The serious impact of burnout—it’s more than a buzzword

Tips · 4 MIN READ · AMY ROSSI · AUG 7, 2024 · TAGS: Employee retention / Management

Authority magazine invited Expel’s Amy Rossi to chat about beating burnout–here’s what she shared

TL;DR

This blog started as an interview and was first published in Authority Magazine in September 2021. This blog expands on the interview, and covers: 

• Defining burnout, what causes it it, and its effects on people 
• How to address burnout (and common mistakes to avoid) 
• How Expel can help your security team with burnout 

What’s burnout, and why is it critical to understand?  

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as a “state of vital exhaustion.” It’s a depletion of energy, and a wish that we don’t have to go back to the dreaded grind of the next day. Employees experiencing burnout often say they “feel depleted, exhausted, and numb.” 

The opposite of burnout is thriving. Employees who love their work environment have the energy and motivation to achieve what’s ahead. They’re excited to work towards a shared goal and accomplish major achievements with their teams. People who aren’t suffering from burnout and are thriving “feel full, energized, and resilient.” 

To be clear: burnout hurts not just an employee’s health, but also your business. How someone feels and interacts with their teammates can have cascading effects. People suffering from burnout are often impatient, have trouble listening, and lack empathy. None of these are pleasant experiences (on either end), and they don’t promote a work environment where people feel valued and respected. 

When burnout isn’t addressed, organizations are setting themselves up for failure. It can lead to internal conflict, high turnover rates, poor customer satisfaction, and inability to meet major business goals. In short? It’s exponentially disastrous. Ignoring burnout is a foolproof race to the bottom for any company that refuses to address its implications. 

Burnout can be caused by uncertainty, lack of purpose, sleep, or movement. Too much work (or too much unrewarding tedious work), and too much time in a role where someone never stops putting out fires are also contributors. If you’re reading this and thinking this sounds like you, there are ways you can reverse burnout, and help yourself (and your teams) recoup from the negative effects. 

How to address burnout in individuals (and yourself)

Here are five key ways to help your team help themselves: 

1. Recognize the specific things that deplete you, and limit your exposure to them. Make a list of what makes you feel good and what depletes you. Pay attention to how often you do each type of activity. If you can, structure your day with balance in mind. 
2. Recognize and acknowledge your feelings, and be intentional about checking in with yourself. You can meditate, or use apps like Mood Journal to track your emotions throughout the day. But none of that matters if you can’t first tell how you feel. 
3. Regularly replenish your energy throughout the day. Get up from your desk and move your body. Reframe a situation you’re experiencing, express gratitude, or find other outlets that can provide emotional happiness throughout your day. 
4. Ask for help. You don’t work ‌alone. Reach out to others for help, and clearly (but kindly) ask for what you need. Your team has more resources than you have alone, so lean on them for help as it’s needed. 
5. Be kind to yourself. At the end of the day, you’re human, and so is everyone else. Overcoming challenges requires you to pace yourself. Finding the resiliency and peace of mind to move forward at a speed that works for you is key. 

If you’re a leader, the best way to address (and prevent future) burnout is to be transparent. Talk about burnout across your org and what can help individuals and the team. Encourage people to take time away from work. When they do, respect their time away so they can‌ disconnect and recharge. Value your people, and make sure they know they’re valued in a variety of ways. Provide resources for mental wellbeing, and create communities where people are comfortable talking openly about mental health. People are at the core of your business, and they should be at the core of your org’s values, too. 

If you’re recognizing signs of burnout in your teammates, the best thing you can do is listen. Taking time to really understand the problems and struggles someone is having and validating their experience is a great first step to address burnout. 

Focus on the root cause, not the symptoms

There are two common fallacies we see in conversations about burnout: 

1. Burnout is about the individual, not the business. Most of the time, employee burnout is a systemic problem caused by bad processes, too much work, too much stress, or not enough resources. Identifying poorly built work structures is key to eliminating widespread burnout across your org. 
2. A vacation will solve the problem. Yes, go ahead and take that PTO, but that alone doesn’t solve burnout. If someone takes a vacation but comes back to the same stressful situation, that’s a temporary fix, not a solution. Additionally, someone experiencing burnout likely can’t fully disconnect from their work and the constant thought spiral it provokes. Taking time off from a busy, chaotic environment can also make people feel more overwhelmed when they come back, perpetuating the cycle.

How Expel can help your security pros with burnout

Expel gives your security team the confidence to take PTO and fully disconnect. We also help fix systemic issues, which helps them focus on more interesting, rewarding, and less tedious work. As a security leader, you safeguard critical assets in a volatile threat landscape. Your team is also one of those critical assets. Cybersecurity is an industry that’s on 24×7, so it’s ripe for burnout, and truly disconnecting is a rare experience for security pros. 

With Expel, your team can: 

• Hit the snooze button—it’s okay when you have 24×7 coverage from your MDR vendor
• Start relaxing faster with a quick mean-time-to-respond of 20 minutes
• Fully disconnect on vacation by saying goodbye to false alerts 
• Effortlessly unwind with customized support 

Mental wellbeing is the foundation of a thriving, sustainable business. Your org can’t succeed without healthy employees. 

Learn more about how Expel helps your people thrive: Expel can help your team finally take PTO.