Individualization Is Key To Addressing Remote Work Burnout

If you are working from home while your roommate works down the hall or your kids log into their virtual classrooms at the table next to you, it can be difficult to maintain a typical 9-5 work day. A 2020 analysis found that, on average, 7.2% of workers held more than one job between 1996 and 2018. In that time period, the rate of multiple jobholders remote working fatigue increased by 1 percentage point, to 7.8% of all employed people at the beginning of 2018. EOS Worldwide also introduced a “Take a Break Day,” an unexpected day off for the entire organization. This offers employees a much-needed breather and a chance to do something for themselves, adding to the overall positive impact on their well-being.

Instead, communicate to your teammates and managers when you will be “off the clock” so they know when it is appropriate to contact you and when to expect you to be available. Stanford researchers recently found that employees are also experiencing “Zoom Fatigue,” and developed a quick tool to see if you or your team members might have it. He and his wife were able to split child-rearing responsibilities for their two kids while also spending more time together, planning meals and eating healthy.

How to Prevent Remote Work Burnout

Changes that ordinarily would have taken months to implement happened within weeks. Learn more about building a foundation for sustainable and healthy remote employee experiences in our guide to creating remote work cultures. Your self-care should be scheduled at the start of your day, just like any other important work task. In fact, Morris suggests that you treat the time taken for daily self-care like an essential meeting. Like you wouldn’t skip a meeting with your boss, you shouldn’t skip taking time out for your own self-care.

But the reality has been exhausting – not only for introverts, but for everyone. Work-related burnout can manifest itself in many different ways and cause various types of behaviors in people. This means you need to set realistic expectations and be intentional about when and how you communicate with your team to keep everyone on the same page. Now that the business world has settled into the work-from-home experiment, how are we doing? Dr Michael Drayton is a clinical psychologist, executive coach and organisational consultant. He coaches on the Executive MBA and Oxford High Performance Leadership Programme at Said Business School, University of Oxford.

What is Burnout?

In addition, you may want to investigate the practice of mindfulness, which many experts recommend for those who struggle to live in the moment. Used properly, mindfulness techniques can help to reduce anxiety and stress, and center your perspective on the here and now. According to a July 2020 survey, 75% of people have experienced burnout at work, with 40% saying that they’ve experienced burnout specifically while working during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the majority of multiple jobholders, their side gigs made up about 25% of their total income, according to the Census Bureau analysis of Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data.

Encourage “red” employees to share what’s going on if they’re comfortable doing so and what they need support with. “Green” employees might talk about whatever personal or professional win is fueling them. Transparency about what people are doing, plus easy, enjoyable collaboration makes people more motivated to jump in to support team members when they’re overwhelmed.

Leader’s Guide to Discussing Remote Work Burnout

It’s important to stop, take care of yourself, and refill your pitcher. Work will still be there when you return to it after a period of rest, but remember — you are a finite resource. If things go south at work, a project budget gets cut, co-workers are laid off or your manager isn’t the best at leading remotely, being socially isolated leads you to suddenly feel as if you have no one to turn to for support. RemotePass has really helped us take the pain out of managing salary payments, contract managements, and admin work with our remote teams.