect all professions that require intense personal commitment. Preventive measures should avoid worsening the health of those already at risk of burnout and, at the same time, prevent the emergence of other cases.

Professional attrition or burnout?

Burnout is a set of reactions to situations of chronic work stress in which the dimension of commitment predominates. It is characterized by 3 specific aspects:

• Emotional exhaustion: workers facing this dimension of burnout may feel depleted of emotional resources,
• Depersonalization or cynicism: On the other hand, in this dimension of professional burnout, workers face insensitivity to the surrounding world, dehumanization of the relationship with others (users, clients or patients become objects), negative view of others and of work,
• The feeling of non-fulfillment at work: in the last dimension of professional burnout, workers experience the feeling of not being able to respond correctly to the expectations of others, contempt for the results obtained, feeling of waste, among others.

Many professions require a high level of personal and emotional investment. Employees, therefore, can run the risk of being in a state of professional burnout when they feel that there is too great a gap between their expectations, the representation they have of their profession (based on values and standards) and the reality of the work and the results they obtain in it. This situation is emotionally draining and consuming and leads anyone to question their life both professionally and personally.

Risk factors for burnout:

Since professional burnout is a consequence of stress at work, the factors are among the causes of burnout itself. Several studies have specifically highlighted the role of the following factors:

• Work overload, time pressure.
• Little control over one’s own work.
• Low rewards.
• Lack of fairness.
• Conflicts of values, conflicting demands.
• Lack of clarity in objectives and means.

The effect of these risk factors on professional burnout can be compounded in helping professions (nurses, doctors, social workers, teachers), due to the emotional burden inherent in these professions.

Health effects:

The manifestations of professional burnout, more or less acute, may be of the following types:

• Emotional. At the emotional level, burnout can trigger a feeling of emptiness, helplessness, loss of self-confidence, irritability, pessimism, “bureaucratic” attitude, etc.
• Cognitive. In this aspect, professional burnout generates: difficulty in concentrating, indecision, difficulty in performing simple operations, alteration of the quality of work, etc.
• Physical. In terms of physical manifestations, professional burnout causes general fatigue, headaches and backaches, muscle tension, sleep disorders, etc.
• Interpersonal and behavioral. Manifestations of this aspect of professional burnout are: withdrawal, isolation, aggressiveness, impulsiveness, decreased empathy, addictive behaviors, etc.
• Motivational and attitudinal. The manifestations of professional burnout are: negative attitude towards the job and others, lack of commitment, etc.

In fact, the symptomatology is quite complex, not very specific and can evolve into depression or anxiety.

Prevention

To avoid the occurrence of professional burnout, it is recommended to ensure that the organization of work and the obligations it generates do not overburden employees or put them at odds with the norms and values of their profession. It is also important to allow teamwork and encourage social support. More generally, a collective prevention approach is recommended.

Exposure to risk: Examples to identify

Exposure to risk in terms of professional burnout can affect professions of any type. However, it is more common in professions where the relationship with others is at the heart of the activity and is sometimes a vital issue for the beneficiaries of this relationship (users, patients, clients, etc.). However, professional burnout can also affect other sectors of activity likely to mobilize and engage people with very strong values.

Identifying situations of professional burnout

On an individual level, the employer, manager, leader, human resources specialist or any of the people involved in prevention within the company should be aware of a number of signs that may suggest that an employee is in a situation of burnout:

• Do you consider that the employee has little or no energy?
• Does the employee present concentration problems and lack of mental availability at work?
• Is the person easily irritated?
• Does the employee devalue the work he/she does, his/her own effectiveness and abilities?
• Does the employee show signs of anxiety or depression?

A change in the employee’s attitude, withdrawal, unusual disengagement, among others, are signs that should alert the environment about a possible professional burnout. At the collective level, indicators for detecting psychosocial risks can be examined.

The application of ChVmpion Mind as a preventive measure

If you are a company leader or owner and you notice that one or more of your employees show symptoms that may indicate the presence of professional burnout, depression or lack of motivation at work, it is important that you take action. Appropriate preventive measures should be sought and implemented. The goal is to reduce risks and increase personal well-being while increasing productivity.

How to do it?

There are many measures that can be taken, such as reducing the demands of the work performed by employees or increasing the resources available to them, among others. However, this will only solve the problem momentarily; it does not attack the root of the problem.

Overcoming a situation of professional burnout requires in-depth work. Collective measures of prevention, change of life habits and achievement of professional goals must be taken. ChVmpion Mind, through its platform, achieves this and in just 21 weeks you can bring about a real change in the professional and personal lifestyles of the workers who take on the challenge.

“If coaching is the water for someone to become a champion, ChVmpion Mind is the structure for the champion to drink that water properly.”
Jose. L. Meléndez CEO of ChVmpion Mind

What aspects are taken into account when it comes to improving a burnout situation?

• Ensuring that certain positions or employees are not overworked.
• Encourage social support and avoid isolation. Groups can be created to exchange professional practices. In addition, reinforcing teamwork can prevent burnout,
• Improving feedback on work effectiveness, recognition of work performed and the achievement of small goals can make a difference for a professionally demotivated person.
• Ensure fair treatment of employees and professional and personal well-being.
• Avoid ethical conflicts over the quality of work by sharing objectives and ways of achieving them based on common goals.